Online travel agency (OTA) sites have their own rivals to contend with and issues like the commission being charged from the hotel operators and other intermediaries result in making and breaking of associations within this sector.
In a latest move, MakeMyTrip.com has delisted the properties of Treebo Hotels and Fabhotels from its website and that of Goibibo, the site it has acquired. The decision has been reportedly taken following an agreement with OYO Rooms, hinting towards a future association between MakeMyTrip and OYO, SoftBank being the catalyst in the process. There are talks of MMT taking equity position in OYO in the near future.
Treebo Hotels will now have to fend for itself and depend on the other OTAs of which there is no dearth. Yatra.com, Expedia, ClearTrip and Booking.com are some of the popular sites Treebo is already in talks with and feels it may not be at a huge loss due to the desilting by MMT and Goibibo.
Interestingly, Goibibo, which is directly involved in promoting OYO properties on its website and customers are given preferential bookings for OYO Rooms hotels on Goibibo’s website as well as the parent MakeMyTrip platform.
In terms of their valuation and funding, OYO had received an infusion of $250 million from SoftBank’s VC arm SoftBank Vision Fund and at time it valuation was put at $850. MakeMytrip, on the other hand is valued at $3.1 billion.
When OYO and the 2 hotel chains are compared also, OYO is a runaway winner with 4000 properties under its listing whereas Treebo and Fabhotels together can’t cross 650 properties even.
The last time a similar thing occurred was when Treebo pulled out of MMT complaining the commission being paid by MMT is not to their satisfaction.