Initially launched as Bezurk.com in 2005, the search engine is a one-stop shop for people planning to travel; from an elaborate family vacation to a two-day business trip, the site accumulates information on flights, hotels, travel packages, vacation activities and so on. The format which works similar to how Google and Yahoo! do (one of the founders was an ex-Yahoo! executive), crossed over to the Indian market to tap into the waking giant body of travellers.
How it works
The website is more like a telephone directory where information from different companies is listed together, giving customers a relative idea of what is available in which price bracket. Says Jackson Fernandez, the general manager for the Indian operations, “We have a presence in 40 countries with tie-ups with about 200 players. So that is a very wide margin that we’re catering to. Our strongest presence at the moment is in South East Asia, primarily in countries like Singapore, where our head office is, Thailand, Indonesia and even Australia.”
So how different is it from the more popular sites like Makemytrip.com and Yatra.com?
“We are not their competition. In fact the more business they do is good for us and vice-versa. We just put everything together; we are not involved in how well an airline does or how much more traffic a hotel booking gets,” explains Ashwin Jayasankar, head of product and alliances. Wego results are a combination of travel offers from such consolidators and the companies themselves.
Indian chapter
Launched a couple of months ago, the website offers information on flights and hotels primarily. Says Jayasankar, “There are a lot of people travelling now-a-days and it's not just within the country. With our comparative pricing list, it matches the Indian mindset of looking for the best deals.” At the moment enjoying a click-count of 250,000, the company hopes to multiply that by at least three times. “What we’ve also done is introduce the site in 11 regional languages, including Bengali, Hindi, Marathi and the four South languages.”
Indicating that there have been requests, Fernandez says, “We have a lot of Indian customers abroad who prefer reading in their own language, and so we decided on introducing the languages.”
Looking ahead
The site at the moment only deals with travel arrangements like flights, stay, travel packages and so on. However, they have plans on adding a few more features in the near future.
“We’re looking at tying up with taxis and buses. This will be something only for the Indian experience because a large population also use these means to commute,” shares Fernandez. And how about other features like restaurants? “It’s an idea. Maybe we could do something about that later. But not right now,” says Jayasankar.