Yatra.com Launched!
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The e-travel space is by far the most competitive and the most interesting one as well. Just after 27 days from the launch of Cleartrip.com (The Online Travel website funded by Sherpalo Ventures) come yet another launch but this one is a biggie with investors like Reliance Capital, TV18 and Norwest Ventures much is expected from Yatra (www.yatra.com), the assisted, online and call-center-based travel services company for the India market.
Well my first impression is nice they have launched with services like car booking bus booking and train booking as well along with flights and hotels (though bus and trains is still under construction). Yatra.com seems to be targetting the B and C class city users too as it claims to have relationships with over 1000 hotels across 150 cities and many hotels having a booking amount of less than Rs.1000! But the best feature that i feel could make all the difference is the last minute booking feature. Yatra.com provides booking flights up to three hours before their departure which to a business traveller is a much required service. Besides this there is also a city guide which one can go through to know more about the cities.
All in all on first impression its seems that yatra.com is much more comprehensive than cleartrip but one cannot predict in this e-travel market as both these players are funded by International VC’s and have a lot of muscle power! But if i had to put my money i would put it on Yatra.com because of two reasons firstly the domain name which is in hindi (think naukri.com and shaadi.com success) and the second is their investor backing is by far the strongest i have seen for an internet company which hasn’t even launched. But only time will tell whether my hunch is correct because there is still ezeego1.com to be launched which is backed by Cox and Kings whose experience in the travel space is its forte.
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I am really curious to see how the online travel space plays out. So many players, so many airlines and so few online buyers….well atleast for now.
What happens when the international e-travel sites start pouring in?? Mobissimo is almost here…zuji and expedia on their way, other im sure are watching closely….
I think this is by far the best i have seen for a long time in indian space. Yatra as the name suggests travel will suffice with the common indian and can catch quickly n eaisily with the international touch. Yatra Rocks with its feature of booking 3 hours prior to Departure n also Hotels are by far the cheapest, i h avent see such a feature where customer can play n choose preferred airline, price range and time by slider bar. And also this site captures customer price range for hotel prior to searching for his hotel and one can compare up to 3 hotels which is even more interesting as no one allows to compare and book from there. One more thing i have noticed that one can pay at the hotel reception, no jitters of paying to the agent n thinking whether they have charged me right or wrong, this will real help indian customer where people are still orthodox of going to the hotel and paying then n there. ALL IN ALL YATRA ROCKS!!!
http://www.yatra.com is a fantastic travel website, a complete consolidator and wide variety of products in one window. Waitiing for train to get launch, and also city guide is a popular tool to get info about the city u r visiting.
I had booked air tickets on Make my trip and I got it the next day itself. But with Yatra, my friend has not received the tickets and one week has already passed. Did not expect this kinda service from a new player.
* Cleartrip launches Beta site to Make Travel Simple*
-July , 2006
Mumbai - July 4, 2006 - Cleartrip, a new comprehensive online travel service announced its launch at a press conference held in the city today. The founding team includes Stuart Crighton, Hrush Bhatt and Matthew Spacie, who, with their senior management team collectively have over 50 years of rich experience in travel and online businesses. Cleartrip is headed by CEO Sandeep Murthy and is funded by Ram Shriram’s Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, two leading US based venture capital firms. Cleartrip is firmly committed to its mission of "Making travel simple" while offering value to both customers and suppliers alike. Cleartrip will commence its operations specializing in domestic travel.
Cleartrip’s website allows customers to select from over 900 domestic hotels across India and a comprehensive selection of established Network carriers and Low Cost Airlines operating in the domestic market.
Commenting on the launch Ram Shriram, Sherpalo Ventures, said “The Internet will play an important role in the planning and fulfillment of travel needs of consumer and business travelers alike. Cleartrip provides the best of breed in breadth of selection and choice, user experience and customer service. The Cleartrip team has effectively leveraged its legacy of expertise in travel and technology to be able to design and deploy a simple solution that will match customers with the best airline or hotel for their travel needs.”
Cleartrip has invested in technology to ensure that customers are served their search results in a matter of seconds. Once search results are served, Cleartrip has created a unique interface that allows customers to mix and match their preferred airline, time and price for both outbound and return flights on one page - thereby reducing the number pages that a consumer must load to find their preferred flight. Customers at Cleartrip can complete their entire booking in four simple steps.
Sandeep Murthy, Chief Executive Officer, Cleartrip said, “Cleartrip leverages technology to make the process of finding the right ticket or hotel room simple. With the advent of new air carriers and the increase in hotel capacity, customers will need an intuitive way to navigate the many choices available to them. We are passionate about our customers and have leveraged our deep understanding of the travel industry and technology to create the best end-to-end experience for all of our customers’ travel needs.”
Cleartrip is committed to working with airlines and hotels to actively embrace this new channel of distribution and assist them in customer acquisition. Cleartrip provides travel partners with unique, aggregated data analytics and business intelligence to help them better understand the macro trends in travel search and purchase.
Cleartrip is built on the promise of providing a reliable, simple and responsible service by offering comprehensive products with competitive pricing. Cleartrip’s focus on customer experience is reflected in its commitment to customer service. Cleartrip leverages Short Messaging Service (SMS) and email to continuously communicate with customers and offers all customers access to a live help desk to address any of their post booking needs.
With an intuitive search interface and a robust customer support infrastructure, Cleartrip ensures that all customers have a simple and enjoyable experience - from search to book and beyond.
Challenging role in a startup:
———————————-
We are running http://www.samfra.com - a local search engine.
We are going to launch a travel portal with great innovations.
We already have some highly experienced people in the team.
But, we need experienced people from travel, web marketing and technical
domains.
If interested or you know someone who can be suitable, send me a mail at
jeet232(at)gmail(dot)com
Even if you are not in above categories, still we can discuss things.
Thanks
Jeet Singh
9342141022
* Yatra has no concern for their customers* My experience with Yatra has been otherwise
Big names like Reliance etc does not mean that the service rendered would be world clsss. While it looks nice to see things on their Portal, on the ground reality is different ! I had done Hotel bookings thru them this April for family holiday in May and to my surprise even after the money was charged to my CC, I found the Hotels refusing to confirm the bookings. On notifying the anomaly to them, 11th hour attempt by Yatra yielded result that they found a hotel some 145 kms away from my destination ! Finally I had to search a hotel which was still some 20kms from the downtown area and pay thru my nose for an up-down cost of travel by taxis everyday. In the other case, I was offered a very dingy cottage (one can call it a servant room) at a resort instead of a room booked and confirmed thru them. I had to check in at another hotel and pay thru my nose. The very purpose of going on a vacation, with advance bookings done, is to enjoy a hassle free vacation but that is the last of the concerns with the people at Yatra. Till date, despite so many reminders, Yatra has not even bothered to call back. Their sales manager Arpit Seth has no empathy for the poor clients.Net net, my vacation was royally sc***d and my kids and wife were cursing me for no fault of mine.