Paytm Launches AI-Powered Travel App ‘Checkin' for Smarter Bookings

• Introduces an interactive AI-first travel experience that is simple, delightful, cost-effective, and more consumer-friendly
• Enabled with an AI assistant for conversational trip planning that recommends destinations, personalises itineraries, and manages bookings
• Features a modern, intuitive interface designed for easy navigation, faster checkout, and transparent pricing across flights, trains, buses, and metro bookings
• Provides real-time flight tracking, keeping travellers informed throughout their journey. 

Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited), India’s full stack merchant payments leader serving MSMEs and enterprises, and a leading financial services distribution company, and the pioneer of mobile payments, QR codes, and Soundbox, has announced the launch of its new AI travel app, Paytm Checkin. This marks a significant step in Paytm’s journey to bring artificial intelligence into travel through a dedicated app that aims to redefine how people plan, book, and experience their journeys.

With Paytm Checkin, travel planning becomes an interactive experience. The in-app AI assistant understands queries intuitively, allowing travellers to ask, browse, and make bookings through simple conversation. It can recommend destinations, curate personalised itineraries, and organise bookings across flights, trains, buses, and metro, creating a seamless travel journey from planning to checkout. The AI continuously refines results based on preferences, previous selections, and travel patterns, delivering contextually relevant recommendations that improve with every interaction. These AI features are currently in early beta and will continue to evolve through real-world interactions and feedback.

Building on Paytm’s legacy of innovation and customer-focused interface, Paytm Checkin introduces a comprehensive suite of benefits that bring ease, flexibility, and transparency to travel. The platform offers zero convenience fees on bookings, ensuring complete price clarity with no hidden charges. For flight bookings, free cancellation at just ₹99 adds flexibility and peace of mind, while the Travel Pass priced at ₹249 unlocks additional savings and exclusive benefits. Paytm Assured for Buses ensures timely and reliable refunds, while Ticket Assure for Trains provides confirmed seat assistance for a smoother travel experience.

Paytm Checkin features a modern, intuitive interface for easy navigation, faster checkout, and transparent pricing, helping travellers find, compare, and book their trips effortlessly. With real-time flight tracking, it offers complete visibility and a seamless travel experience. Paytm believes artificial intelligence will redefine the way travel bookings are made by shifting from traditional searches to conversational, intuitive planning that makes travel simpler, faster, and more personal.

Vikash Jalan, CEO - Paytm Travel said, “We are taking a big step in AI-led travel with Paytm Checkin, creating a new and smarter way for people to plan and book their journeys. We believe AI will change the way travel bookings are done, and with Paytm Checkin, we are bringing a world-class, AI-first experience through a dedicated app designed to make travel planning simple, personal, and effortless.”

Paytm has pioneered mobile payments innovation in India and continues to integrate AI across multiple verticals to enhance personalization, speed, and efficiency. With Paytm Checkin, the company extends this vision to the travel segment, creating a smarter and more intuitive way to plan and book trips while ensuring reliability and transparency at every stage of the journey.


Link to the video: Here

Intercity Bus Travel Start-up, Zingbus Upscales Its Operations in Delhi, Launches Premium Lounge at Anand Vihar

The premium lounge will cater to travellers' needs with food court, travel shop, free Wi-Fi & cloakroom, among others. 

zingbus, India’s leading bus travel brand, solely focused on improving the intercity travel domain, is all set to expand its operations in the capital city of Delhi. Launches a premium new lounge at Anand Vihar. The purpose is to make travellers’ journey further convenient and comfortable, providing a clean and hygienic place.

Zingbus Anand Vihar Lounge

The premium lounge offers facilities like food court, travel shop, device charging points, free Wi-Fi, cloakroom, clean washroom, among others. The launch of the lounge is integral to offer the much required break that travellers look for while option for a long journey.

As a part of the plan to launch 30 premium lounges across the nation, the Anand Vihar lounge provides a clean and safe environment for every bypasser to rest and refresh. Located next to EDM Mall, Anand Vihar Metro Station"Anand Vihar, Delhi, the lounge has a seating capacity of 30 people, offering a pleasant and enriching experience to everyone.

Anand Vihar, Delhi stands to be a crucial location on the zingbus network connecting majo cities like Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Dehradun, Varanasi, Deoria, Agra, Bareilly, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Saharanpur, Rampur, Meerut & Muzaffarnagar.

Commenting on the launch, Mratunjay Beniwal, Director and Co-Founder, zingbus said, “We are excited to launch our premium lounge in one of the busiest transit points of Delhi. It would serve as a prominent location for every passerby offering a great connectivity to some major travel destinations. Further, being convenient & safe, it would provide the bus commuters a peaceful and enjoyable experience. This lounge is a gift to the spirit of travel, opened for all travellers passing through the route.”

Since its inception, zingbus has served more than 2.5 Million passengers. The intercity mobility start-up has grown 14x in the last year, ensuring its travellers a safe, reliable and affordable intercity commute. zingbus also has lounges in Ahmedabad, Manali, Gorakhpur, jaipur, Amritsar & Lucknow, with two existing lounges in Delhi located at Majnu Ka Tila and R.K Ashram.

Travotel.com Emerges as Winner at Dell Technologies’ 'The Challengers Award 2022' in Travel Category

‘The Challengers Award 2022’ was presented by Dell Technologies in collaboration with Money Control, CNBC TV18 & powered by Intel Corporation with E&Y as process partners.

Travotel.com – India’s Leading B2B Travel SaaS Platform & Booking Portal, emerged as the Winner at Dell Technologies’ 'The Challengers Award 2022' in the Travel, Logistics & Supply Chain Category. The Award was presented at a glittering ceremony held at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi on 25th August 2022 to the Founder & CEO Mr. Sameer Patil and Ms. Rakhi Agrawal, Co-Founder & COO of Travotel.com, by Mr. C. P. Gurnani, CEO & MD of Tech Mahindra, Ms. Swati Mishra, Director and General Manager, Small Business India at Dell Technologies & Raj Kumar Rishi, Managing Director, Consumer and Small Business India at Dell.

Dell Technologies' ‘The Challengers Award 2022’ has been instrumental in identifying the next generation of IT innovators and pioneers in India. Additionally, it is the perfect platform to share ideas and opinions on the progress of small and medium enterprises in the country, and how innovation can help them overcome present challenges.

Ms. Rakhi Agrawal, Co-Founder & COO, Travotel.com said, “We are extremely delighted to receive this Award on behalf of our Team & Start-up, Travotel.com. This award validates our hard work & the market opportunities that B2B Travel space offers in India & Globally. Despite having started in pandemic, our growth in B2B Travel Tech domain has been phenomenal. The Travel Agents using our Platform have seen a marked increase in their Operational Efficiencies & Revenues.”

(L-R) Sameer and Rakhi

Mr. Sameer Patil, Founder & CEO, Travotel.com said, “We are elated to receive this prestigious award. Travel has picked up extremely well over the past year & we are happy to help the Retail & SME Travel Agents with a free plug & play platform. On popular demand we are also offering the B2B Travel Booking platform to the Start-ups, MSME & Corporate Segment to avail the benefits of booking Flights, Hotels & Holidays at Best rates & without any Convenience Fees.”

He added, “The Indian Retail Travel Agent Market continues to be a Highly Fragmented, Widely Dispersed & Majorly Offline Industry. The small Travel Agents have to painstakingly deal with multiple suppliers for booking Flights, Hotels & various Travel Services for their Customer Fulfilments. They lack automation, marketing, distribution capabilities & competitive pricing.”

He further said, “Travotel.com is a Full Stack Cloud Based Travel SaaS Platform with a Multi-Product B2B Travel Portal. It provides the Retail Travel Agents with booking platform having competitive rates for booking the Flights, Hotels & Holidays for their customer’s needs. Travotel.com also provides the Travel Agents with a Robust Cloud Based CRM & Back Office management system to manage their business & customers along with a State of the Art AI powered Holiday Customization Tool & a ML based On-the-Go Marketing Automation system.”

Travotel.com has also been declared the winner at Unicorn Pitches India organized in July 2022 and powered by Idea Capital Ventures. Unicorn Pitches India (UPI) is part of the world’s largest startup pitch contest where leading International VCs and Angel investors meet outstanding concept-based startups from India and Globally.

Earlier this year, Travotel.com has been one of the finalists at Eureka 2021 Tech Fest organized by IIT Mumbai E-Cell.

9 New-age Travel Tech Startups Trailblazing Rejuvenate the Travel Industry

The way we work, shop, dine, and spend our free time has all been impacted by technology. The travel sector has profited from ongoing technology improvements as well. Today, we can plan full trips by making reservations for hotels, flights, sightseeing excursions, and other activities on our smartphones.Today, travel is a necessity for living our way of life. The global travel technology glory days bay market predicts that it will cross the $12 billion threshold by 2026, increasing at an anticipated CAGR of more than 7.7 percent from 2021 to 2026.

The advantages of travel inspired several great minds to start a business in the travel sector. Due to the advent of contemporary travel start-ups and shifting consumer preferences, the market is anticipated to reach $9 billion by 2025. Travel entrepreneurs are helping customers create customized travel itineraries to make their vacations hassle-free, from booking tickets to occasionally offering exhilarating offers and deals.

We have narrowed down the list of 9 travel tech startup that clout the technology to revolutionize Travel Industry:

Alike.io:

Alike.io the world’s first content creator focused Travel Commerce platform that incentivises content creators by sharing revenues of bookings influenced by the creator. Launched in collaboration with Dubai Tourism, Alike.io is the flagship offering of travel tech innovator – kitmytrip. Powered by their e-commerce enabled no-code platform, Alike.io offers the content creators (the Insiders) their own studio to showcase their travel content, boosting the success of a whole new set of travel micro-entrepreneurs – the Travelpreneurs.

Alike.io’s uniqueness is their capability to make the travel content bookable. For this Alike.io has already done tie-ups with experience providers across 200 global destinations, which is being made live on the platform in phases over the coming months. Building on their rapid growth, Alike.io is already collaborating with marquee brands like Zomato, SBI, Dubai Tourism to bring the benefits of their platform to the global traveller.

Mint House

Mint House combines the classic comfort of home and the modern luxury of a hotel, giving guests all the perks and none of the tradeoffs. We’ve ditched losable key cards, long lines, room service and other relics for the things we miss when we travel—kitchens, groceries, workout routines, and the space to spread out. Every part of the Mint House experience is powered by smart technology, making your stay personal, predictable and effortless.

Travel Union

Started by Bollywood actor Sonu Sood, Travel Union is India’s first rural B2B travel tech platform that aims to democratize travel services by providing a platform to Travel Union members (travel agents) towards serving the travel needs of rural customers at every district, block and gram panchayat level.

Travel Union touted as India’s first travel-tech startup built with rural travel agents at the core. It is an initiative by actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood, aiming to build a thriving community of travel agents. As a one-stop super-aggregator platform, Travel Union provides the best and cheapest in travel offerings from direct airlines, railways, hotels, trips, wholesalers and aggregators through an app available in Hindi & English.

Travel Union aims to digitally empower and build a leading travel agent business community in rural India to serve 1 billion Bharat population.

Selfbook

Quietly transforming the hospitality landscape by setting a new standard in travel payment from any direct touchpoint.Amid this global transformation that has crippled the hospitality industry, Selfbook aims to propel the industry forward by empowering hotels with better ways to recover and reconnect. By improving their direct booking conversion, hotels can increase revenue and save up to 25% on commissions and fees while elevating the customer booking experience online.

SafetyWing

SafetyWing is building the first global safety net for remote companies, remote workers and nomads worldwide. Our products are built and designed by a fully remote team of nomads distributed across three continents.Starting with Nomad Insurance - a travel medical insurance for nomads, and our most recent product, Remote Health - comprehensive health insurance available for remote companies and individuals worldwide. We are building out a product collection of insurance, pension savings and income protection - that in the future will be available as a membership.

Spotnana

Spotnana powers unparalleled global travel experiences. We are rebuilding the infrastructure of the travel industry in order to bring freedom, simplicity, and trust to travelers everywhere. Our Travel-as-a-Service platform enables corporations, agencies, suppliers, and technology providers to personalize travel booking, lower operating costs, and build deeper customer relationships.

The startup, which recently raised $75 million in funding to continue building its breakthrough travel platform,is founded by two Indian entrepreneurs — Sarosh Waghmar, a serial entrepreneur with more than two decades of travel industry experience and serves as CEO; and Shikhar Agarwal, formerly a founding engineer at ThoughtSpot, Google engineer, and IIT graduate and serving as the company’s CTO. 

Nearify

Nearify is an app founded by Mayank Kumar, Saurav Singh and Vivek Srivastava in 2012 that provides users with updated information on events that are happening around them. Like information on the city, major tourist attractions, and fairs & festivals happening in the area. All the user needs to do is to key in the name of the city to find listings of meet-ups, workshops, music concerts, and cultural hangout places in their close proximity.

TripHobo

TripHobo is a Pune-based travel startup that has an innovative new travel platform where the collective effort of their dedicated team of travel enthusiasts. They are trying to transform its user's travel experience by making travel more sharable and personally tailored. The platform lets you connect with travel buddies around the world and hence makes your experience even richer and memorable.

ExTravel Money

ExTravel Money is an online aggregator and marketplace for forex services that bring the hyperlocal eCommerce model to foreign exchange business and is helping users save money on currency exchange and money transfer from and to abroad. Users can use this platform to search for banks and money changers near them who offer these forex services. They can also compare the exchange rates and total cost of a forex service including the services fees, tax charges, even the rating of each forex store they are searching for.

How ecommerce forex platforms are providing better deals to travelers over conventional ways of doing currency exchange

With countries around the globe opening doors to vaccinated travelers, foreign travel bookings are witnessing a massive surge in India. The rise in globetrotting among Indians has led to a considerable increase in forex transactions as well. Be it a leisure vacation or an office trip, having sufficient money at hand is crucial for ensuring a convenient travel experience.

Money related hassles that spring up in the midst of foreign trips can spoil travel enjoyment faster than you expect. This is why you must estimate possible expenses and set up a realistic budget prior to exchanging currency for your next trip.

Back in the day, people were mostly dependent on money changers and banks for currency exchange services. Thanks to the emergence of web-based forex platforms, travelers now have much better deals at their disposal. Now, this blog will underscore the 6 unignorable benefits of doing your currency exchange online.

1. Better exchange rates than airport counters and banks

When it comes to spending on international travel, Indian tourists have a reputation of being hardcore spendthrifts. Since you are going to be spending a lot, you must aim to get the maximum value for your hard-earned money while exchanging currency. If you are keen to enjoy the best rates in the market, look no further than web-based currency exchange marketplaces. Online currency exchange portals don't rip you off unlike airport counters that normally charge 10-12% of the total exchange amount.

They do a detailed comparison of quotes across illustrious banks and money changers to present the most lucrative exchange deals to you. Above all, top-tier forex platforms guarantee around 13% savings over airport foreign exchange counters. Likewise, you can enjoy between 2.5% to 6.5% savings over leading banks.

2. Freeze your preferred rates instantly

It happens often that travelers are unsatisfied with the prevailing exchange rates in the forex market. With no better options available, they are compelled to exchange currency at poor rates. However, the case is entirely different with online currency exchange processes. Renowned forex platforms make it possible for travelers to freeze their preferred rate for up to 3 working days.

However, repeatedly visiting forex platforms for checking live rates can prove to be hassle-some and annoying. But there is no need to worry as you can always sign up for rate alert notifications to get updated whenever the best rate goes live. Based on what suits your requirements, you can opt for either SMS or email notifications.

3. Paperless money exchange process

Travelers who are in a rush can face a lot of difficulties with the paperwork that follows the currency exchange process. This is especially the case when you exchange currency from banks and local money changers. What's notable is that online currency exchange platforms boast a fully paperless exchange process. You can easily upload the necessary paperwork and sign documents online.

Alternatively, you can get your documents picked up from home. Above all, you need not be concerned about your financial details getting disclosed. All the essential documents you share will be watermarked to prevent piracy and fraudulent use.

4. Doorstep delivery of currency notes

Leaving your couch and driving off to far-off physical branches just to collect forex may result in inconvenience. But the good news is that you can evade the hassle of visiting local branches simply by opting for doorstep delivery of currency notes. Leading forex platforms give customers the option to get their forex orders delivered to their home free of cost.

The doorstep delivery service is offered in more than 185 cities across the country. All you have to do is to select the "doorstep delivery option" while placing your forex order online and you will be good to go. Just see to it you enter the correct address to avoid delivery delays and get your order as fast as possible. Once the order is successfully placed, the delivery will be scheduled taking into consideration your availability at home.

While the traffic status around your location will determine how fast you get your order, the average delivery time is 4 hours. The nicest thing is that you can track your order's location in real time right after it is dispatched until the delivery is complete.

5. Unmatched support services

Customers who have no prior experience in availing currency exchange online might face issues at the time of order placement. However, you can drop all your forex-related concerns as online platforms offer unmatched support services. Although the support executives are deluged with countless queries 24*7, they still ensure that customers get a workable solution to their problem at the earliest.

In addition to clarifying your doubts and queries, the support agents are equipped with the knowledge to give you details regarding exchange deals that can work wonders for boosting your savings. So, feel free to inquire about ongoing forex deals to get the best bang for your buck.

6. Incredibly safe transactions

In a world rife with rampant fraud, foreign exchange platforms have emerged as the most reliable and safest route for exchanging currency online. However, there is an age-old narrative that offline currency exchange methods are a lot safer than web-based forex transactions.

This is nothing but a mere misconception that prevents people from reaping the resource-saving benefits of online currency exchange solutions. Travelers who resort to dealing with shady money changers for currency exchange are more prone to becoming victims of fraud. Top-notch forex platforms leverage robust encryption measures to ward off fraudsters and ensure security of electronic transactions in the best possible way.

The implementation of solid security practices helps keep your financial details from falling into the wrong hands. All the digital transactions that take place on web-based forex marketplaces are safeguarded against all types of financial frauds. This implies that you can rest assured while exchanging currency online.

Takeaway

Given the growing inclination towards international travel, a report has revealed that the number of Indians flying abroad will increase threefold by 2025. This implies that a large percentage of forex spend will account for international travel in the coming time. Thanks to technology advances, you can now exchange currency from the comfort of your home.

Travelers looking to maximize savings must consider getting currency exchange a few weeks before their trip. Thankfully, a laptop and stable network connectivity is all you need to exchange currency online. So, see to it you avail currency exchange solutions from a secure and trusted platform like BookMyForex to infuse convenience into your travel experience.

Coronavirus Leads to 30% Drop in Online Travel Bookings, 9% Rise in Grocery Purchase: Razorpay

Razorpay, the leading full-stack financial solutions company, today shared insights about the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak on digital payments in India. The insights are based on transactions held on the company's platform between February 2020 and now.

Since December 2019 when Covid-19 originated in China's Wuhan city and its severity started to spread across the world, the global financial markets have been on the verge of a massive change - according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development, this outbreak might cost the global economy $1-2 trillion in 2020.

The travel advisories have led to a drastic drop in online travel spending in India. In 2019, according to Statista, the Travel sector contributed the highest to online payments in India with a 40% share. According to Razorpay, the current situation has brought a decline of 30% in online travel bookings, signifying a downturn in the sector's contribution to overall digital payments.

At the same time, as human interactions are reducing, consumer payment habits are changing - overall digital spending saw an increase of about 10% on the Razorpay platform from February to March, owing to this virus outbreak. For the first time ever, Online Grocery Shopping climbed the ladder with a growth of 9%, and Government and Utility Bill Payments grew by 30%, representing precautionary measures that the customers are taking by staying indoors.

Let's take a look at how the pandemic has impacted other aspects of digital payments. Again, these insights are based on transactions held on the Razorpay platform (February 2020 - now):

Customers showed a 10% increase in digital spending between mid February and now

UPI (19.6%), NetBanking (11.5%), and Wallets (10.3%) became the top 3 modes of payments during this plague

As mentioned earlier, the fear of this outbreak brought down the contribution of the Travel sector by 30% and Hospitality sector by 12% (Typically, Travel and Hospitality account for approximately 10% of transactions on Razorpay)

Fear of running out of home essentials made Grocery make its way into the top 3 sectors with a growth of 9%. Mutual Funds saw the highest growth of 33% in this period, and the Government sector followed by a 30% growth

Number of online transactions has increased in Ahmedabad (by 11%), Hyderabad (by 7%) and Pune (by 5%)

Cities which otherwise saw only an upward growth dropped this time - Bangalore (by 3.2%) and Delhi (by 2.6%)

Reacting to the global economic disruption that Covid-19 is creating, Harshil Mathur, CEO, and Co-founder, Razorpay said, "From a macroeconomic perspective, we are seeing an increase in the demand for digital payments across a few sectors - Grocery, e-commerce and utility bills have gone up, given the social isolation. On the flip, people are having to stay indoors and not having enough spending power, this can make the overall consumer spending go down creating a lasting (negative) impact. Nevertheless, we are all prioritising the right things now to ensure that the health of all of us is being taken good care of."

He added, "At times like this, we not only need companies, scientists, clinicians and technicians but also the government to come together and build a cross-industry rapid response team. A partnership like this will not only help protect us from this pandemic, but will also prepare us to respond better and faster to any global health crises that might occur in the future."

While there is hope for a quick recovery and a rapid eradication of the virus, the company urges the world to not give up, and continue to take measures and precautions to ensure the well-being of one and all.

About Razorpay Software Private Limited

Razorpay, the leading full-stack financial services company, helps Indian businesses with comprehensive and innovative solutions built over robust technology to address the entire length and breadth of the payment journey for any business. Established in 2014, the company provides technology payment solutions to over 800,000 businesses.

Founded by alumni of IIT Roorkee, Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur, Razorpay is the second Indian company to be a part of Silicon Valley's largest tech accelerator, Y Combinator. Marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Y Combinator, Sequoia India, Ribbit Capital and MasterCard have invested a total of $106.5 million through Series A, B and C funding. Around 33 angel investors have invested in Razorpay's mission to simplify payments. Known to be a developer-oriented payment gateway, Razorpay focuses on essentials such as 24x7 support, one-line integration code and superior checkout experiences.

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