How to Build a Travel App Like MakeMyTrip?

MakeMyTrip is a popular and one of India’s leading online travel booking apps. Packed with plenty of features like flight bookings, train and bus bookings, hotel bookings, and holiday packages, the app offers a hassle-free booking facility to users at a very affordable price. It has been designed and developed in a way that offers users the utmost convenience and a seamless booking experience.

Are you also looking to build an app like MakeMyTrip? Do you like the features and functionality it offers and want a similar app for your business? If yes, you have landed at the right place. You might have a number of questions running through your mind right now like how much it would cost to build an app like MakeMytrip, how much time it would take, and how you approach a travel app development company for that matter. No worries, we’ve got you covered.

In this blog post, we will discuss everything you need to know about building an app like MakeMyTrip. First, let’s see how MakeMyTrip or MMT has grown in popularity over the years.

Earlier, flight bookings or any sort of travel-related bookings (either domestic or international) were a cumbersome process. The introduction of online travel booking apps like MakeMyTrip brought a shift in the traditional process and made it way too convenient for users. People could easily book flights, hotels, cabs, and trains without worrying about going to a travel agency. The prices are displayed upfront and users also get attractive deals and discounts on their bookings or holiday packages. Not only has MMT simplified the booking process but they have also paid attention to detail to ensure that users don’t face any kind of inconvenience while creating a booking.

The Fundamentals of a Travel App Like MakeMyTrip

The demand for travel-based apps has increased of late, and as a result, more and more travel apps are being introduced in the app marketplace to provide users with an effortless booking experience.

Some of the important things that users look for in a travel app are-

1. Should be reliable or trustworthy.

2. Affordable bookings with some great deals and discounts.

3. Booking Convenience

4. Booking modification or cancellation option.

5. Multiple payment methods with a secure payment gateway.

When building a travel app like MakeMyTrip, pay attention to the following aspects or features-

1. Simple Yet Amazing Design

An excellent app design sets up the foundation for a great travel app. A mobile app with a simple but attractive design can keep users hooked to the application for a longer period. Pay a great deal of attention to the app’s UI/UX. It is what generates users’ interest in an application. Furthermore, the design should be intuitive so that users can understand how to use the app without much effort.

2. Easy Booking Facility

Today, users have a number of options to choose from to create their travel bookings. A user would prefer the app that gives him/her the booking convenience along with some amazing offers. The app should display all the important details and prices upfront and encourage a quick and hassle-free checkout. The more user-friendly the app, the more the chances of users preferring it over other similar apps.

3. Multi-Lingual and Mult-Currency Compatible

The app should support multiple languages and multiple currencies so that users across the world can book as per their nation’s language and currency. This would make users feel more connected to the brand and also more confident at the time of booking. At the same time, this would help popularize the app globally.

4. Secure Payment Gateways

If you are considering building a travel app like MakeMyTrip, ensure that the integrated payment gateways are secured. Users shouldn’t be concerned about entering their card details on the payment page. Also, allow multiple payment methods within the app so that users have the freedom to choose the desired payment option when creating a booking. This will eventually result in lesser abandoned bookings.

5. Great Customer Support

Customer support is of paramount importance in an online travel app. In fact, for any eCommerce app’s success, customer service plays a vital role. Users/customers can have N number of questions during or after their booking for which they would want to seek help from the support team. Poor customer support can leave users unsatisfied and compel them to take an exit.

Allow users a number of support options which they can choose as per their wish. You can include a live chat option, phone support, email support, and also include a chatbot.

Developing a Travel App Like MakeMyTrip

Here’s how you can begin with building a travel app like MakeMyTrip.

1. Competitor Research

The first and foremost thing to do before developing any kind of app is to research the existing competitors in the market. Find out the other players in the travel domain, identify their strong and weak points, and see how you can provide a better value than them. Go through their websites, even MakeMyTrip (the kind of app you want to build), and if you find some flaws from the user perspective or feel something is missing or could be better, try to solve them through your app.

2. Select a Travel App Development Company

Look for some travel app development companies who possess the experience of building such apps or have built a few in the past. Since we are talking about MakeMyTrip, read how we helped MakeMyTrip with a car booking solution.

3. Create an MVP

Don’t go for a full-fledged application. Rather ask the development team to build an MVP. A Minimum Viable Product or MVP is a small version of the actual app to be built with a few basic features available for early users who can then provide feedback for future iterations.

4. Test

Testing is an important part of application development to check if it functions as intended. Apart from functional testing, test it with your target users to see how they find the product and whether they are facing any kind of troubles within the app or whether they would any changes. Obtain their feedback and make the necessary changes.

How Much Does It Cost to Build an App Like MakeMyTrip?

The cost to develop a travel app like MakeMyTrip can depend on a number of things, such as-

1. The Platform

The development cost can vary depending on whether you want to build an Android app or an iOS app. Android app development can be comparatively costlier than iOS as it involves testing against many devices, unlike iOS, though it is not always the case.

Related: Android or iOS- For which platform should you build your Mobile App first?

2. Number of Features

The cost of the app is directly proportional to the number of features or customizations you integrate into it. More the features, the higher the cost. Along with increased cost, it would also result in a larger app size.

3. App Design

The cost to build an app like MakeMyTrip would also depend on the number of design elements incorporated in it, such as illustrations, 3D graphics, etc. The richer the app is in terms of design, the more it will cost.

4. Proficiency of the App Development Company

Not all travel app development companies would offer you services at the same price. Some would charge you high (based on their skills and experience) and some would agree to a comparatively lower cost. It can also depend on the location of the company. Developers’ hourly charge in some countries is usually higher than in other countries. Apart from that, the total hours invested in the project also matter a lot. The cost would increase with the increase in the number of hours.

Here’s a breakdown of the total hours that may get invested in developing an app like MakeMyTrip.

Mobile App Design — 120–160 hours, i.e. 60–80 hours for Android and iOS each.

Features (Basic and Advanced)- 500–550 hours, i.e. 180–200 hours for Android and iOS each, and around 150 hours for backend development.

Payments- Android- 60 hours, iOS- 60 hours, Backend- 60 hours

Admin Panel- approximately 100 hours

Just to give you a rough idea of the cost, it can range from $20,000 to $60,000, though the cost can go even above 60 and below 20 as well. Contact our expert developers to get a rough estimate based on your requirements. Dew is a proficient app development company having over 11 years of experience in different verticals such as travel app development, eCommerce app development, healthcare app development, and more.

Summing Up

The objective behind any app should be to provide users quality, convenience, and satisfaction. And that’s what your focus should be when building a travel app like MakeMyTrip.

1. It should offer a hassle-free booking experience

2. It should allow users to book and pay without any inconvenience

3. It should have a rich and user-friendly design

If all these things are taken care of, you will not only be able to create a great app like MakeMyTrip but also give other competitors an edge. Build a kind of app that the users want, not an app that you want your users to use.

Originally published at https://www.dewsolutions.in on September 2, 2022.