50.4% of hotel bookings made on MakeMyTrip between June and August checked in on the day they were booked. Another 26.1% checked in within two days.
Three in four hotel bookings were made less than 72 hours before arrival. Only 2.7% were made more than a month ahead.
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Most of these are short stays. 70.1% of bookings were for a single night. The same-day booker is mostly buying a single night, at short notice.
Price tells the other half of the story. For one-night stays, the further ahead the booking, the more expensive the room. A same-day one-night booking averaged about INR 3,500. Booked one to two days ahead, it rose to INR 4,400. Three to seven days ahead, INR 6,500. Eight to thirty days ahead, INR 7,600. Book more than a month out and the average one-night stay cost about INR 12,500, roughly 3.6 times the same-day rate.
The gap reflects the kind of stay being bought rather than a penalty for planning ahead. Rooms booked weeks out cost several times more per night than rooms booked for tonight.
For a hotel or a chain listing on MakeMyTrip, the two ends of that curve want different things. The same-day booker is most of the volume and is buying availability and proximity at a modest price. The month-ahead booker is a small share of bookings but spends several times more per night, and is choosing between properties rather than grabbing whatever is free.