OYO vs MakeMyTrip – An honest Personal Review
OYO and Makemytrips have emerged as two giant names in the hotel industry. People mostly choose between these two platforms for booking hotels. So, let’s see which one’s best between OYO Vs MakeMyTrip.
Table of Contents
OYO Vs Makemytrip
A Brief Info about OYO Hotels and Homes
OYO was founded by Mr Ritesh Agarwal in the year 2013 with a vision to connect hotels from different cities under one platform. So, people can easily find out and book their stay in advance and shouldn’t worry much while visiting a place.
Due to such a useful feature, it soon turned out to be one of the largest platforms online in the hotel business without spending much of a fortune. The reason being that the whole concept revolves around connecting already built places ( hotels, apartments etc. ) and making them customer-centric. Although they now own few properties too.
Approximately 20000 employees work under OYO directly or indirectly across the world, which is huge. These employees are required to ensure excellent customer experience and solve customer’s grievances.
Soon, because of their immense success in India, OYO expanded their business in other countries as well like- Nepal, China, Malaysia, Japan, UAE, UK etc. But still, their huge chunk of profit is from budget accommodations.
A Brief Info About MakeMyTrip Limited
Founded in the year 2000 by Mr Deep Kalra, MakeMyTrip focused mainly on NRIs and People living abroad initially. In the later phase, they started providing the facility of ticket and hotel bookings.
Since they are not confined to just hotel business, so their area of operations is diverse. It targets the complete travel package, i.e. from the journey to stays and local commutating.
You will be quite surprised to know that the other giant in the accommodation and hospitality business- IBIBO group ( known as GOIBIBO ) is subsidiarily owned by MakeMyTrip only.
Since MMT or MakeMyTrip has been in the market for a longer duration, they have managed to diversify their services and support across India and many countries like- USA, Thailand, Malaysia, UAE etc.
Experience with the OYO Rooms
I need to travel to different cities for almost every ten days due to professional and personal reasons. Online booking services have been a boon to a person like me. Before my every travel, I tend to book my stays in advance to escape and last minute hassle.
Talking about my experience in OYO rooms, the stays are somewhat useful if not great. Mostly the rooms are well maintained and have a good ambience.
But there is a catch to it. OYO doesn’t own all the property; it renovates the already built one mostly. So, there is no direct control, or at least I don’t feel so.
If I have travelled to places where there are more hotel accommodations available, then everything goes on as expected. But if that place lacks in a number of hotels, the experience is not that great.
Case – OYO Rooms booking
I travelled to Bhopal from Delhi. Since the flight was delayed ( you must be knowing the fog in Delhi ), I contacted the property and told them that I would be reaching late. I arrived at the booked property at 10 P.M.
To my surprise, the property was locked from inside, and nobody was there to attend me. I shouted, rang the bell for around 20 minutes. I called the OYO customer service and after they intervened somebody came after 45 min. ( approx. ) and let me in.
Getting inside, I got to know that my room has been allotted to somebody else. I need to wait for another 30 minutes as that person is about to leave, and room service would take extra time to clean. It was already 2 A.M.
I again called the customer support, and after explaining all the situation, the executive asked me to wait for a while as he was about to arrange something. The reception informed me after 30 minutes that the room is ready, and I may move in.
After an hour, the executive from OYO rooms called me and said that the issue has been resolved and please rate if you liked our service. I mean seriously !!
It’s just one case, and I have experienced this type of situation more than 3-4 times with OYO rooms and all in different places.
Experience with the MakeMyTrip Hotels
As I mentioned earlier, due to my work profile, I have experienced the service of almost every app-based service providing travel packages and stays. Thus, I have been using MakeMyTrip too.
Their app-based approach is way better than any other competition. The facility to book Bus, Train and Flight tickets along with accommodations under one roof is excellent. But that’s all about booking.
The hotels booked under MakeMyTrips are also not entirely owned by them. You will even be surprised to see OYO rooms too in their list ( the names don’t specify that they are OYO ). So, the controlling part also seems missing here.
Case- MakeMyTrip Booking
Once I had to visit Karnal for some meeting. I searched online on MakeMyTrip and booked a hotel. I took a train which is the best way to reach there peacefully from Delhi. I reached the property around 2 P.M. and saw around 10-12 students standing outside the campus.
I talked to them and got to know that there was some railway examination and they were all in search of accommodation. I thought myself to be in a good position as I had booked the hotel in advance.
I moved inside the hotel and told the receptionist that I have a booking and please take me to my room as I was tired. His reply was unexpected. He said “Sir, koi room Khali Nahi hai and aapko room nahi mil sakta “which translates to – No room is empty and you can’t get a room.
I was speechless. I told him that I already have a room booked and even the payment was made in advance a week ago. He denied it by saying that there is a glitch in MakeMyTrip app and it is taking the bookings even when all the rooms are occupied.
As I was talking, some students came inside and started arguing that they had spoken to the customer executive and their booking was genuine. And since their booking is in advance, the hotel should provide them with the room.
Meanwhile, one more student came and told the receptionist that he is ready to pay Rs. 4000 and share the room with two more people. That means Rs. 12000 for a double bedroom shared by three people. I was just dumbstruck.
This was when I understood that pre-booking MakeMyTrip hotels makes no sense.
The price of the hotel room was way lesser for a double bed, and the hotel was Black marketing the room and even forcing to share the place. They also called some bouncers if someone protested. I immediately complained to the customer executive of MMT, and they assured me that they would call in an hour or two with a solution.
It was already 5 P.M., so I decided to find some other accommodation. So, I searched for the MakeMyTrip app again and saw many hotels where rooms were available. Instead of booking them online, I thought of reaching there directly.
Trust me, I visited more than seven to eight hotels shown in MakeMyTrip App and everywhere the situation was the same in Karnal. Everyone was charging way higher ( even the word higher seems diminished ).
It was 8 P.M. already, and I called the executive the fourth or fifth time again, and they said that they are still working on providing me with accommodation as early as possible in the city. After an hour they called me and said that they have managed to arrange a hotel, but that is around 50 km from the city.
I was shocked by the resolution being provided by the customer support team. I immediately denied and asked them to find a better solution to which she again asked for an hour. It was already 10:30 P.M., I was drained and clueless.
One random person suggested that I visit the nearby Dharamshala. I went there, and after requesting a lot to the administrator, I somehow managed to share one “Chawki Khat “with a stranger – most probably one student.
Again I called the customer executive for the final try, and she replied – “Sorry we couldn’t arrange anything for you and although you had prior prepaid booking with Us we cannot do anything as of now”.
She also said that – “I am providing you Rs. 600 as MMT Cash as a resolution which you can use in your next stay. I was like – Seriously !!
Somehow the night got over, and the next day in the morning, I directly went to the venue of the meeting, and after the meeting got over, I immediately took a cab and returned to Delhi.
It was a horrendous experience.
OYO Rooms Vs MakeMyTrip Customer Service
Both companies thrive on customer hospitality service. But on the ground level, they both have no control over the hotels. In the end, it’s the will of hotels to do what they want, and the customer service can just console you.
OYO service was a little bit quicker in responding to me. Whenever I place a complaint, I receive a call back in said duration ( although it is just informing that they are still figuring out a resolution ).
On the other hand, MakeMyTrip ( MMT ) customer support has rarely called me back. They will call you after a day or two and ask you to please rate their service. Even after complaining about such an incident, they are not also bothered to remove such properties from their portal.
Although I must admit that I have never faced an issue while booking a Bus, Train or flight from MakeMyTrip.
Hotel Denied Check-in
When you search online for “Hotel Denied Check-in even after confirmed booking”, it will be a real shocker to know how the hotels under MakeMyTrip and OYO operate.
Your web search will be flooded with results where people will let you know how the hotel harassed them and denied check-in even at night. Many ( just like me ) had to roam on the street for hours and hours.
Pro Tip– If possible, I try to book the hotel personally contacting them. Although the cost may be Rs. 300 – 500 extra than the MakeMyTrip, OYO, Tripadvisor, GoIbibo etc. but the stays are much secured and save me from any hassle.
In this case, I have never faced any issue of denied check-in by the property.
Tips while booking a hotel from OYO or MakeMyTrip
- Always cross-check and call the hotel well in advance a day before you check in to inform the hotel about your stay.
- Ask the customer support to confirm your booking and payment from the property.
- If you know that there is some government job/vacancy examination on the day, avoid travelling or shift your schedule a day before or afterwards. I know that seems very vague but still works.
- If possible, don’t opt for prepaid. Go for “pay while Checking In” options. As many cases have been reported where hotels denied check-in and people have to argue a lot and wait for days just to get a refund.
- While booking on either of the platforms, always search the property termed as “go stays Certified” and “MMT Assured hotel” in the list of respective platforms. But that also doesn’t guarantee your stay. But still, go with them for some added hope.
Bonus Tip
Although I haven’t tried it yet, taking the help of local police can get you out of trouble if the hotel staff is misbehaving. One of my colleagues tried it, and it helped him in assuring safety and staying in the hotel late at night.
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Conclusion
Concluding who’s got an edge between OYO Vs MakeMyTrip is not easy. I have literally no confidence in both the platforms, but due to the frequent travel, I am bound to use such services. I feel there is just a nominal difference between OYO and MakeMyTrip and the same properties ( many if not all ) are mentioned in both the platforms.
But again if I have to pick one, I try to go with OYO rooms for stays and MakeMyTrip for just booking my bus/train/flight.
Hope you find this article-” OYO vs MakeMyTrip – An honest Personal Review” helpful and it will help you manage your trips in a much better way. If you liked the information, please share it with your friends and family so that it could be beneficial for them too. Also, comment below let me know your experience ( if any ) with OYO rooms and MakeMyTrip.
hi-ya, heroic blog on lardy loss. parallel helped.