INDIA, September 13, 2024: Booking.com, one of the world’s leading online travel companies, along with popular Bollywood couple Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal teamed up with Santosh Kumar, Country Manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com to enjoy a guided cooking experience, highlighting one of many exciting experiences and attractions available on Booking.com.
Planning a dream vacation can quickly turn into a logistical nightmare. A recent Booking.com survey reveals that nearly half (42%) of Indians find trip planning stressful, including juggling flights, accommodations, car rentals, activities and the overall logistics. Booking.com, one of the world’s leading online travel companies, is addressing this need by orchestrating the best traveller experience and aiming to make every trip a connected trip.
The connected journey: more than just travel
Booking.com empowers Indian travellers to seamlessly plan and book all key aspects of their journey on the Booking.com platform, eliminating the need to navigate multiple websites and apps. From finding the right flight to booking the perfect stay, travellers can craft their ideal itinerary with ease. Additionally, options for car rentals, private airport transfers and a vast selection of exciting local activities are all readily available in one place, to create a frictionless travel experience.
- Experience driven travel motivators: Experiences are an important part of a trip with almost half of Indian travellers (48%) wanting to experience a new or different lifestyle and culture. 43% want to find thrills and adventures during their travels and trying new food is one of the top five motivators for Indians to travel. Booking.com offers a range of attractions and great things to do for customers across 2,300 cities across 125 countries, enabling travellers to fully appreciate and explore the very best a destination has to offer. From guided heritage walks to street food walks, Booking.com offers over 7,300 attractions ‘must do’ attractions alongside the more niche and unknown in India.
- Effortless travel: Transport is a key part of the trip planning process and one in which multiple points of friction still exist today. Booking.com offers multiple onground options – car rentals, pre-booked taxis and ride-hailing at the click of a button. Car rentals are currently available at over 50,000 locations worldwide across 156 countries and pre-booked taxis are available in 600+ cities across 130+ countries.
- Explore the world: Beyond accommodation, Booking.com offers an end-to-end branded flight product to customers in 55 markets globally, including India. Travellers can book flights to over 4,500 destinations worldwide for over 500 airlines. For Indian travellers travelling domestically, the top 5 most searched destinations for flights include Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa and Hyderabad. Similarly when it comes to international travel, Dubai, London, Bangkok, Toronto and Bali are among the top searched international destinations for flights by Indians from January 2024 till date.
Cooking up a storm with Booking.com
With nearly half (48%) of the Indian travellers choosing a destination to indulge in local cuisines, the event was a perfect blend of travel, food and memorable experiences. At the ‘The Connected Trip: A Culinary Experience’ event on September 12, 2024, Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal shared their food inspired travel stories while learning to prepare their favourite avocado and cucumber sushi and sattu ka paratha with eggplant and tomato chutney, a delicacy from Bihar reflecting on their local and global adventures and childhood memories. The event illustrated how Booking.com connects travellers with diverse, authentic and immersive experiences based on their needs and preferences.
Bollywood actor Sonakshi Sinha commented, “Travel is my passion. I love immersing myself in the destination’s culture, exploring the local markets and of course relishing the local cuisine. But planning is a bit of a headache. Juggling flights, accommodations and activities can be overwhelming. Thankfully, Booking.com has simplified this and travellers can now book various elements of their trip on one platform and enjoy a stress free holiday.”
Adding to this, Bollywood actor Zaheer Iqbal said, “Food is integral to India’s culture. It has the power to unite people from all over the world. As someone who loves exploring local cuisines whenever I travel, I’m excited to be a part of this event showcasing Booking.com immersive experiences for Indian travellers. Travellers can easily book attractions like sushi making class in Japan or exploring Kolkata’s street food scene – everything in the palm of their hand.”
Tailor-made trips powered by predictive technology
Booking.com leverages smart, data-powered predictive technologies, like machine learning and AI, to enhance the traveller experience further. By analysing past choices and preferences, Booking.com can suggest other useful services for their trip, such as car rental, dining reservations, tickets to attractions, and shuttle services, ultimately creating a personalised, AI-enhanced and truly connected booking experience.
“Today travellers are looking for seamless trip planning and travel experiences where they can search, book and manage different aspects of their trip on one platform,” said Santosh Kumar, Country Manager, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com. “At Booking.com, we are dedicated to eliminating friction in travel by continuously innovating to address their evolving needs. Our ‘Connected Trip’ vision embodies this commitment by offering multiple elements of the travel experience in one place and providing seamless, end-to-end support throughout the entire journey. Today, we’re excited to see real progress with our vision for a ‘connected trip’. Today we are seeing real progress in our vision. According to our Booking Holdings Q2 2024 earnings, our connected transactions increased by 45% y-o-y and continue to represent a high single digit percentage of Booking.com’s total transactions.” He further added, ”we are excited to have partnered with Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal to showcase how travellers can easily book just about every element of their trip on Booking.com – whether it’s renting a car, enrolling for a cooking class or booking an airport taxi – and easily create a travel experience.”
