How to Rank Higher on MakeMyTrip — A Hotel's Step-by-Step Guide

For hotels in India, MakeMyTrip is often the single largest source of online demand. Its search results decide which properties travellers even see — and visibility is the first gate to bookings. The good news is that ranking is not random. It is driven by a mix of controllable factors, and hotels that manage them systematically climb the results.

This guide breaks down how MakeMyTrip ranking works in practice and gives you a step-by-step plan to improve yours.

Understand what drives ranking

OTA search algorithms reward listings that convert well and behave reliably. The main drivers are consistent across platforms, though the weighting differs:

• Content completeness and quality — accurate details, amenities, room types and high-quality photos.
• Conversion rate — the proportion of viewers who book, which the platform measures closely.
• Competitiveness — your price relative to comparable hotels for the same dates.
• Availability and reliability — few cancellations, low out-of-order rates, reliable inventory.
• Reviews and ratings — quantity, recency and sentiment all matter.
• Partnership and programmes — participation in promotional and loyalty programmes.

Notice that nearly all of these are things you can influence. That is why disciplined OTA management produces such consistent results.

Step 1: Perfect your listing content

Start with the fundamentals. Ensure every room type has an accurate name, description, size and occupancy. Fill every amenity field. Write property descriptions that reflect your real selling points rather than generic filler. The platform rewards completeness because it improves the guest experience — and because competing hotels often leave it half done.

Step 2: Fix your photo order

Photos drive click-through and conversion more than almost any other content element. Lead with your single strongest, most representative image. Order photos to tell a story: exterior and hero, then rooms, then dining, then facilities, then local surroundings. Refresh and improve quality regularly — stale galleries convert worse.

Step 3: Stay competitively priced

MakeMyTrip compares your rate with similar properties for the same dates. If you are consistently more expensive without an obvious reason, your ranking suffers. The goal is not to be cheapest but to be defensible: priced fairly against your true comp set, with a clear reason to choose you. This is where pricing optimization and a disciplined pricing strategy pay off.

Step 4: Protect rate parity

Platforms reward hotels whose rates are consistent everywhere. Rate leaks between MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, other OTAs and your own website create friction and can suppress ranking. Enforce parity with a reliable channel manager and audit it weekly.

Step 5: Improve conversion

Ranking follows conversion. Reduce friction by ensuring your availability is accurate, your policies are clear and your photos reflect reality. A guest who lands on your listing and books quickly strengthens your ranking signal; a guest who bounces does the opposite. Setting the right price for the search context — for example, a competitive entry rate for a shorter stay — can lift conversion meaningfully.

Step 6: Build review volume and rating

Reviews are a ranking factor and a conversion factor at once. Ask for them at checkout when satisfaction peaks, make it effortless with a direct link, respond to every review, and fix recurring complaints. Our guide to getting more reviews applies directly here, because the mechanics are similar across platforms.

Step 7: Participate in programmes strategically

Promotional and loyalty programmes boost visibility, but they reduce your net rate. The right approach is measured participation: use programmes to fill soft dates and improve placement, but evaluate each on incremental return rather than accepting defaults. This is exactly the trade-off we help hotels manage in OTA management.

Step 8: Maintain availability and reliability

Cancellations, no-shows and inventory errors all hurt. Keep accurate allotments, honour confirmed bookings, and minimise last-minute closures. Reliability is a signal platforms weight because it protects their customers.

Step 9: Use the data MakeMyTrip gives you

Your extranet and reports show impressions, page views, conversion and ranking position. Study them weekly. If impressions are high but conversion is low, your content or price needs work. If impressions are low, your ranking or competitiveness is the issue. Diagnosing the funnel stage is half the battle. Compare platforms using our article on MakeMyTrip vs Booking.com vs Agoda.

Step 10: Be consistent

Ranking is a lagging indicator of consistent effort. Hotels that optimise content, pricing, parity and reviews week after week outrank those that do a one-time overhaul. Treat it as an ongoing discipline.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to rank higher?

Content and ranking often improve within a few weeks. Conversion and review gains compound over two to three months.

Can I rank higher without lowering my rate?

Yes. Content, conversion, reviews and parity improvements all lift ranking independently of price.

A weekly ranking routine

Ranking improves when work becomes routine. Set aside a short weekly session: check your position for a handful of key dates and room types, review last week's impressions and conversion, confirm rate parity across channels, respond to any new reviews, and refresh any stale content. Small, consistent attention beats occasional overhauls, and it catches problems — a broken rate, a closed date left open, a dropped photo — before they cost you bookings.

How long until you see results?

Content completeness and parity fixes can move ranking within a couple of weeks because they are inputs the algorithm rewards quickly. Conversion and review improvements compound over two to three months, as the platform gathers evidence that guests respond well to your listing. Set expectations accordingly: expect early movement from content and parity, and slower, larger gains from reviews and conversion.

When to call in help

Many hotels manage the basics well but plateau because ranking and conversion work is relentless and specialised. If your listing is complete and parity holds yet you still rank poorly for key dates, the bottleneck is usually conversion or competitiveness — both of which an experienced partner diagnoses faster. Explore how managed OTA management approaches ranking, or compare platforms with our guide to MakeMyTrip vs Booking.com vs Agoda.

The bottom line

MakeMyTrip ranking rewards hotels that are complete, competitive, reliable and well-reviewed. Work through the steps above in order, measure weekly, and your position — and your bookings — will improve. To see how a managed approach would lift your ranking, get a free OTA audit.