Indian online travel agency giant MakeMyTrip claims a tough period is now behind it as looks to move into new areas for the business.
CEO Deep Kalra, speaking at the WebinTravel conference in Singapore, says the company's share price is "not an indicator of our health" (MMYT shares on the NASDAQ are roughly half their value year-on-year).
Part of its recovery is coming from slowly shifting away from being a flight-focused OTA, Kalra says, with around a 50-50 split now coming from both air tickets and accommodation.
Kalra is hoping the turnaround will be boosted from the extraordinary figures emerging from the mobile-led consumers entering the web commerce market.
Two years ago between 110 million and 120 million Indians were online, but this figure has jumped to 300 million this year (the majority of which are accessing the web from a mobile device), with the figure climbing again to 500 million within two years.
This is already having an effect on MakeMyTrip's web activity as around 70% of total traffic to its hotel channel is now coming from a mobile device, including 40%-45% of transactions.
Mobile transactions, Kalra says, "were zero just 18 months ago".
But it is in areas far away from the traditional focus of an OTA where Kalra sees some potential for the company.
TripAdvisor, despite being the current provider of reviews to MakeMyTrip's hotel pages, could find itself with a heavily backed competitor in India if Kalra's ambitions come to fruition.
MakeMyTrip wants to use its $15 million investment in HolidayIQ earlier this year to spearhead a major push to position the user review company as the de facto presence for Indian travellers looking for opinions on travel products.
He says:
"There is space for a TripAdvisor competitor. HolidayIQ will be more relevant for Indians, starting with domestic India travel and then targeting markets where Indians want to go."
Elsewhere, Kalra also recognises the power of the Airbnb-type business model and how it might fit into MakeMyTrip.
"We are looking at that," he says, although argues that the concept of home sharing has been in play in India for decades, but without the digital backbone to support it.
Still, "culturally, many parts of India are not quite right" for the Airbnb model, he adds.