CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled

Submitted By
NEERAJ SWARUP
NISHA SHARMA
ABDUL RAZIQUE PATHAN
PINKUSH GOEL
PRABHAT KUMAR GUPTA

41
42
43
44
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In the partial fulfilment for the class assignment task of

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS
In
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (POWER MANAGEMENT)
From MDU ROHTAK UNIVERSITY, FARIDABAD
is a record of their own work carried out by them under my guidance for academic session
2017-2018.

RACHNA VATS
(PROJECT GUIDE)

ABSTRACT
In the present era of globalization, tourism industry is rapidly progressing day by day
with further foster by e-commerce. For the hotel accommodation process, the internet is
dominating users dominating tool. Online booking has been adopted by an increasing number of
tourists. The advantages of the internet lead to the fundamental changes for hotel enterprises to
perform their business and interact with their customer. The project provides a comprehensive
understanding if consumer behavior for the tourism marketer, also it sheds light on the future
research in online booking process and also project give brief comparison between two big hotel
booking brands with respect to their strategy of consumer Reach, frequency and money.

Table of Contents
S.No.

Contents

Page no.

Introduction

Objective

Some recent trends

Literature review

India online hotel booking

10

Tourist behaviour in hotel booking

12

15

Advantages and Disadvantages of online

hotel booking
Compare analysis of online hotel booking

Research finding

24

10

Conclusion

29

11

List of references

30

12

Bibliography

31

16

INTRODUCTION
Hotels are an important component of the tourism product. They contribute in the overall
tourism experience through the standards of facilities and services offered by them. The hotels in
India are generally categories as:- Star Category Hotels: 5 Star Deluxe, 5 Star, 4 Star, 3 Star, 2
Star & 1 Star Heritage Category Hotels: Heritage Grand, Heritage Classic & Heritage Basic.
Indias rising middle class and increasing disposable incomes has continued to support
the growth of domestic and outbound tourism. Total outbound trips increased by 8.7 per cent to
19.9 million in 2015. Inbound tourist volume grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
of 6.8 per cent during 2010-15.
Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India increased 11.8 per cent year-on-year to 670,000
tourists in August 2016, while Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism increased 13.1
per cent year-on-year to r12,903 crore (US$ 1.92 billion), according to data from the Ministry of
Tourism.
Tourist arrivals in India on e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) grew by 196.6 per cent year-on-year to
66,097 tourists in August 2016, attributable to the introduction of e-TV for 150 countries as
against the earlier coverage of 113 countries, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism.
Compared with traditional offline channels, online channels including online travel
agencies and supplier websites have become the most rapid expansion service.
Online hotel bookings in India are expected to double by end of 2017 due to the
increasing penetration of the internet and smart phones.

OBJECTIVES
The number of consumer in the market is rapidly growing. Increasing efforts are devoted
to develop the online booking market by the tourism practitioner. Understanding tourist behavior
in online booking is therefore a key to gaining a deeper knowledge of target marketing. Aiming
at a better understanding of tourist behavior in online booking, the project reviews the previous
research and provides suggestions for future investigation.
Through this project we aim to analyze the effectiveness of online travel agents (OTAs) and
understand the purchase behavior of Indian traveler.
This research provides an insight into the extent of influence of online travel agents, marketing
strategies and social media on the path to purchase of a consumer and recent trends in hotel
industries.
It uncover as to how travel portals are using technology for their marketing activities to
effectively engage with customer.
This report includes comparative analysis of OYO ROOMS and GINGER HOTEL in India and
gives an understanding of the current state of the hotel industry in India.
There is also an in-depth analysis of how marketing strategies are being used by e-Travel
companies for creating communication that works towards customer engagement and in-return
builds customer loyalty.

SOME RECENT TRENDS

Hotels are an integral part of a tourists visit to a place and a service offered by them can make or
mar a visit completely. Apartment Hotels are increasingly becoming popular with business
traveler who come to India for some assignments, for family holidays, etc. which are sometimes
stretching for months together. With the aim of providing standardized world class services to
the tourists GOI has a voluntary scheme for classification of fully operational Apartment Hotels
in the following categories- 5 Star Deluxe, 5 Star, 4 Star, and 3 Star.
The hotel & Restaurant Approval & Classification Committee (HRACC) inspects and assess the
hotels based on facilities and service offered.
A higher number of traveler now plan their itineraries online (including their tickets, stay
bookings, travel insurance and other related services). This has led to an increase in the number
of offerings made by the e-Travel portals in India. These portals are moving from being a
standalone entity towards a "one stop shop" for all the travel needs of a traveller. Majority of the
travel portals are offering a complete experience through online hotel bookings, holiday
packages, travel guides, air tickets, rail and bus tickets, customized holiday packages and MICE
(Meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) for both individual and group traveler. These
wide range of offerings promise convenience in travel booking, planning and search.
Many consumer use internet to take advantage of comparative pricing and enjoy the best
deals at lower prices. It avoids them the extra cost of booking through a travel agent and saves
the time consumed in visiting a traditional office booking store. Features like easy cancellation,
personalized deals, ticket tracking and on-call customer service ease the journey of a travel
seeker.
Travel companies are adopting user-friendly interfaces to simplify the consumer experience:
easier navigation, better interactivity and time saver quick book options are amongst the most
important ones. Marketer are using trip advisor, travel blogs and social networking sites to build
a brand name by encouraging consumer to share their peronal travel experiences. These sites
spread word of mouth and increase the credibility of the portals, thus increasing the lifetime
value for their customer.
Gift voucher and deals offered on travel packages are a major draw for the consumer; many
travel sites categorize their offerings as per themes trekking, adventure, wildlife, history,
culture, etc. Companies are also offering online content in regional languages in order to attract
new customer. Also, the interest in m-commerce has increased with many brands now offering
incentives to download their mobile apps to encourage bookings through mobile phones.
Desktop user are more likely to compare various websites before they make a purchase, therefore
the e-Travel companies are encouraging consumer to download their apps. Discounts on booking
through mobile and various cash-back offer are mainly used to lure the customer.

Also, discounts on last minute bookings, timed discount offer help the portals to attract huge
traffic and provide the bargain-hunting traveler a wide range of choices. Some portals also offer
discounts on group bookings as well as MICE to encourage bulk booking. Affiliate programs
with banks, hotels, e-retail and travel related service provider are being used by travel companies
to increase their reach and engagement. These tie-ups also help build long term relationships
with customer.

LITERATURE REVIEW
An opportunity for online booking in India
The current population of India is 1.3 billion, out of which 1/6th of the population is online i.e.
278 million (Q3 2014) says IAMAI data. India has the third largest internet population in the
world, according to Google India 2017 will see 500 million internet user in India, leaving US
behind and edging towards the number in China.

India is a mobile friendly country; more people have mobiles than people having PCs. 44% of
the India internet user use social media i.e. 122 million. Out of these 122 million, 75% (92
million) access social media via their mobile devices. India has 100 million Facebook user, the
third largest in the world. What reinforces the importance of Mobile 84% of these Facebook user
in India; use Facebook on their mobile devices.

A few facts in Mobile India:

76% (213 million) of India online uses mobile internet

70% of web traffic (page views) in India comes via mobile internet
A mobile internet user spends 178 minutes (~3 hour) online everyday
66 million use Facebook via smartphones out of which 57% use android, 4% iOS and
other via
feature phones
9% of the overall mobile subscriptions in India have 3G internet connection
13% (156 million) of India population uses smartphones

10

INDIA ONLINE HOTEL INDUSTRY

Indian hospitality industry is growing in a linear manner in tier 1 cities, however, the future in
not in tier 1 but also in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. According to the PWC report Hospitality Insights
from the Indian CEOs desk (2014), 37% of Hospitality CEOs in India wants to grow in tier 2
cities. This vindicates that hospitality industry in India will grow in deeper in the Indian roots
and reach out to non-metros as well.
Hotel bookings are driven by online research. Hotel reviews by local are a driving factor in
selecting a particular property. It is interesting to see that 30% of Indias Trip Advisor user are
coming to the site using their mobile devices,
Nikhil Ganju,
Country Head, Tripadvisor.com
(IAMAI 5th Travel and Tourism Summit 2014)
What Level of synergy you are looking to buid in next 3-5 yrs?

Level of synergy you are looking to buid in next 3-5 yrs?

45%

44%

44%

40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%

12%

10%
5%
0%

ACROSS FORMAT LOCATIONS

Across Format Locations
Series1

44%

EVERY PROPERTY AS SEPARATE

PROFIT CENTRE
Every Property as separate profit
centre
12%

ACROSS LOCATIONS FOR SAME

FORMAT
Across locations for same format
44%

11

Geographical Growth of indian

Hotels

50%

41%

40%

37%

30%
20%

11%

11%

10%
0%
TIER 1 CITIES

Series1

Tier 1 cities
41%

TIER 2 CITIES

Tier 2 cities
37%

TIER 3 CITIES

Tier 3 cities
11%

INTERNATIONAL

International
11%

The above stats show that the Indian hotel industry is going. So, whats the importance of Indian
online hotel industry? A MakeMyTrip.com study (August 2013) said that: 97% user want to
book a hotel online, out of which 77% already use OTAs (Online Travel Agents) for online
bookings. 40% people book online on the same day when they need a hotel and 14% user use
Mobile App to make a purchase.
Women Traveler in India are increasing, with women taking higher hierarchy roles and spending
more money on family holidays, its a necessity how Women Traveller book. To answer this
question Ixigo and Lemon Tree did a research (March 2014) on Women Traveller in India. 43%
women want to make hotel booking online, 76% women see user reviews online before booking
a hotel and 56% women use smartphone Apps for information about a hotel property before they
make a final booking.

12

TOURIST BEHAVIOR IN ONLINE BOOKING

The purchase and consumption process of a consumer can be divided into three stages,
namely, information acquisition in the pre-purchase stage, ordering in the purchase stage and
feedback in the post-purchase stage. In the context of online travel booking, literature pertaining
to the tourist behavior also focuses on online information search in the pre-purchase stage, online
booking in the purchase stage and loyalty formation or online reviews contribution in the postpurchase stage.
A. Tourist Behavior in Online Information Search
Literature with regard to the online information search behavior of the tourists reveals why,
what, where, who, when and how to search. Tourists online search behavior are motivated by
their functional needs, hedonic needs, innovation needs, aesthetic needs and sign needs. The
tourists mostly search for hotel, airport, casino, beach and map most frequently. According to the
report by I research , the most frequently used channels to search travel information are, in order,
general search engines, vertical search engines, OTAs, portal travel channels, and social media
such as review sites, online communities and BBS. Traveler usually are directed to social media
sites by the general search engines. The potential tourists are inclined to search for online travel
reviews before travel decisions, especially accommodation decisions.
There are substantial gender differences both in terms of attitudes to information channels and
travel website functionality preferences, and females are more predisposed to media
displacementreinforcement effects than males, when mobile Internet becomes a more popular
medium in travel information search than PC Internet and traditional media. The chief
motivations for consumer to seek online travel reviews are convenience and quality, risk
reduction, and social reassurance. The process of travel information search and identifies
continuous search, pre-purchase search, search during travel planning, search during traveling,
and search after the travel. When gathering information for a hotel stay, most traveler follow the
recommendation of the company or friends and colleagues at firt, and then turn to such online
sources as the brand website, OTAs, and Trip Advisor, and make online booking via the brand
websites or OTAs.
The tourists behavioral consequences of the online information search are also stressed by the
researcher. A tourists information search strategy has significant impacts on his length of stay,
number of destination visited, number of attractions visited, and the travel-related expenditures.
Online travel reviews have a significant impact on online sales, with a 10 percent increase in
traveler review ratings boosting online bookings by more than five percent. Consumer seem to
be more influenced by early negative information, especially when the overall set of reviews is
negative, whereas positively framed information together with numerical rating details increases
booking intentions. However, since looking does not automatically lead to booking, the bridge
from information searching to online booking should be further examined.

13

B. Determinants of Online Travel Booking

While traveler are increasingly turning to the Internet for information, many are still
hesitant to book online because of the perceived lack of a secure payment method, a lack of
confidence in the technology and a need for a personal service and human interface. Traveler
prefer booking their international trips from a travel agent rather than booking online, due to the
advantages of travel agents in social interaction, expertise and the possibility to save time on
search, though they believe it is cheaper to book online. Telephone booker, online booker
through Internet-proprietary and online booker via OTAs show significant differences in terms of
internal and external price search, number of alternatives searched, brand loyalty, purchase
frequency, and perceived risk of unavailability at the time of booking. Determinants of online
travel booking validated by the empirical researcher are mainly threefold. Firtly, the online
booking intention is determined by the characteristics derived from the Internet, including
perceived risk, security, convenience, time saving and usefulness. Secondly, the online booking
decision is influenced by the characteristics of the online supplier, including information quality,
competitive price, pricing patterns, service performance and reputation, terms and conditions,
and mean rating in online review sites. Specifically, if ambiguous, unclear or contradictory
information leads to unclarity confusion of the consumer in online booking, he will seek
additional information, abandon the purchase, or delegate the decision. Interfaces of the online
booking sites that have high-speed, minimal memory load, adaptive behavior, low content
density, and customization features are more preferable than those that do not. Online booking
for complex products such as accommodations, activities, events and attractions are driven by
informational parameter including detailed information and availability, while online booking for
less complex products such as car rentals and airline tickets were driven by transactional
objectives including rewards and price. Also, ones behavioral tendency for online booking is
impacted by his peronal characteristics including technological inclination or consumer
innovativeness, self-efficacy, preference for offline service, timing, involvement, Internet
experience, performance expectancy , effort expectancy , online shopping experience, subjective
norms, trust, gender, age and educational background. A passenger who has a greater likelihood
of making online bookings is a young peron, a student or educated to a high level, a habitual
traveler, booking a simple journey and using a low-cost carrier. Though much work has been
done in the area, more variables are sure to be found in the future research from different
theoretical perspectives. Moreover, the extended ways of online booking, such as mobile
booking and online group buying for tourism products, should be illuminated with more
theoretical concerns and empirical examinations in future research.

14

C. Loyalty Formation after Online Booking

It is substantiated in marketing literature that customer satisfaction leads to customer
loyalty and repurchase. In the online environment, user satisfaction toward tourism websites are
mainly attributed to the information function and search speed of the website, in other words, the
functionality and usability of websites, or information quality and system quality. Kim et al.
hypothesize and test that exogenous variables including navigation functionality, perceived
security, and transaction cost, and mediating variables including trust and satisfaction have a
significant impact on the tourists loyalty for online booking. Kim et al. validate that website
factor including communication, transaction and customization are the exogenous variables, and
switching costs is the moderating variable for loyalty formation. Most of the studies focus on the
impact of website quality and function on loyalty formation, while the effect of offline service
factor of online booking remains largely unknown.

Tourists Behaviour On Bookings

80%

79%

70%
64%
60%
53%
49%

50%
38%

40%

27%

30%
20%
10%
0%
Woman Prefer
booking hotels
online
Series1

79%

Last minute
User prefer
Book hotels
hotels+Tickets
Prefer budget
Hotels Booking
shorter &
online due to
booking happen
accommodation
Online
Frequent holidays
ease of searching
on mobile
38%
64%
49%
53%
27%

15

ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE HOTEL BOOKING

Hotels can increase their profits by doing away with 20% 30% fee normally charged by
third party intermediaries. They can even pass on this margin to guests, thereby
increasing guest loyalty.
Room rates can be controlled better and reservations can be increased directly from own
website Customer experience can be better managed by following their shopping and
reservation patterns.
Customer satisfaction can also be increased by following up on their online feedbacks
and acting upon their suggestions.
Customer can be provided various options and incentives (including freebies at gyms,
restaurants, spas and other facilities) while making online bookings.
Guests can be provided a virtual tour of the hotel on the hotel website, thereby giving
them a better idea about the actual property.
Since the guests will have a firsthand copy of the booking acknowledgement, there is no
possibility of foul play at the intermediary level, especially at peak season times.

DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE HOTEL BOOKING

Many operator who allow you to book online do not offer real time booking. If you are
booking your trip on short notice, it is much easier to receive immediate confirmation via
the telephone.
Online booking rarely gives you the opportunity to speak with someone knowledgeable
about the service you are booking. In some cases, you may find testimonials on a website,
but you can never be sure if they are real testimonials or paid advertisements.
Low cost booking sites offer deep discounts for booking travel blindly, but the discount
you receive comes with many conditions. For example, when booking a flight or a hotel,
you will sometimes be able to choose only your day of travel, class of service and class of
hotel.
Booking travel online frequently requires that you pay at least a deposit and many times
requires that you pay the whole cost of your service up front. You put yourself at risk to
have your credit card number stolen or even your whole identity by booking through an
insecure website.
Booking online does not allow you to build personal relationships with the operator or to
take advantage of personal relationships between a travel agent and the operator. These
relationships may allow you to get a booking when none are available online or to receive
a free upgrade.

16

OYO ROOMS
OYO Rooms is an online aggregator of budget hotels in India claiming to be the largest
chain of hotels in the country. It was started in 2012 by a 17 year old college dropout Ritesh
Aggarwal. The aim was to change the Indian hospitality business with the help of
technology. OYO rooms partner with hotels, with the aim of standardization on various
measures in each room including free Wi-Fi and breakfast, flat screen TVs, spotless white bed
linen of a certain thread count, branded toiletries, 6-inch shower heads, a beverage tray and so
on. They give customer to the hotels and keep a percentage of profits with them.
The standards are audited every few days so that the customer are assured a quality
experience. OYOs budget stay ranges from rs.999 to rs.4,000. OYO provides property owner
with support such as quality standardized supplies and service training. A hotel can be added to
their network within 5-6 days after signing of agreement.
OYO Rooms growth is marvellous starting from One Hotel in Gurgaon in 2013 to
6500+ hotels in more than 200 across India including cities like Ahmedabad, Delhi, Gurgaon,
Jaipur, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, Chennai, Kolkata, and other. With the onset of
2016, Oyo marked its footstep in Malaysia as well. The company is backed by investor like
the Softbank Group, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed India.

Oyo rooms business objective

OYO Rooms has one objective to offer standardized stay experiences at an unmatched price. It
provides standardized hotel rooms with features such as an air-conditioner, TV, complimentary
breakfast and Wi-Fi with 247 customer service support. It can be booked online using Mobile
app. Also they have their presence in all the travel/booking websites.
OYOs model is simple: it adopts hotels to get them in its fold; gets them to follow certain
standards of services, features, staff, pricing, security etc. and then sells their rooms under its
own brand, for a certain cut. This new segment operates on the asset-light business model, and is
a sure a change element for the traditional capital-weighed-down hospitality. According to a
research carried out by CB Insights for The New York Times, OYO Rooms has been deemed as
one of the upcoming start-up unicorns.

17

BUSINESS STRATEGY OF OYO ROOMS

When an individual book an unbranded hotel, he is mentally prepared for leaky
bathroom, dirty beds, noisy air conditioner etc. taking considering this drawback into account
OYO ROOMS an aggregate of budget hotels in India stated in 2013 offering a network of
branded budget hotels in India. In a very short span OYO ROOMS has built a network of 5500+
hotels.
The strategy practiced by OYO ROOMS is Blue Ocean Strategy. Value innovation is a
central concept in blue ocean strategy. Through this concept organization can unlock immense
value to customer and simultaneously reduce the cost of the company value is usually attached to
tangible things, but in reality true value to customer needed to be something path breaking.
For prices as low as rs.1000 per night, one gets free Wi-Fi, breakfast, flat screen TVs,
spotless white bed linen of a certain thread count, branded toiletries, 6-inch shower heads, a
beverage tray, etc., Oyo also have room recommendations for solo traveler, couples, business
traveler, women, etc. Most of what you see in 3 star hotels such as fancy lobbies, elegant
lounges, superior spa, etc. are often not the reason one chooses such hotels. Instead, basic
hygiene, descent environment and predictable service drive customer to such branded hotels. The
core to Oyos value innovation is to eliminate fancy aspects but retain aspects such as hygiene
and predictability. As a result, Oyo is able to drastically reduce the price per room (in
comparison to 3 Star) and simultaneously but disproportionally increase the value to customer.
Oyo unlocks disproportionate business by attracting 3 star customer to trade down while non-star
customer trade up to Oyo Rooms. Thus Oyo is capturing the both segment of customer! To
understand this better, lets look at that strategy canvas, a critical tool of Blue Ocean Strategy
used to create value innovation.

18

Strategy Canvas is one of the simplest, yet most powerful tools of Blue Ocean Strategy to
visually identify the factor that any given industry is competing on. It helps to strategize how
differentiation can be carved out as against competition. Each factor in the graph that unlocks
value to customer is rated in the 10 point scale and compared against competition or industry
strategic groups. Oyo is a evident case of Blue Ocean because in comparison to either the
existing star hotels or non-star hotels, Oyo has chosen to differentiate themselves by Eliminating
some existing features, Reducing some features, Raising some and simultaneously Creating few
new features. Traditionally companies focus on out serving the competition but Blue Ocean
advocates differentiation through Elimination, Reduction, Raising and Creating.Though Oyo
Rooms isnt the firt hotel ever to try this. There are many such as Formula1 Hotels, Ginger
Hotels, etc. which have attempted to create a differentiation. Moreover extra credit should be
given to Oyo not only for their excellence in execution, but also in striving to find innovative
ways to keep the financials intact. For example, Ginger Hotels unsuccessfully tried to target the
same segment despite having own/leased properties. On the other hand, Oyo Rooms has
positioned itself as an aggregator brand rather than a traditional hotel chain. This has helped
them to stay fit on capital and operational costs, and more importantly, ramp up in no time. In
order to create Blue Ocean in your own industry, consider the steps involved in creating Blue
Ocean are illustrated in below figure:

19

(Illustrated from Blue Ocean Strategy book) one can learn more about the 6 paths to
create exceptional buyer utility here. Oyo Rooms is already facing the heat of competition of metoo brands. In order to sustain position, Oyo will have to constantly refine its offering to unlock
value for customer. For example, many OYO rooms dont have overnight laundry or iron box on
the house. One cant land up for client meeting in wrinkled outfit. Similarly none of them have
tea bags and kettles in the room and room service didnt start before 8 AM. Super imposing the
Blue Ocean Strategy and its framework is only an attempt to learn how innovations can become
predictable rather than a chance of luck or brilliance of genius.

APPROACHES ADOPTED BY OYO ROOMS:

To retain its ranking and perform way above the competitor OYO is focusing on the mass
as well as on digital marketing section aggressively for lead generation and customer acquisition.
It is strategizing to use all means of social media by targeting potential customer based on their
interest, behaviour and other parameter which are readily available via digital marketing.
It has strong social media presence on Facebook with over 2.7 lakh fans and a Twitter
following of over 8,000 follower. The brand claims to have over 1.5 million app downloads with
a good number of active user. To fast track its growth, OYO Rooms is organizing several
campaigns on social media platforms such as:

20

Dub smash Contest

#AurKyaChahiye videos on Youtube.
Fathers Day Celebration campaign, and IPL Final Verbal Combat.
Jai Hind was the most successful one that featured Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpai and
Raveena Tandon.
The video fetched over 1 million views to the brand. Some of their recent endeavor areA
Salute to the heroes of 1965 war and Oyo Explorer Pune.
[http://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/social-media-marketing-case-study-on-oyo-rooms/]

ALLIANCE OF OYO ROOMS:

OYOs traction and market coverage has swiftly increased because of being listed with
travel aggregator like Make My Trip, Clear trip and com.
Launch of OYO caf, OYO We for Women traveller and OYO Premium for high-end
customer
Tie-ups with major brands such as Airtel for Wi-Fi support, ZO rooms, Thomas Cook,
Air Pegasus and Tourism and Hospitality Skill councils

OTHER SERVICES PROVIDED BY OYO ROOMS:

Internship
Weddings
Meetings
family functions
Events
Conferences

21

GINGER HOTEL
Ginger is an Indian hotel chain, established by Roots Corporation Limited, and part of the Tata
Group, a new brand under a category called "Smart Basics Hotels". The firt hotel was opened in
Whitefield, Bangalore in June 2004. Roots Corporation Limited is a fully owned subsidiary of
The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL). IHCL, part of the Tata Group is Indias largest
hotel chain with more than 70 properties in India and abroad and over 100 year' presence in
Indias hospitality sector.
It initially charged rs999 per night in 2004. Today it charges range from r 2999-3499 plus
taxes per night.
Ginger Hotels opened a property in Vapi, Gujarat today with 90 smartly designed rooms, the
hotel is located on the Mumbai-Surat highway and is in close proximity to the Gujarat Industrial
Development Corporation (GIDC) industrial area.

OBJECTIVES OF GINGER HOTEL:

Nearly nine months after taking charge of Tata Group's budget hotel chain Ginger, Rahul Pandit
is moving fast to change the 13-year old hotel chain's focus from being just 'basic and no-frills' to
a 'value-for-money and desirable' brand targeted at the Indian youth.
Hotel chain Ginger shifts focus, to target the young and upper middle class people who desires
for good facilities with slightly higher price then the prices offered by other hotels.
[ Reference : from By Divya Sathyanarayanan, ET Bureau | Updated: Apr 01, 2016, 06.54 AM
IST].
MUMBAI: Nearly nine months after taking charge of Tata Group's budget hotel chain Ginger,
Rahul Pandit is moving fast to change the 13-year old hotel chain's focus from being just 'basic
and no-frills' to a 'value-for-money and desirable' brand targeted at the Indian youth.
STRATGEY:
Being a data driven company, we have a heat map of 70 cities where we intend to expand in the
next few year. Their strategy for growth is accelerating momentum to bolster our position as the
dominant value lodging brand of choice for customer, developer and employees that deliver
superior returns to shareholder and positively impacts society. They currently have an inventory
of 3400 rooms and another 2500 rooms will be added soon. They are also looking at expanding
our presence in other tourist destinations. They plan to set up more hotels in Goa, Amritsar,
Kolkata and Agra", said Sharma.

22

TARGET CUSTOMER:For Ginger Hotels target customers are value seeking customers; business and leisure travelers
who are looking for a comfortable stay. Their focus is to become a ' desirable and a value-formoney' brand targeted at the Indian youth and families, said the top company official.
[reference:-http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/tata-group-s-ginger-hotels-toadd-20-properties-every-year-116091900882_1.html]
APPLIED STRATEGY:After several meetings with customers, owners, employees, board members and focus groups,
Pandit read the pulse of the brand and the key changes he had to bring in to tap today's
customers. To start with, They formed a new team to lead the brand's makeover. "They brought
in some young minds and a 'fresh pair of eyes' as the market has changed and the consumer
mindset has also changed...
Strategy Result:- Since it started 13 years back, Ginger has built a portfolio of 34 hotels through
Greenfield developments, management contracts and leases. Going forward, the brand will grow
asset-light with a focus on leisure destinations as well as existing metro markets.
[ Referece:-http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/hotels-/-restaurants/hotelchain-ginger-shifts-focus-to-target-the-young/articleshow/51639687.cms ]
FUTUTRE APPLIED STRATEGY:Simultaneously, the hotel chain is also working to improve the different aspects of a hotel stay
including safety, room features, food and beverage offerings, etc. Ginger hotels gets to decide
what a person remembers and what she doesn't. If they do the basics right, then there's nothing
that's stopping us,".
We are proud to expand our presence in western India with the opening of Ginger Vapi, our
fourth hotel in Gujarat, Ginger Hotels Managing Director and CEO Rahul Pandit said.
Ginger Hotels operates 37 properties across 31 locations and has 21 hotels under development.

23

By Apply Many Strategies GINGER Hotels achieve Various Awards in very short span of time.
Ginger awards:a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)

"Best Value Hotel - Indian" at the Lonely Planet India Award: (2011-12) (2012-13)
"Leadership in Business Technology" at the Data Quest award for (2012-13)
"Best Budget Hotel" Award at the Outlook Traveler Awards (2010-12) (2012-13)
"Best Value Hotel" at the Lonely Planet Award 2012
"Best Economy Hotel" Award at the Golden Star Awards (2010-11)(2009-10)
"Scurry Award" at Leap Vault Change Leadership Awards and Travel Agent Association
"Awards for creating a New Market Segment. (2009-10) "
"The Best Budget Hotel of the year" at the CNBC AWAZ Travel Awards (2008-09)
"Best Hospitality Bench Markers Award in India" at SATTE 2009

OTHER SERVICES PROVIDED BY GINGER HOTELS

Conference Room (easy-fit for 80-100 guests) or Meeting Room (Comfortable for 8-10
people)
Laundry facility: Hit us by 9.30am with your washables, and have them back crisp, endof-day.
Gymnasium: Treadmill, exercise cycle and weights, air power bike, dumbbells, dual
action poles with stepper, wrist curler, doorway chinning bar, punching bag, and yoga
mat. Get down to it!
Secure Parking: 24x7 security on-site: monitoring by CC TV.
Doctor on call: Heaven forbid, your health gets iffy, our Doc will get here, in a jiffy.

24

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Consumer are turning to the internet to take advantage of ease of booking and
comparative pricing. 95% of consumer search online before making a travel purchase.
The research indicates that majority of consumer are comfortable with online ticket
booking, but tour packages and hotels are still booked offline. It indicates that there is a
gap between expectations of consumer and actual facilities promised by hotels when
booked online.
Best deals are an important motivation for customer to go online. According to our
research 36% consumer make unplanned trips if offered a discount.
Social media affects purchase decision of 48% consumer but personal experience of a
consumer affects the decision more than the experience of other.
According to our research, 41% consumer make a purchase after receiving a
promotional/discount offer over email and 25% consumer make a purchase after
receiving an offer over SMS.
It is easier for a desktop user to look at more websites and switch from one competitor to
another. But an app user is a loyalist; so majority of e-travel companies are incentivizing
the consumer to use their Mobile App.

25

SOME OF THE RESEARCH FINDINGS CONTINUED WITH

COMAPRISON OF OYO ROOM AND GINGER HOTELS

1. Sign-Up
The first touch point of a consumer with a brand is its website. A sign-up indicates the interest of
a potential customer in your product or service. The sign-up links should be easily visible on the
website homepage to encourage subscription. Long sign-up processes make customer loose
interest and shift to competitors website. For the ease of user access, short sign-up processes
with minimum details like an email id should be used preferably.
1.1 Sign-up Process
Among the both portals we analysed for the research, we found out that OYO rooms have more
ease to sign in process by just fill Name, Email-id whereas in Ginger hotels Sign up process is
quite lengthy. It create a customer interest in preferring sites with respect to time saving.
1.2 Sign-up through Facebook
Using Facebook credentials for registration makes it convenient for a customer to login. It also
gives the site owner an access to profile data which can be Used to create a personalized
customer experience based on the user's social behaviour.
Our research indicates that 2% of Facebook users likes OYO e-portal whereas only .00016%%
Facebook users likes ginger hotel e-portal these hotels page likes allow customers to login
through Facebook and provides more users to company/organisation.

FACEBOOK USERS

2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
0%
0%
0%

2%

0%
OYO HOTELS LIKES

Series1

OYO HOTELS LIKES

2%

Series1

GINGER HOTELS LIKES

GINGER HOTELS LIKES

0%

26

1.3 Permission based Sign-up

Successful email marketing starts with permission. Permission based sign-up includes asking
consumers for channel preference (Email/SMS), frequency of emails, permission to share
newsletters, promotional offers and discounts. Seeking permission helps marketers understand
subscriber preferences and plan their campaigns accordingly.
Our research indicates that 4.2 out of 5 customers adopt permission based sign-up for OYO
Rooms whereas for GINGER hotels only 2 out of 5.
This data is taken on the basis of feedback by various consumers from play store app, FAQS
and Facebook pages.

2. Welcome Emails
A Welcome Email is the first direct communication between the brand and the consumer. Hence,
it is an important aspect of building customer relationships. There are a number of different goals
that marketers set out to achieve with their Welcome Email. These include thanking or
welcoming the user, collecting more personal information and nudging them towards a purchase.
These emails are depend upon hotels site subscription so, again OYO leads the GINGER
HOTELS in welcome emails as it have high number of subscription. OYO has more benefits
with more welcome emails due to various reasons as given in below graph.

Objective of WE
58%

60%

54%

50%
40%
25%

30%

25%

29%

20%
10%
0%
WE
HAVECUSTOMER
SUPPORT AND
FEEDBACK LINK

Series1

WEHAVE LINKS TO
SOCIAL MEDIA
PLATFORMS

WE haveCustomer
support and
feedback link

Wehave links to
social media
platforms

58%

25%

WE INCLUDE
USERGUIDE TO
MEMBER BENEFITS
AND FEATURES.

WE PROMOTE
COMPANY MOBILE
APP.

WE include
userguide to
WE promote
member benefits and company mobile app.
features.
54%
25%

WE HAVE PRIVACY
INFORMATION.

WE have privacy
information.
29%

27

3. Loyalty Program
According to a research by Inc., it costs a business about 5-10 times more to acquire a new
customer than it does to sell to an existing one. On an average, current customers spend 67%
more than a new one. Loyalty Programs like reward points, exclusive offers and privileges are
used by marketers to earn customer loyalty.
This program also emphasige to create more costumer to OYO rooms by loyalty program
Oyo rooms give more effective deals as compare to ginger hotels.

4. Re-engagement Program
Re-engagement Program is a means to make sure that customers stay informed and aware of
your brand when making their travel plans. A good re-engagement email program enables
companies to create an individual relationship with the customers and automatically send critical
follow-ups that offer an extra incentive or purchase reminder. The different types of reengagement offered are: various discounts on next purchase, reminder mails for inactive users,
free discounts, feedback and surveys.
4.1 Mobile Application
Mobile as a channel gives companies the potential to engage with their customers in real-time.
Users who access a website through their desktops are more likely to switch to competitor
websites than users who use a standalone Mobile App. Hence, most of the travel companies are
encouraging users to download their Mobile Applications and convert into loyal users.
According to our research via play store, window app store and apple store. OYO rooms has
approx. 30k times more downloads than GINGER HOTEL mobile app.
Play store screenshot is given below.

28

5. Responsive Design
As majority of customers are using Smartphones and accessing emails on mobile devices:
marketers need to evolve their communication strategies to include a lighter format and a mobile
friendly layout. 91.4% of consumers said they use their smartphone to check their personal
email. Responsive Email Design ensures that your email renders perfectly on all operating
systems.
OYO rooms app is more ease to operate with good and effective designing results more
downloads and referral by consumer.
6. After Sale Service
In current competitive market after sale and inquiry service play vital role to attract customer.
In OYO rooms terms and condition regarding all query of customer are explain in detail in oyo
room website with transparency of policies, legal policies, payment return policy etc.
Whereas in case of GINGER hotels all policies are sophisticated and difficult to understand as it
doesnt declare every policies clearly.

29

CONCLUSIONS
Online booking is an increasingly important channel for tourism sales. The paper puts forward a
new research agenda for tourist behaviors in online booking based on literature review. From the
three stages of online booking, we summarize the findings in online information search,
determinants of online booking and online booking loyalty. Since consumer behaviors are the
basis of marketing, our literature survey provides a systematic view for the tourism marketers.
Besides the practical contribution of the study, we reveal the research gaps and propose the
opportunities for future research, including research on social media and online booking,
perceived value in online booking, mobile booking.
This research also conclude various consumer behaviour on the basis of sign up, welcome email,
loyalty program, reengagement program, responsive program, after sale service provided by two
hotels brand i.e., OYO rooms and GINGER hotels.

30

List of References

http://www.academia.edu/5597820/A_Literature_Framework_Analysis_of_Online_
Hotel_Accommodation_Process_Factors
http://www.octane.in/research/pdf-report/e-Travel-Marketing-India.pdf
http://tourism.gov.in/hotels-restaurants
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gingerhotels.GingerApp16&hl=en
http://www.gingerhotels.com/
https://www.oyorooms.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oyo.consumer&hl=en

31

Bibliography

Tourist Behaviors in Online Booking:

A New Research Agenda BY 1School of Management, Huazhong University of Science
and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China