That’s the corner MakeMyTrip found itself in.
In the hotel category — fragmented, competitive, and margin-thin — Deep Kalra and Rajesh Magow tried everything except deep discounting.
Because as they put it:
“You can make less money, but you can’t lose money on a transaction.”
But when global players came in with a completely different playbook, MMT was stuck between a rock and a hard place:
Match the discounts and the P&L collapses.
Don’t match them and the market share slips.
For nearly two years they tried every alternative — until the only logical move left was consolidation.
Goibibo had a younger, more value-conscious audience; MMT had a higher-income base.
The plan was simple, but execution wasn’t:
If you don’t get into an acquisition with full ownership — a true karta-dharta — it will fail.
So they rolled up their sleeves, merged cultures, integrated teams, and embraced the strengths of both brands.
Eighteen months later, the overlap sits in the low teens — and the two-brand strategy is working.
In this episode of The Blume Podcast, Deep & Rajesh walk Karthik Reddy through one of the most complex decisions in Indian online travel — a masterclass in competition, consolidation, and execution.
🎧 Watch the full episode now — the real story behind MakeMyTrip x Goibibo.