Could ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence completely change the way we plan and book our travel?
In this conversation, Nikhil Kamath, Co-founder of Zerodha, is joined by Rajesh Magow, Co-founder of MakeMyTrip, and Puneet Chhatwal, MD & CEO of IHCL (Taj Hotels) to discuss how AI could transform the travel and hospitality industry.
The discussion explores the role of ChatGPT, OpenAI, Large Language Models and AI-powered travel planning, along with the future of personalised recommendations and online booking platforms.
As travellers increasingly use AI to research destinations and plan their...
What Rajesh Magow said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip, discussed AI's impact on travel. He said AI is huge but traffic from ChatGPT is minimal, citing their presence on the platform via '@MakeMyTrip'. He explained they block scrapers but focus on protecting deep funnel data like user preferences and drop-off, not superficial data. Magow confirmed using frontier models like Gemini, Claude, Cursor, and GPT, grounded in proprietary data, with plans to possibly build own models due to token costs. He argued replication is hard in deep transaction businesses due to payments, fulfillment, and after-sales, citing Google's failure to go deep and Flipkart's independent Cleartrip. He acknowledged AI is a powerful revolution and never say never, while a co-panelist added that AI is an enabler and their business is AI-proof, emphasizing real human connections.
Key takeaways
Traffic from ChatGPT via '@MakeMyTrip' is minimal; it's just taking time.
MakeMyTrip uses frontier models like Gemini, Claude, Cursor, GPT, grounding them with proprietary data.
Token costs of big LLMs are prohibitive, possibly pushing MakeMyTrip to build own models.
Like if I am going to MMT's website and looking for a hotel today, are people already going to ChatGPT and saying, "Find me the cheapest price on next hotel?"
Not as much. We are also on ChatGPT. They have a feature called "@MakeMyTrip" where you can bring in your brand and you can have your own native experience. We are not getting too much traffic coming in from there. It's just taking time.
They end up still doing it. You will obviously do whatever you can do to block it, but what you do end up protecting is deep data, deep in the funnel. There can be multi-layer security that you can build that can do it. Superficial data is public in any case.
Right? Because what let's say Nikhil has been coming to our platform and what he has been buying over a period of time, different products. Let's say if you were buying a product, you were going with a group, you were buying a homestay or you were buying a hotel, which kind of hotel were you buying, and even the funnel drop-off data, like how much time are you spending? Are you a looker or are you a booker? Are you a serious traveler or high-intent traveler, or a low-intent traveler?
So, I'll tell you, right now we're doing both, and it's an evolution which I believe will happen. In the early days, because these frontier models were very strong, you end up using multiple frontier models, right?
Gemini, Claude, Cursor, GPT. But the grounding of that will happen with our proprietary data. That data doesn't go anywhere, like user reviews, for example. That only belongs to us.
Magow, R. (2026, September 9). Will AI Replace MakeMyTrip? The Founders Respond 🤖 #nikhilkamath #makemytrip #tajhotels #travel [Interview transcript]. Bharat Breakout. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1335069/
