The leading travel tech company MakeMyTrip has introduced ‘myPartner’ – a dedicated B2B portal for travel agents, today, as on Aug 25, 2020.
The platform has been built to avail offline and local travel agents access to one of the widest selection of online travel inventory.
The platform will also provide travel agents with different travel choices, with customization, personalization, and travel booking convenience for their consumers.
MakeMyTrip’s Group CEO, Rajesh Magow, in a virtual press conference, said:
The idea of launching myPartner was to give access to this rich content. A lot of the ecosystem players out there in the market don’t get access to this kind of content.
Also, there is always an issue of upgrading technology and riding on the digitization wave. So with these two objectives in mind, and of course, from our point of view, it is also a B2B2C kind of a foray, where we get to aggregate demand on the B2B space, working very closely with the partners without compromising on any of their objectives.”
MakeMyTrip’s Group CEO, Rajesh Magow
He further added that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world rapidly moved to digital adoption across metros and Tier II, III cities. This, in turn, has changed the buying patterns and behaviors of travelers.
“Many will and already are looking to make more informed and deeper informed choices. This means the local offline agents need to adopt technology more so than ever before,” added Rajesh.
Vipul Prakash, Chief Operating Officer, MakeMyTrip and GoIbibo, says, “The philosophy of this product is that ultimately all of us are working for the customers. The most important things that we all owe to the customers is restoring confidence in travel. People want to travel, the sentiment is very clearly shifting from being scared to people wanting to go out, but they are still apprehensive and they’re looking forward to the whole travel trade to give them the assurance that we will look after you when you travel.”
According to Mr. Prakash, this is the mindset which everyone in travel will have to approach for the next few quarters.
Most importantly, he remarks that it is about everybody in the travel ecosystem coming together to renew partnerships, whether it is between OTAs and airlines, hotels and airlines, or between travel agents and OTAs.
“This is the time for all of us to really come together and hold the customer’s hand and take them to traveling again. And that is the only way we will all rebuild our businesses. All of us are linked in the travel ecosystem, so, if the airlines grow, the hotels will grow, if the airlines and hotels will grow, the OTAs will grow, if all of the three grow the travel agent will grow. So, we have to just rebuild the business. Travel agents indeed play a very critical role in this overall revival.”
The team stated that the travel agents using myPartner may also offer options that meet MakeMyTrip’s “mySafety” standards as the travel industry in India is slowly coming back to life. These correspond to the guidelines of the health authorities.
The mySafety standard focuses on prioritizing safety across all travel touchpoints and providing a safer environment throughout the journey.
In addition, the platform’s built-in “Express Care” option allows agents a hassle-free end-to-end booking experience by making simple changes, cancellations and other adjustments to the itinerary at the last minute after booking.
Prakash calls Agents a vital link in the travel chain, pointing to the dedicated customer base the agents enjoy and their deep understanding of the Indian travel industry.
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