Booking.com, one of the global leaders in connecting travellers with the widest choice of incredible places to stay, recently announced that it has reached a milestone of ‘140,000 reported local listings in India’ of homes, apartments and other unique places to stay. This creates a new industry benchmark in the overall ‘Alternative Accommodations’ category in India and bears testimony to Booking.com’s recent analysis which stated that 68% Indian travellers surveyed would prefer ‘Alternative Accommodations’ for their travel in 2019.
Booking.com parent company, Booking Holdings, also recently announced some new data, showcasing Booking.com’s efforts in the alternative accommodations space, including that Booking.com globally ended FY 2018 with 5.7 million reported listings in its ‘Alternative Accommodations’ business, which is up 18% year-over-year. This resulted in the company recording $2.8 billion in revenues from this category in 2018, representing approximately 20% of the company’s overall revenue for the year. It also reached the important milestone of over $1 billion in revenues in Q3 2018 alone.
This category continues to grow faster the company’s overall consolidated growth rate, with 40% of Booking.com’s active customers globally booking an ‘Alternative Accommodation’ property at some point within the last 12 months.
Ritu Mehrotra, Country Manager, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives at Booking.com, said “Alternative Accommodations (Homes & Apartments, and other unique places to stay) are an incredibly important category for our business, and an area in which we have been focusing and growing in the recent year. We know consumers like all options — from hotels to homes to tree houses and farm stays — on one place, which is why you can find everything on Booking.com. While our focus will be to continue strengthening our leadership position in this space, we also remain committed to fulfilling our promise of a seamless and quality experience to travellers looking for instantly bookable and fee-free accommodations with us across the country.”
According to a recent research that Booking.com conducted in India, 68% of Indian travellers are looking to experience an ‘Alternative Accommodation’ in 2019 while 66% Indian travellers prefer an accommodation that is unique, trendsetting and is an extension of their personality.