MakeMyTrip, India's leading OTA, has partnered with OneAssist Consumer Solution to offer assistance and protection products to customers.
OneAssist’s EverydayAssist and TripAssist products are designed for travellers to secure their wallet and smartphone data against loss or theft and protect them from worries related with such incidents.
In the event of theft or loss of credit or debit card or smartphone, MakeMyTrip customers can make a call from anywhere in the world and OneAssist will block the customers’ lost cards and smartphone, protecting their phone data against misuse and cards against financial loss.
As part of the product package, OneAssist will also facilitate settling customer's hotel bills & arrange for a return ticket in case the customer is unable to do so. Also, in case of lost passport while on travel, OneAssist will help in necessary documentation alongside providing for foreign language translation assistance.
MakeMyTrip customers can avail these products at the time of booking their tickets or holiday packages online.
Currently, only international travellers can use EverydayAssist and TripAssist products. According to MakeMyTrip, this service will soon be extended to domestic travellers.
OneAssist co-founder Gagan Maini says:
"Our research suggests that consumers today rely most on their wallet and smartphone’s while travelling and losing any of these can lead to enormous disruptions.
"Our products provide comprehensive 24x7 solutions which we believe would add significant value to MakeMyTrip travellers.
"As more and more people travel, we intend to be that one friend that people can rely upon in times of anxieties related with protecting their essentials."
While EverydayAssist has an annual membership plan, TripAssist is designed for customers who undertake short-duration journeys of up to 30 days.
All MakeMyTrip customers who have purchased OneAssist product(s) also gets the benefit of Docusafe – an e-locker to store important documents and access these anytime, anywhere.
Services similar to OneAssist exist in the global market, with one such example being US-based StolenPassports.
The importance of protecting an individual from identity theft has never been greater than it is today. Recent data released by University of New Hampshire shows that identity theft in the US is one of the leading white-collar crime, with billions of dollars in fraudulent transactions taking place each year.
A lot of these panic resolution services are country-specific and are slowly marching towards automation phase. A global panic resolution service with end to end process automation is surely something to be expected in the future.
For example, let's say a traveler named Jackie is from Japan and he is on an international trip to Germany, but on the last day of the trip, Jackie loses his wallet.
He opens the mobile app of ABC Travel Services company on his iPhone and logs in with his customer credentials, selects the complaint as "Lost Wallet", enters his hotel stay as "Hotel Holiday Inn" and submits the request.
The app recognizes where Jackie is currently located based on the GPS in his iPhone and triggers a workflow to ABC Travel Services company to send a car to Jackie’s location to reach the airport.
Also, the company settles Jackie’s hotel bills electronically and ensures a smooth checkout. Jackie doesn’t pay for the car service and hotel stay while in Germany, but he settles the bill later when he reaches Japan.
Simple? Almost...