Travellers opt for premium stays, hunt for value, and explore wider as early trends reflect India’s evolving travel behaviour
Preliminary trends from the first six days of MakeMyTrip’s inaugural ‘Travel Ka Muhurat’ (October 29- November 03) point to advance flight planning, wider destination discovery, and sustained preference for premium stays, all while travellers continue to seek value through deals and offers. Early bookings for year-end flightshave doubled from a low base, serving as a good lead indicator for accommodation, where bookings traditionally follow in the subsequent phase. Premiumisation and category breadth remain the key highlights in accommodation.
Premiumisation remained a defining theme, though travellers continued to display a sharp eye for value. In the domestic hotels’ category, every third booking was for a 4- or 5-star property, a modest rise in average stay length from 1.7 to 1.8 nights. Internationally, 4 and 5 star stays accounted for 64.5% of bookings, with an average stay of 4.9 nights. Travellers upgraded to premium stays but remained value conscious, with 96% of domestic hotel bookers availing discount coupons, leveraging offers from partner banks includingHDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank,and network partners Visa and RuPay.
Timed offers and limited inventory deals also drove strong engagement. The daily Lightning Drops, held between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM, attracted high participation as travellers looked to secure best prices.
Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder & Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, said, “It’s encouraging to see travellers engaging earlier in the planning cycle and making more considered choices. With Travel Ka Muhurat, our intent is to create a platform that benefits everyone in the ecosystem, travellers, partners, and the industry at large, by enabling better planning, more value, and more predictable demand. These early trends are a positive start toward that direction.”
The campaign continues through November, with weekly themes and partner offers set to drive ongoing engagement.