MakeMyTrip acquires majority stake in corporate travel management venture Quest2Travel

MakeMyTrip has picked up a majority stake in corporate travel management company Quest2Travel (Q2T), the Nasdaq-listed, Gurgaon-headquartered online travel major announced late on Tuesday.

While the company did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction, the deal signals the increasing opportunities India’s largest travel operators and hospitality companies anticipate in the segment.

“This investment will help us extend our service offerings to large corporates for their travel requirements while helping Quest2Travel benefit from the travel expertise and depth of supplier relationships that MakeMyTrip has forged over the years,” Deep Kalra, chief executive and group chairman of MakeMyTrip Limited, said in an official statement.

According to the press release sent out by MakeMyTrip late on Tuesday evening, Q2T’s enterprise software allows corporates to manage their employees’ end-to-end employee travel needs on a real-time basis.

The latter’s online booking platform offers the entire workflow of travel procurement, including travel request approvals, corporate policy compliant online bookings, invoice generation, expense management, reimbursement, and final invoice settlements.

“We have historically focused on providing travel solutions for retail customers and with this investment, we are making a decisive foray into providing travel solutions for corporate customers as well,” Kalra said.

The latest deal in the corporate travel management space comes almost a month after SoftBank-backed OYO Hotels & Homes announced that it is scaling up its executive stay brand SilverKey to 19 cities across the country, in its bid to double down on the corporate travel segment.

Additionally, Nasdaq-listed Yatra, India’s second-largest online travel operator, has also bet big on the corporate travel segment, having acquired Air Travel Bureau for an estimated $22.5 million-$27.5 million in 2017.

Earlier this year, Yatra was reported to have also acquired the corporate travel business of Chennai-based offline travel services provider PL Worldways for an undisclosed sum.

“This partnership is a perfect fit because it combines the best in corporate travel with the leader in non-corporate travel. Amongst other benefits, it will help us offer superior service offerings with wider inventory and better pricing for air, hotel bookings and other employee travel services,” Abhay Rangnekar, chief executive of Q2T, said in the statement.