It has been said often enough and with every repetition the statement’s ominosity keeps increasing. The pandemic has dramatically changed some industries, with travel and hospitality being amongst the most affected.
The nationwide lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed by the government to flatten COVID-19’s spread hit both sectors, which are symbiotically bound, very hard. Despite the promise of a vaccine on the horizon, which will hopefully bring the pandemic under control, there is no denying that business will be equally challenging going forth.
Few know exactly how the dynamics of the travel and hospitality business will transform. However, many are trying to comprehend the altered customer behaviour and come up with strategies to deal with it. One thing is definite though; safety and health is right on top of a traveller’s check list.
According to a Booking.com report, about 86% Indian travellers plan to take more health and safety related precautions when travelling in the future and 71% are opting to avoid certain destinations altogether due to safety concerns. The online travel aggregator recently conducted this survey amongst 20,934 people who had travelled for business or leisure in the past 12 months, and were planning to travel in the next one year, whenever travel restrictions are lifted.
Talking about it, Ritu Mehrotra, Country Manager, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives at Booking.com said, “Health and safety are top priority for travellers wanting to travel once again. They are looking forward to new health and safety measures to avoid COVID-19.”
These findings are reiterated in Thomas Cook India’s ‘Holiday Readiness Travel Report – Future of Travel post COVID-19’ report. Once again health and safety ranked as the primary concern for 75% respondents of the 2500 surveyed customers. 35% were willing to increase their spend to ensure higher levels of hygiene and sanitation, while 72% preferred reputed brands across their travel journey, including tour operators and hotel chains.
NAVIGATING THE PANDEMIC
Rajeev Kale, President and Country Head – Holidays, MICE and Visa at Thomas Cook India
Keeping an eye on this ball, Thomas Cook and its group company, SOTC, are collaborating with various hospitality brands to underline how safety forms the core of all their business plans. Talking about this, Rajeev Kale, President and Country Head – Holidays, MICE and Visa at Thomas Cook India said, “While flights were suspended, we worked on creating a non-flight domestic holiday strategy. We collaborated with hotel partners with accessible properties from residential areas to create innovative products such as workations, staycations, wellness breaks, affordable luxury holidays, etc.”
The company partnered with hospitality brands, including the Indian Hotels Company Limited, ITC Hotels, Accor Hotels, Marriott International, Royal Orchid Hotels, Sterling Holidays Resorts and other regional chain hotels. As travel restrictions eased and borders reopened, it also tied-up with airline companies, like IndiGo, to catalyse demand for domestic destinations.
Customers could pre-register online and book their preferred time slot to visit the physical roadshow.
This was part of its twin-pronged strategy to boost customer confidence who were taking hesitant steps towards travelling and vacationing. Since they sought value-centric propositions, it came up with products at affordable price points with various value additions. So, free transfers, flexible cancellation options, minimal booking deposit, easy payment and EMI options as well as immersive experiences at its hospitality partners –its customers could pick and choose from a range of permutations.
“Our hotel partners were appreciative of our support during the lockdown as we brought in meaningful
business for them. Our holidays witnessed a strong demand from customers celebrating special occasions, like anniversaries. Based on their feedback, we launched product lines like Ramayana Trails,
Hidden Gems, etc.,” Kale added.
Its association with Amar Chitra Katha to launch the ‘Great Indian Journeys’ also presented its hospitality partners an opportunity to showcase their diverse offerings to different target segments. For its ‘Holiday with Confidence’ package, Thomas Cook and SOTC created staycations, workations, drivecations and quick getaways across 16 participating Marriott International brands. Some experiences across these properties included an exclusive four-course dining experience by a specialty chef, a private session with a golf pro at the Poona Club Golf Club, pizza making classes, fun activities at the kids and family club, a movie under the stars, etc.
Daniel D’souza, President and Country Head, Leisure at SOTC Travel
Daniel D’souza, President and Country Head, Leisure at SOTC Travel stated, “The international selection in this programme includes attractive discounts on spa treatments to shark feeding attractions or water sport activities in key resort destinations.”
Both travel companies also partnered with Accor for its ‘Holiday Safe’ portfolio. Delighted about this association, Rohit Chopra, Regional Director – Sales & Distribution, Accor India and South Asia said that as an industry this is the time to show solidarity and work together to reassure guests that it is safe to travel.
Rohit Chopra, Regional Director – Sales & Distribution, Accor India and South Asia
“To communicate about our stringent safety and hygiene measures to guests, we partnered with Thomas
Cook India and SOTC to launch ‘Holiday Safe’. This holiday portfolio has comprehensive health and safety protocols incorporated via the travel companies’ ‘Assured Safe Travel Program’ together with Accor’s Cleanliness and Prevention ALLSAFE label.” This selection offers travellers exclusive pricing starting from INR 5,999 for various domestic holidays, while international holidays starts from INR 20,720 onwards to destinations like Dubai and Maldives.
THE HUMAN TOUCH
The ‘Holiday Readiness Travel Report – Future of Travel post COVID-19’ revealed that Indians increasingly sought reassurance and a human touch while planning their holidays. In the early days of the lockdown, many travel companies offered their customers contactless services via assist via phone or video call. It also launched a virtual holiday roadshow to empower customers with interactive holiday planning, from the safety of their homes.
But this could hardly replace the bonhomie that is created while answering customer queries swapping anecdotes over a cup of coffee. Hence, May onwards, Thomas Cook started reopening its travel offices in a phased manner and currently 153 of its physical outlets are functional. Last month, it executed its first physical holiday roadshow since lockdown. The ‘Freedom Month Celebrations’ was a series of customer centric roadshows held in association with Accor Hotels and Marriott International. Kale informed that on offer during this event were a range of domestic and international destinations with specially priced, flight inclusive holidays starting upwards of INR 10,790, with a chance to win a free holiday to Dubai.
“This programme was designed to incorporate the reassurance of an inperson holiday booking experience within easy access, coupled with the hygiene-safety protocols of Accor and Marriott venues. Our holiday experts were present to guide customers with important elements, including health and safety protocols, etc. – aimed at bringing back customer confidence in travelling during the COVID era. To ensure customer health and safety together with a personalised experience, an online pre-registration
enabled customers to book their preferred time slot,” he stated.
The ‘Freedom Month Celebrations’ series of customer centric roadshows was held in association with Accor Hotels and Marriott International.
By leveraging digital and social media, the travel companies successfully extended additional information about the event to their existing clientele. “We received demand from an average of 30 families at each event across 10 cities. We also registered bookings and accepted payments on the same day and this was sustained with immediate bookings in the next week,” Kale claimed.
Chopra added, “This initiative gave us an opportunity to showcase our services to guests across 10 key source markets like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune, Kochi, Jaipur and Baroda.”
D’souza was equally thrilled with the response. “Our first physical holiday roadshows since the lockdown saw the attendance of over 500 customers. Dubai and Maldives were trending international destinations while Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan, Andaman, Himachal were preferred domestic locales,” he said.
Holiday experts at the ‘Freedom Month Celebrations’ guided customers about health and safety protocols during COVID-19 travels.
Eyeing this pent-up demand for travel, SOTC introduced ‘Crazy Deals’ in partnership with IndiGo for places like Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur, Ranthambore, Mussoorie, Rishikesh, Chittorgarh, Andaman, etc. These
started at INR 10,999.00, while the international short-haul destinations for Dubai and Maldives were priced at INR 32,640.00 and INR 45,710.00, respectively.
“To ensure health and safety, long duration stays in a single resort are being preferred in these international destinations, for e.g. Atlantis The Palm in Dubai or Sheraton Full Moon Resort & Spa in
Maldives,” D’souza added.
A GLIMMER OF HOPE
After being plunged into gloom for a long time, the travel and hospitality business is finally seeing some encouraging green shoots of demand. This is manifested not just in the number of customer enquiries over the past few weeks, but confirmed bookings as well.
The physical roadshow helped Accor to service guests across 10 key source markets in India.
The key segments driving this demand largely comprise families, millennials and young working professionals. Thomas Cook India’s MICE division undertook some physical events with its hotel partners including Holiday Inn, The St. Regis Mumbai as well as Hyatt, JW Marriott, Le Meridien and Westin properties across the country. “Our guest count of 100 attendees at a recent event in Holiday Inn Goa was limited only due to the government protocols. Our client had opened the same event on a first-come-first-serve basis and had to turn down many additional requests,” Kale said, adding that this looks like a good opportunity to capitalise on in the future.
Indians who were home bound for several months are using the first opportunity they get to travel, and are unwilling to restrict their wanderlust to weekends. There is a resurgence in group travel, albeit in smaller size primarily for health and safety reasons. And they want to spend more time catching up with one another and share in the joys of travelling together.
Another evident trend is the preference to stay at a single property rather than move from one hotel to another. This will come as music to the ears of hoteliers who can now offer a plethora of experiences – be it innovative in-property dining, exclusive spa and wellness treatments or exploratory trails – to this captive audience.
“We have received bookings for entire hotel floors and even villa stays, as well as unique experiences like a jeep safari amidst the lush plantations of Munnar’s Kolukkumalai, a bush-dining experience in Bandhavgarh, a vintage car drive around Udaipur’s picturesque lake, mangrove walks in Sundarbans or
the heady rush of bungee jumping in Rishikesh, etc,” Kale added.
All this alludes to the premise that domestic travel will be strongly preferred by customers in the near future, as they opt for destinations closer to their homes. Holidays at short driveable cities like Goa, Mahabaleshwar, Alibaug, Lonavala, Mussoorie, Rishikesh, Udaipur, Mount Abu, Coorg and Kabini will continue to remain popular. With the extended work-from-home model, these are expected to emerge as the perfect spots for workations, staycations, drivecations and quick getaways.
As tourism makes a tentative return, one thing is sure – the rules of the game have changed. Today, travellers and guests have become very selective. They are apt to pick brands that are more focused on safety and health, rather than those who just give it some lip service.
