In a recent episode of the Skift India Travel Podcast, Santosh Kumar, Booking.com’s country manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia, reported that nearly 34% of its global total room nights came from the alternative accommodation segment during the April-June quarter.
“This is a segment that’s growing faster for us than traditional hotels,” said Santosh Kumar. Kumar listed out how the segment has transformed the country’s travel and tourism industry, including how it has enabled destinations to attract a whole new wave of travellers.
Booking.com offers 14 alternate accommodation types in India — including tree houses and camps.
“To be able to cater to this growing demand for the segment, we have introduced a quality rating, similar to the ratings for hotels but designed more towards the alternate accommodation standards,” he said. “Quality rating is a self correction system. Once the algorithm takes into account properties which are doing really well in terms of service quality and standards, it rewards the property accordingly, which in turn drives more demand for that particular property.”