Travel and Hospitality – Dutch Uncles

Here’s How Hotels Can Manage Revenue During The Pandemic

Aakash Sharma — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 05:35:08 +0000

Hotels and the ancillaries of the hospitality industry are coming out of the pandemic disruption with many new changes and challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, almost the entire hotel industry in India went under as they recorded near-zero occupancy for an extended period, a situation never faced before.

Despite many adaptive measures, the challenge remains – how can hotels get the best out of their rental and regular infrastructure? What new ways of selling rooms should the industry players implement to be successful in the future?

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With challenges like unsold rooms, staff maintenance, property management, and many others, hotels have become creative with their offers and packages.

Here, we delve into some perspective answers to these fundamental questions.

Revenue Optimisation

Revenue and sales optimisation is the strategic management of price, inventory, demand and sales channels to maximise long-term sales growth. By leveraging the latest auxiliary technology trends that are driving hotel revenue into the new era, hotel businesses need to focus on the challenges and opportunities that directly impact guests and the commercial hotel industry.

These include forecasting, budgeting, performance measurement, inventory and channel management, sales and event management, revenue management systems, booking engines and decision-making tools.

Creativity in generating hospitality revenue

Hotels all around the globe are forced to rethink revenue generation during the COVID crisis fundamentally. Like so often, many successful concepts have started with putting the guest at the centre and looking at what they want, not what it is that is sold traditionally, like a room night with breakfast. What guests need today is a quiet space to work, an escape from everyday life, and simply a real experience COVID recedes.

Create co-working spaces

Numerous hotel businesses are transforming their traditional spaces. Following the trend, hospitality entrepreneurs can create work-from-hotel spaces for out-of-towners, digital nomads and local business people who do not wish to be restrained by office contracts. They can also create weekly and monthly packages for such customers, including WiFi, coffee, bottled water, snacks and catered lunch.

Utilising unused professional spaces

The corporate group and netting’s markets are ramping up at a slower pace than leisure and travel. Hoteliers can utilise new conference and function spaces to offer extracurricular activities such as yoga classes, wellness programs, cooking classes, book readings, author signing events, neighbourhood craft shows, etc.

Technology adoption and adaptation

Businesses of all sorts have gone online, including hospitality and travel industry players. To succeed in a post-pandemic world, hospitality enterprises must make sure to adopt digital models and educate their staff about the same.

From giving accessible booking services, on-the-call assistance, website detailing, application for different services, and many more, a wide range of customers can be attracted to a new set of hospitality businesses‘ functioning.

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A Winning Lighting Scheme For Hotel Business: Avoid These Mistakes

Aakash Sharma — Sun, 29 Aug 2021 10:35:11 +0000

Hospitality means more than just the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests when it comes to business. In the industry, hospitality means creating the right atmosphere and letting guests discover a soothing and comforting world of beauty and tranquillity. Whether it is a hotel, restaurant or resort, designing a warm, attractive hotel experience is essential for creating a unique customer experience. And in that, ‘light’ plays an important role. The lighting of any space not only plays a role in the luminosity and beauty of the staying venue, but it also creates the perfect atmosphere and landscape.

Improper lighting levels

Improper and insufficient lighting can make people feel uncomfortable and insecure. While excessive light can cause too much of a glow causing headaches or strain on the eyes, lack of artificial light can harm a place’s natural perception and energy. For a customer, proper light levels help them identify areas that meet their needs and select the right place for their tasks.

Here we discuss some of the emerging lighting trends that hospitality businesses can adopt to give their customers a renewed sense of comfort.

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Continuous innovation and exploration of new channels have inspired lighting manufacturers to develop standard and highly innovative lighting solutions.

In addition to the traditional ceiling and wall lamps, designers in the industry have created attractive hotel environments by using many decorative solutions.

Arc lighting

Arc, or concealed lighting, has become an integral part of a lighting system that compensates for glare or dim lighting from pendant lamps. Arc lighting helps distribute the light evenly in a room. This sort of lighting solution helps in focusing and illuminating sculptures, artwork, table designs and more. It adds to the general lighting of hotel space and creatively innovates a hospitality business’s landscape.

Multi-level lighting

Multi-level lighting designs include many decorative and designer light levels, table lamps, floor lamps, artistic walls, lampshades, etc. Moreover, the new LED technology enabled lights allow designers to create creative lamps of any shape and shade to match the overall themes of businesses.

Pendant lights

The pendant lights, or hanger lights, are hung from any part of the ceiling of a hotel or such places. Businesses can use it with a bed, a corner sofa in the bedroom or an armchair in the living room to create a ‘new’ feeling of beauty for customers. Such lighting schemes give designers an open space to practice new and imaginative shapes that mainly cover the roof.

Decorative ceiling lights

Decorative ceiling lights are the primary source of ambient lighting in the hospitality industry. There are many options for this light source, including chandeliers, lamps, bulbs, and others. New designers are mixing the timeless classics of chandeliers and modern geometry to form combinations of patterns or abstract designs. This is all intended to attract customers and give them new attention points while staying at a place.

Regular electrical maintenance

Most high-end hotels and a majority of mid-size hospitality businesses use highly sophisticated glass fixtures for light purposes. Often such designs are easily damaged during the cleaning process, making them difficult for the users to use and guests to experience. Maintenance of glass fixtures on high ceilings and complex designs of chandeliers is a critical task.

Taking care of such aspects and paying attention to emerging trends can help hospitality businesses go a long way in their business journey. As COVID recedes globally, it is incumbent upon companies to ramp up operations and delve into the realms of creativity to give the pandemic-fatigued customers a new inspiration to travel and explore the world.

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Revival of Travel and Tourism Through the Bio Bubble Model

Shalmoli Sarkar — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 08:35:08 +0000

Kerala, fondly known as god’s own country is reopening its tourism gates to soften the impact of the pandemic on the industry. Tourism alone in Kerala accounts for 11.5 percent of the state’s GDP and employs 1.5 million people. The lockdowns in the pandemic have cast a spell of zero revenue on the tourism industry for over a year. With vaccination drives acing its pace, Kerala tourism is beginning to reopen its tourism by strictly adhering to the bio-bubble model.

What is the Bio-Bubble model that Kerala tourism will be adhering to?

Bio-bubble is a sanitised, safe and secure environment in which the tourists administered with a minimum of a single jab will be insulated from the external contacts. It is mandated by the government that all the possible tourist contact with locals right from cab drivers to tour guides and operators to the staff in hotels, resorts, and homestays must be vaccinated.

However, this secured cocoon model adopted in the recent Tokyo Olympics as well as in the 2021 IPL tournament has burst as around 70 athletes tested positive in the opening ceremony despite following strict protocols of RT-PCR tests. The IPL tournament had to be postponed as cricketers from the KKR team were posted positive. With this, the sustainability of Bio-bubble remains a question. Can this be implemented in the travel and tourism sector in a highly populous country like India? Can there be other ways of safe tourism practices?

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Tourism alone in Kerala accounts for 11.5 percent of the state's GDP and employs 1.5 million people.

Safe tourism practices to be adopted in the industry other than Bio-bubble

Kerala’s tourism was not the only one to suffer the blows of the pandemic, according to the Rajasthan Tourism Department, Rajasthan witnessed a drop of almost 60 percent in the arrival of foreign tourists and 70 percent in domestic tourists.

As per a survey conducted by JLL property consultancy, 11 major cities across the country witnessed a decline of 29 percent in revenue per available room (RevPAR) during January-March 2020. After the virus breakout, travel and tourism will not remain the same as they used to be, but for revival, there is a dire need to implement safe tourism practices to instill confidence in people about safe traveling.

Introducing cycle trips: To establish social distancing, sightseeing on cycle trips can be implemented. The earlier manner of sightseeing in groups while walking has a high risk of contracting the virus. The travel companies can organise cycle tours for travellers during low traffic hours and following the tour guide on a cycle where they can experience the nearby local markets, monuments, and short hiking locations. This sustainable form of sightseeing has been implemented in Jaipur.
Introduce slot bookings: Travel and adventure companies can introduce online slot bookings for activities such as boating, forest safari, kayaking, etc. Travellers will come in the designated time slot to experience the fun in a less crowded environment.
Contactless hospitality: The probability of contracting the virus remains high in hotels. Adoption of contactless services by the hotel chains is imperative to establish minimum contact. Hotels can keep digital menus or food ordering in hotels can happen through apps. All communication to reception or room service can happen through chatbots or video chats. The check-in and check-out process can be digitised by scanning the QR code and digital payment will ensure minimum contact. The entertainment and cooling systems in the rooms such as TV and AC remotes to be replaced by virtual control systems. The restaurant lounges also hold a high risk of contraction, where they can install air purifiers. Cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) can be implemented for seamless coordination with the housekeeping staff, assigning staff duties, and adhering to hygiene compliances.

What lies ahead for the small hotels and travel companies amidst high hygiene and zero contact?

Smaller hotels have enough born the heat of lockdowns. Therefore, their growth is critical for the state’s economic growth. As per the data from the Ministry of Tourism, the industry’s collective loss i.e. transport and tourism have been pegged at Rs 1.58 lakh crore.

The big franchise-type hotels can partner with smaller hotels and travel companies that will empower the small hotels to manage day-to-day operations with the help of contactless technologies ensuring hygiene and social distancing regulations. The state’s tourism industry can revive by targeting the millennials who can work virtually from anywhere and offer highly personalised experiences.

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Uttarakhand’s Tourism Entrepreneurs To Receive Relief Package

Anju Nambiar — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 08:35:07 +0000

Uttarakhand is one of the Indian states with ample tourism opportunities. Due to the prevalence of significant religious sites, and the abundance of nature, tourism has been thriving here. That is until Covid when all the major religious events and vacations came to a standstill. Since tourism is a major source of income for Uttarakhand and the survival of thousands of small business owners are at stake, economic stimulus packages are much needed and most welcome when the Covid restrictions are lifted.

Economic package for tourism stakeholders

Tourism stakeholders will become recipients of an economic package sanctioned by the Uttarakhand Government from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. This financial support from the state government is aimed at bringing the tourism industry back from the throes of devastation amidst the diminishing second wave of Covid-19. It’s also aimed at giving the state economy a boost.

Financial assistance to be availed

Amount

The State Government has sanctioned a directive of close to INR 66.6 Cr as relief package. Eligible beneficiaries will receive financial assistance of INR 2000 per month. The financial assistance for key stakeholders will be provided at the rate of INR 10,000. Beneficiaries can also avail exemptions in license and renewal fees. There are also interest reimbursement benefits to be availed.

Beneficiaries

Homestay owners registered with the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) are eligible under the package as individual beneficiaries. People working in tourism businesses registered in tourism departments are also eligible. Registered tour operators, adventure tour operators, 630 trekking guides registered with the tourism department of Uttarakhand, 93 boat operators at the Tehri Dam reservoir in the state of Uttarakhand and businessmen in the tourism department of Uttarakhand are the beneficiaries of the support programme. Businessmen of registered rafting and aero sports also meet the eligibility criteria.

Duration

The relief amount will be deposited directly to the account of the beneficiary for a six-month long duration. Also, stakeholders under the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali and Deendayal Upadhyay Home Stay Scheme loan (tourism self-employment schemes) will receive financial assistance on their interest reimbursements for a 6-month period.

How to avail the support

To avail the support, eligible stakeholders in the tourism industry need to register on the Uttarakhand tourism portal. After successful application process, approvals and confirmations received, the concerned District tourism Development Officer (DTDO) will deposit the relief amount directly in the bank account of the beneficiary through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on behalf of the District Magistrate.

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The financial assistance for key stakeholders will be provided at the rate of INR 10,000.

What’s in it for me?

The registered beneficiaries who will receive relief from this economic support package are in need of financial support since they have suffered heavy losses and closure of business due to back to back covid waves. The tourism industry has suffered heavy losses due to covid. The small business operators have been the worst affected in this industry. Prolonged lockdowns have made it impossible to make any income since last year. Brief respite from lockdowns are too short to make any recovery possible for small business owners.

The major religious tourism events popular in the state of Uttarakhand like the Chota Char Dham Yatra and the Kedarnath yatra could not be materialised. Since these are major sources of income for Uttarakhand which relies heavily on the tourism economy, businesses who wait year-round for these events are left stranded. The stakeholders faced financial problems and if they are to make a comeback, relief aid and economic stimulus packages are much-needed.

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Travel Union, Sonu Sood’s B2B Travel App

DU Desk — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 05:35:08 +0000

When lockdowns were announced in the first wave of the pandemic, we witnessed the mass exodus of migrant workers eager to go back to their natives. The situation was distressing. Loss of jobs, no food and water, trains and buses stalled, and a fear of contracting the virus, forced these poor migrant workers to reach home via foot and bicycle. Pained by such incidents, Sonu Sood emerged as the Samaritan, who arranged ten buses for the migrant workers staying in Mumbai to travel back to their homes in Karnataka in the nationwide lockdown imposed.

The saying necessity is the mother of invention stands in its truest form with Sonu Sood’s recent B2B entrepreneurial venture- Travel Union, in the travel and hospitality space catering to the travel needs of rural consumers.

The pandemic has wrecked several sectors, but the maximum damage took place in the travel and hospitality sector. According to a report from KPMG, the Covid-19 crisis might render job losses worth 38 million in the Indian tourism and hospitality sector, ie.70 percent of its workforce employed.

In terms of revenue losses, a report from Thomas Cook India reveals that the consolidated loss in FY 21 amounts to Rs 416 crore from Rs 69 crore in 2020.

What is Travel Union?

Witnessing the difficulties faced by the rural travellers, Sonu Sood realised that the travel sector is highly unorganised in smaller cities and towns Travel Union is an assisted rural digital travel services platform through which a rural traveller can book a train, bus, flights tickets, and book hotels at competitive prices. The Travel Union app is available in English and Hindi language and plans to launch in 11 more languages.

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According to a report from KPMG, the Covid-19 crisis might render job losses worth 38 million in the Indian tourism and hospitality sector, ie.70 percent of its workforce employed.

How does it solve the problem for rural travellers?

When a rural traveller plans his journey, it is not pre-planned. The gap was more highlighted when during the pandemic, they had to interact with multiple operators. For a particular search, the travel app aggregates all the available price options and shows the Travel Union agents the lowest prices they can offer their customers. It provides inventory, competitive prices, and state-of-the-art technology directly from airlines, railways, hotels, trips, wholesalers, and aggregators. It also has the facility for online cancellations and refunds, eliminating the long wait customers usually have to endure.

How Travel Union is an employment opportunity for rural travel agents and small travel agencies?

Rural lodges and small hotels never came under the gambit of online booking. Moreover, the potential 38 million job loss is alarming for this sector to revive. Travel Union will onboard travel agents that will cater to the travel needs of rural customers at every district, block, and gram panchayat level. The travel agents to become a member of the Travel Union need not make any investment. However, if anyone wishes to become an IRCTC agent ID, a deposit of Rs 1199 will be needed which will be refunded within 8 months, making the ID free.

The small travel agents with Travel Union will have access to trains, more than 10,000 bus operators, over 500 domestic and international flights, and more than 10 lakh hotels. The revenue model for rural travel agents is through high margins generated from direct booking options with several travel service partners. It has a dedicated 24X7 customer care that will address the travel agent’s queries.

What lies ahead for the digital travel and hospitality platforms catering to rural India?

The launch of such travel tech platforms for the rural space will provide ample revenue opportunities to the small travel agents that are staring at unemployment. Also, it will give the rural lodges and small hotels an opportunity that has long remained untapped by online travel services. Foreigners, in general, are eager to experience rural India, thus in the future, there might be a chance for the rural travel platforms to ensure safe hospitality and hassle-free transportation for them in rural areas.

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Hospitality Unicorn Supports Small Hotel Partners With ‘Samarthan by OYO’

Anju Nambiar — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 10:35:13 +0000

Frontline workers, volunteer organisations and everyone who joined the Covid fight during the second wave worked tirelessly to supply oxygen to critical covid victims. Without pausing to think about the dangers to their own life and their family, they joined the first response for Covid emergencies. OYO’s hotel partners and homeowners actively participated in the fight by providing quarantine, self-isolation and accommodation requirements. Unfortunately, a lot of hotel partners succumbed to the virus and lost their lives leaving behind children without financial backing and mentorship, spouses and families who had lost their support system. Samarthan by OYO is designed for them.

What is Samarthan by OYO?

Samarthan, which translates to ‘Support’ in the Hindi language is a Covid-19 Hotel Partner Bereavement Support programme for patrons by OYO, the hospitality unicorn. Through this programme, OYO is extending welfare benefits for the families of their small hotel partner community.

It is mainly aimed at offering support for families and immediate kin of Covid-19 victims who died during the first and second wave of the pandemic. Wellness benefits like financial aid, waivers, and education funding are being provided to help them grieve their loved ones and find solace in knowing that they can fall back on the employer until they recover from the loss.

Beneficiaries of the programme

The main beneficiaries of Samarthan by OYO are the company’s hotel partners, and their community of homeowners also dubbed as ‘OYOpreneurs’ registered with OYO. The families of these beneficiaries are covered in this bereavement programme including their spouse, children and other eligible relatives supported by the programme.

Wellness benefits and Bereavement support for kin of deceased hotel partners and homeowners

Bereavement support

Families of deceased beneficiaries obtain bereavement support including a three-month commission of take-rate support for the OYO property. This amount will be transferred to the deceased partner’s OYO Secure wallet, a digital wallet provided exclusively for partners. Additionally, families will receive waivers on pending dues for said property registered with the company.

Wellness Benefits

Children of the deceased (below 2 years of age) will receive funding on their education for a period of 5 years. The spouse and children (below 1 year of age) will receive medical coverage amounting to INR 5 Lakh up to 3 years from the time of death of the hotel or homeowner partner. Eligible relatives and family of the deceased beneficiary will receive mentorship and internship opportunities.

The VaccinAid initiative

VaccinAid was an earlier initiative by OYO for its hotel partners and staff. It was launched to get the entire staff of their hotel chains fully vaccinated. As part of this initiative, OYO organised vaccination camps across multiple cities in India. Fully vaccinated hotel partners and support staff under this initiative received the ‘VaccinAid’ tag.

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Children of the deceased (below 2 years of age) of the hotel partner will receive funding on their education for a period of 5 years.

What’s in it for me?

Start-ups in India have led the fight against Covid. Their partners, staff, customers, have assisted the company in extending Covid help. Start-ups like Ola (delivery of oxygen cylinder by partner drivers) and Paytm (covid helpdesk by local Kirana shop partners) have seen immense contribution by partners. If your company also relies on partners for running business operations, or if they are assisting you in the Covid fight, enrolling them in a welfare benefit programme is an appropriate acknowledgement for their efforts.

If you have not already organised vaccination drives for your staff, it’s high time to ensure that every worker and support staff who is a part of your business is fully vaccinated. Health and education assurance for children and families of staff is the biggest concern among the workforce currently. By taking the responsibility for the same, your partners and support staff can breathe a sigh of relief and dedicate themselves fully towards your business. Provide covid-19 insurance, organise vaccination camps and ensure you are there to support your staff and families before and after any unfortunate deaths or hospitalisation.

Small businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic are on the verge of or are already shutting down. It’s important that after the death of the owner or the founder, the business carries on to support his/her kin. Business shouldn’t get impacted due to Covid death since it will put additional burden on the devastated families.

The staff and workers of the hospitality sector are at high risk during the pandemic for two reasons:

Lack of job and income guarantee
The fear of contracting covid

Due to their vulnerability, wellness and bereavement support programmes are highly necessary for start-ups and small businesses. Be connected with the families and loved ones of your staff and partners if you are a hospitality start-up. If the sector needs to successfully revive, this sense of community and social responsibility is the need of the hour.

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Workation: Ushering The Revival Of Travel And Hospitality Industry

Shalmoli Sarkar — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 10:35:08 +0000

Nobody could ever imagine that a disease would lock people indoors for the longest possible time and eventually blur the lines between personal and professional lives. It will be wrong to deny that work from home does not provide comfort, but somehow in the cycle of office becoming home and home becoming office, our lives have reduced to a balance beam managing household chores and office work. And, in this conundrum, the wanderlust soul is lost and is yearning to pick the backpack again and escape to the foothills of Manali or feel the breeze of Goan beaches.

For the well-being of employees, several corporates have allowed the work from home, but this long isolation from social life and the covid impact has created anxiety, low motivation levels and low employee morale.

Against this backdrop, travellers are desperately looking for an escapade from boredom, that combines both work and vacation – a Workation and is the ultimate therapy for the body, mind and soul.

What is Workation?

Workation, as the name suggests, is taking your office along for the vacation. This looks like a bit of an oxymoron, but it is an emerging travel behavior that currently individuals are opting to work from a leisure location.

An individual while working can attend meetings while enjoying the breathtaking views of the hills or ocean and without worrying about household chores. The maximum stay in the workation ranges from 1 week to 2 weeks. Destinations like Goa, Jaipur, Shimla, Udaipur and Uttarakhand are the most preferred locations for workation stays.

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With the workation there will be a revival of the domestic tourism industry which is estimated to be at risk of Rs 15 lakh crore as per Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH).

What are Hostel Chains and travel companies doing for workation?

According to a survey by Booking.com, 68 percent of Indian travellers have considered booking a place somewhere to work from a different destination. The hotel chain homestays and travel companies are capitalising on this novel trend by introducing workation-friendly accommodation such as high-speed internet connectivity, power backup, comfortable stay, first-aid facilities, healthy food, office-goers easily attending calls, kids attending online classes, etc. at pocket-friendly prices.

Here are some of the attractive workation packages that hostel chains are launching:

Madpackers: This chain of hostels spread across five cities is offering packages for long stays, workations and discounts on travel cards that are redeemable against stay and food and beverage without a time limit.
The Hosteller: To attract more people for workation it has made booking and cancellation policies flexible to give travellers the option to modify travel dates if any change government policies. To make stays fun it has introduced jungle walks, river walks, short hikes, bonfire nights, movie nights and games for keeping customers engaged.
Zostel:To ensure that there is no interruption in work, it is taking extra care in providing high-speed internet connection with regularly sanitised dorms and workspaces.
Piggy Ventures: A Goa-based hostel chain has designed workation packages that include yoga sessions, bonfires and scuba diving courses. It has developed its technology for the guests at the properties to create a contactless experience.
Thomas Cook:Travel services company Thomas Cook has introduced workations in a range of short breaks and mid-week escapes starting from Rs 2,299.

The Money Matters in Workation packages

With discounted prices of stays and despite covid fears, The Hosteller made an annual sale of Rs 6 crore with 70 percent occupancy in FY 20. Zostel, after experiencing an almost no-income spell from March to September 2020, has begun seeing some green shoots in November 2020.

Workation – a travel company, is finding that the number of travellers demanding for workation has increased by three times. Piggy Ventures is optimistic about clocking an annual revenue of Rs 1.5 crore in 2021 with this emerging trend.

What lies ahead for the travel and hostel chains in the workation space?

With the workation trend, there will be a revival of the domestic tourism industry which is estimated to be at risk of Rs 15 lakh crore as per Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH). More employees will be opting for workation as exotic work environments tend to uplift the happiness quotient and boosts motivation levels for work.

Hostel chains and travel companies need to take extreme care about sanitised rooms and hygiene. Other essentials like attractive room rates, meals at heavy discounts, innovative recreational activities, strong Wi-Fi connection for zero interruption in work will drive the demand for workation.

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Revenge Travel Revamping the Travel Industry

Shalmoli Sarkar — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 10:35:07 +0000

Fed up with being confined in the walls of the home for over a year, Indians certainly wanted an escape from their banal life to hills, beaches and nature hikes. What held them indoors to date was the arrival of the vaccines, after which they could think of travelling. As the numbers of the second covid wave began plateauing, the tourist destinations gradually opened from the prolonged lockdowns. With vaccination drives in full swing, people took their jabs, packed their bags, and took their heels off to Manali or to a destination of their choice as a part of ‘revenge travel’.

Revenge travel is a behaviour that has recently emerged amongst the Indian tourists in the pandemic that involved overcrowding of tourist destinations. As a result of staying indoors for the longest time, the tourist spots began experiencing a huge influx of tourists, who desperately needed a vacation to get rid of their monotonous lives. According to Thomas Cook’s travel survey, 69 percent were keen to travel in 2021, 18 percent are ready to travel immediately post lockdown restrictions are lifted and 51 percent wanted to travel within 3-6 months.

What is this ‘Revenge Travel’ emerging in Indians?

The immense desire to venture out reached its peak with lockdowns that nudged people indoors. To quench the thirst of travelling Indian tourists are travelling out to explore some new remote locations nearby urban cities and also heading to small forests to breathe in some fresh air and feel connected to nature and family. As most people got bored of their daily routines, they ventured out together at the same time planning the same itinerary resulting in overcrowding.

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According to Thomas Cook’s travel survey, 69 percent were keen to travel in 2021, 18 percent are ready to travel immediately post lockdown restrictions are lifted and 51 percent wanted to travel within 3-6 months.

Revenge Travel – Good News for Travel Companies

The travel companies which are on the brink of losses and closures, the ‘revenge travel’ phenomenon is a blessing. Car rental company Avis India is experiencing a surge in commuter bookings choosing solo, in couples, and with their families. Most of the car bookings are happening in weekend gateways to nearby mountains and other drivable locations. Similarly, IntrCity SmartBus is also seeing a rise in pocket-friendly bus travels in routes like Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Gorakhpur, Delhi-Amritsar. It ran around 18-20 buses for 1.5 lakh travellers monthly for leisure or travel to pilgrimage centres like Manali and Tirupati.

Online travel company Cleartip, is witnessing a 10 percent rise in bookings with travel dates more than four weeks away as compared to 5 percent in 2020. MakeMyTrip is offering its travellers more flexibility and convenience while booking a train journey on the platform. It has introduced Trip Guarantee which is a facility that allows customers to upgrade their unconfirmed train ticket to opt for a flight, cab, bus and alternate train journey for a future date.

New Upcoming Travel Behaviour for Revenge Travel

Most tourists are travelling to lesser-known destinations and avoiding traditional tourist spots. Here are some of the new travel behaviours emerging:

Drivable locations
Health and wellness-themed trips to recover from mental fatigue
Spiritual trips
Private journeys for small group travels
Short trips to remote wilderness regions

What Lies Ahead for Travel companies?

With a large part of India yet to be fully vaccinated, the revenge travel behaviour showcased by tourists poses a high risk of the emergence of a third covid wave and again be a huge blow to the travel industry. However, it is anticipated that the ones who are vaccinated might opt for self-driving vehicles for travelling to nearby locations and go for short trips avoiding public transport. With self-driving cars, there will be less exposure with other individuals ensuring safety and fun. Hence, the car rental companies might experience demand. Business opportunities for the travel companies might emerge due to the upcoming festive seasons, where people would like to make advance bookings. Travel companies should offer flexibility and convenience to travellers to upgrade their ticket for a different mode of transport in case if tickets are not confirmed especially in train bookings.

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Trends That Have Reshaped the Job Market in Travel and Hospitality

DU Desk — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 07:28:25 +0000

Being one of the biggest employing and entrepreneurial industries globally, the travel and hospitality industry is undergoing a profound transformation, thanks to pandemic-induced challenges and subsequent financial hardships. The acceptance of the ‘new normal’ has made it imperative for the industry’s most prominent players as well as new start-ups and SMEs to manage operations from a unique standpoint, allowing hospitality companies to emphasise their core business, thus improving effectiveness.

While the change in any industry is inevitable, some segments always stand to benefit from it. And with the latest changes, job seekers stand to profit big time as the challenges have allowed the industry to start in the new digital-led direction. Additional complexities and potential problems have given rise to numerous types of jobs.

Here we list new trends that have reshaped the job market in travel and hospitality.

New Age Cabin Crew

Cabin crew positions are traditional positions that have remained relatively similar throughout the history of aviation. However, getting a cabin crew position is now more competitive than ever. Airlines require the crew to be attractive and to provide excellent customer service. But now, to cut costs, many airlines also need cabin crew to perform the chores of cleaners, cooks, and security personnel – hence new age cabin crew.

Programmes and training for this job can help people develop new skills and prepare for the arduous processes involved in the role. The potential income for new-age cabin crew positions is estimated at Rs 40,000 per month.

Online Travel Agent

Over the years, customers have shifted away from the traditional type of travel agents and such companies. Instead of availing the services of travel agencies, consumers have chosen to either create their live DIY-style packages or turn to online players like MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Goibibo and more.

So, to become an online travel agent, one has to follow a relatively straightforward process to meet the criteria. All it takes is a familiarisation process with GDS and inventory management systems, and with experience, one is good to be an online agent. Initially, the potential income of an online travel agent ranges from Rs. 10,600 to Rs. 30,300 per month.

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Businesses will need high entrepreneurial opportunities to make the most of their existing customers. As customers travel in limited numbers due to COVID, hospitality businesses should make the most of it.

Travel Insurance Sales Representative

Following the COVID-19 crisis, people have become more aware of the importance of insurance, including travel insurance, than ever. While many travel and tourism jobs do not give much money, the financial arm of the industry is one area where new job seekers can make substantial money. With little training, one can earn a healthy salary in this up-and-coming role in the travel industry. Sales training courses prepare you for this career. The average wage of an insurance sales agent in India is approximately Rs. 25,000 per month.

Plan of action for entrepreneurs in the travel and hospitality space

Entrepreneurs of all scales, including SMEs and start-ups, need to adopt a multi-tasking strategy to succeed in the industry now. In future, due to decreased demand leading to low value and profitability, much emphasis will be on labour cost control. In this scenario, hospitality professionals who have multiple skills and can carry out different jobs will prioritise filling up new job opportunities in the hospitality industry. Businesses’ problem-solving and design thinking skills for creating unique experiences are set to become necessary to understand travellers’ new demands and solve their problems in a post-pandemic world.

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One Village at a Time, Svanir Revives Rural Economy by Empowering Dalua Village

Anju Nambiar — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 03:35:11 +0000

Imagine living in the wilderness amidst flora and fauna, away from the light pollution of cities and from crowds, safe from transmission of covid and flouting of social distancing. Isolated homestays in the heart of nature may just be the answer to the revival of the hospitality sector as well as the rural economy of India. Svanir is a start-up which is doing just that.

Who is Svanir?

Svanir is a hospitality start-up based in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. Founded by ‘Indrani’ and ‘Soumya’, Svanir literally means ‘own home’ which is the founding principle of the start-up. Their homestay service ‘Svanir Wilderness Ecostay’ is an eco-friendly boutique homestay.

Why was this start-up conceptualised?

The start-up was conceptualised on a shared dream by its co-founders to create a living space that was close to nature. The idea quickly took shape in the form of a homestay in the outskirts of Bhubaneshwar.

Empowering the neglected village of Dalua

The start-up shares its address with the village of Dalua. Dalua is a poor and largely neglected tribal village with its inhabitants being mostly impoverished. Svanir is empowering the local community by employing their staff, especially women and training them to assume various roles in the hospitality industry like chef and even to become entrepreneurs.

Cosy eco-home hiding in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar

Their cosy eco-home hiding in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar consists of locally sourced, air-conditioned cottages, designed in traditional tribal architecture. It is aimed at giving guests the experience of living like a local in the village of Dalua along with the benefits of a homestay experience.

Their differentiator

Svanir’s main differentiator is that unlike a traditional hospitality and travel start-up, they’ve been able to retain their employees and even hire two or more women staff during the pandemic. Since they operate to fulfil an important cause and are located in an off-beat location with close to zero competing establishments in their vicinity, even a single reservation or stay booking will be beneficial for the disadvantaged staff in the premises to skill up in hospitality and earn a sustainable living.

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Svanir is empowering the local community by employing their staff, especially women and training them to assume various roles in the hospitality industry like chef and even to become entrepreneurs.

What’s in it for me?

The ‘live like local’ trend is working out well for tourism and hospitality sectors as more people realise the presence of exotic vacation destinations in their surroundings rather than in expensive foreign locations. Start-ups that are curating a local experience for travellers are providing a two-way advantage:

They are fulfilling the market demand of travellers seeking a low budget, fulfilling respite from the endless lockdowns.
They are solving a major challenge among locals in hard-to-reach, or impoverished areas by creating jobs, and supporting small business owners during these tough times.

Start-ups are relocating to hideaway locations in India to start their own cosy home or cottage getaway home for travellers. If you own land or a heritage ancestral home in an interior location abundant in nature, transforming it into a homestay is a good idea. Small towns and villages are ideal locations to set up homestays. Unlike a generic hospitality offering, a homestay is not burdened by expenses of managing a hotel. It’s a humble and sustainable service in the travel/tourism and hospitality sector that can survive the pandemic.

There is drastic change among traveller behaviour in India. People are no longer flying out of the country for exotic holidays on a whim. They prefer ‘slow travelling’, a trend for choosing small properties over bigger hotel chains for their stay. They also prefer an instant connection with the area and a local experience is the fastest way to experience it. Starting a homestay is a sustainable option for start-ups venturing into the hospitality sector. It doesn’t require bank loans to run and can be easily set up with minimal infrastructure which only adds to its charm. Homestays also harbour natural abundance which is also their key USP.

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