Naspers owned redBus has added a hotel booking section to its website, that is very similar to the ones offered by flight ticket booking websites. (Hat tip: Chetan S). The service is still in beta, but it's not clear if the company has created its own database or if it is using the details from its sister company goIbibo. Unlike air ticket booking websites though, hotel booking is not being shoved down your face (yet?). The service lets you filter hotels by location, number of beds and location, but it does not offer you an option to narrow down the list on the basis of facilities provided by these hotels. It is possible that the company will add these features down the line, since it is in beta right now. Why add a hotels section?: Air ticket booking websites generally have hotel booking as well since the margins are higher for the latter. For example, in the case of MakeMyTrip 38.4% of its revenues came from hotel bookings in Q3-FY14. In Medianama's Outlook14 report on what travel companies plan to do this year, Aloke Bajpai of iXigo had said that the focus is shifting to hotels and packages to drive revenue growth and profitability. He also said that there is an opportunity to aggregate fragmented non-hotel inventory and improve the experience at the below Rs 2000 per room-night market -- the same market who might also be traveling by bus. Competition: redBus.in which was acquired by Ibibo Group in June…
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