After a turbulent year for travel, Cleartrip eyes 45% non-air business as it broadens travel play
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After a year marked by flight disruptions and volatile travel demand, online travel agency, Cleartrip is shifting its growth strategy beyond air bookings, betting that hotels, buses and trains will not only diversify its business but also make it less vulnerable to industry shocks.
"We realised that our offering was incomplete. We were very air dependent," Manjari Singhal, chief growth and business officer at Cleartrip, told Fortune India. "If we wanted to stay relevant, we had to solve all the travel needs of the customer, not just flights."
According to Singhal, non air businesses contributed about 10% of the business last year. That has already crossed 20% and currently stands at around 22%. Cleartrip expects the share to rise to 30-35% by the end of this year and further to 40-45% by the end of next year.
Hotels have emerged as the biggest focus area. Singhal said the segment is growing at over 50%, helped by investments in directly contracted hotels, smarter discovery tools and new features designed to reduce friction during bookings. The company has also doubled its room nights over the past year and now offers more than five lakh international hotels while claiming to have the second largest directly contracted domestic hotel network.
"We are late, of course, because the leader has a very formidable standing. Can we still disrupt? One hundred percent yes," Singhal emphasised.
According to regulatory filings, Cleartrip reported operating revenue of ₹169 crore in FY25, up 69% year on year, while narrowing its net loss by about 20% to ₹651 crore. The company, owned by Walmart-backed Flipkart , spent ₹608 crore on discounts and cashback and spent ₹102 crore on advertising and promotions, and ₹129 crore on commissions and brokerage during the year.
It is now targeting breakeven by early 2027 as it scales its non-air businesses.
Reducing travel anxiety with AI and new features
The company is also redesigning its platform around what Singhal calls reducing "travel anxiety". Recent launches include visa rejection cover, flight disruption tracking, a flight price tracker and a "Book at Zero" feature that allows customers to reserve hotels without making an upfront payment until just before the cancellation window closes.
These initiatives are already improving conversions. Visa rejection cover has increased bookings by roughly 15%, while the price tracker has delivered a 3-5% improvement in conversions, she said.
Cleartrip is also investing heavily in artificial intelligence. Over the next few months, it plans to roll out a conversational AI agent capable of recommending flights, hotels and itineraries through natural language prompts instead of conventional search filters.
For instance, instead of manually searching multiple combinations, users could ask for the cheapest dates to fly to Delhi in September or request a kid-friendly beachfront hotel in Goa within a specified budget. "Once we've cracked the fundamentals, stitching the entire journey together is not very hard. LLMs should be able to help us do it," Singhal said.
The company is also preparing to launch a loyalty programme that will offer greater flexibility on flight bookings and better value on hotel stays.
Beyond AI, Cleartrip is tapping the creator economy through a new affiliate programme that allows influencers and content creators to earn commissions on bookings generated through their travel content. Around 400 creators have already joined the programme, with partnerships under way with Google and Meta to make the booking journey from social media more seamless.
Singhal said Gen Z is emerging as a key growth driver, with bookings from solo and group travellers in the segment growing 60-70%.
While the broader travel industry has faced headwinds, she said Cleartrip continues to grow quarter on quarter at a healthy pace and believes a recovery in overall travel demand will further strengthen its momentum.