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ISSUE 02 / VOLUME XII / DECEMBER 2020 Rs.350 / Pages 40
Don’t know where to go?Here’s the ultimate insider vacation guide
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Take a breath and pat yourself on the back – you’ve made it to month 12 of this crazy year! People have officially started travelling again, most restaurants are open, and it looks like life is (almost) getting back to normal.
EDITOR’S NOTE Farewell 2020! Individually, we are one drop; Together, we are an ocean. Okay, everyone! You have the December edition of Travel and Hospitality (TnH) Magazine in your hands. Take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back – you’ve made it to month 12 of this crazy year! People have officially started travelling again, most restaurants are open, and it looks like life is (almost) getting back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be given these unprecedented circumstances. Of course I know what you’re all thinking – 2020 has been a whirlwind, and you hope in 2021 we can recover and grow from everything that’s happened, as a industry, a community and a country.
For that reason, we at TnH are striving to make sure that topics and events that will be important in the post COVID world don’t go uncovered. So this issue has a wide variety of articles on forward-looking subjects. We have two young Tech Turks, Nishant Pitti and Gaurav Chirpal, educating us about Data security (pg12) and AI respectively (pg22).
Further, we have the original travel Tech Turk, Deep Kalra, share his selection of favourite holiday destinations. All great suggestions for where to escape as travel continues to open up. We also have an article on building brand loyalty (pg14) with inputs from several industry leaders, and an interview with a young and successful restaurateur for some entrepreneurship inspiration. Finally, I can’t thank you enough for reading our magazine and your continued support. We can’t wait to navigate what the New Year brings together with you!
Publisher & Editor Srishti Jindal
CONTENTS
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Travel products that are just so dang useful & green
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The importance of building brand loyalty in the travel and hospitality industry
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Why data security matters
Don’t know where to go?
Demystifying AI for the Travel Business.
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Selling travel to millennials
A Spotlight on Ambika Seth
@tnhmagazine
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Publisher & Editor Srishti Rai
Art Director Sunny Singh
Director Bharat S. Rai
Correspondent (Kolkata) Swaati Chaudhury
Creative Head Shulabh Gupta
Accounts Chander Shakher Balodi
Managing Editor Prem Kumar
Administration Executive Sarwat Jahan
GM - Marketing Prem Sagar premsagar@tnhindia.com (M) +91 99106 81111
For any query : info@tnhindia.com
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Travel products that are just so dang useful & green Words by Niamat Singh The COVID-19 epoch demands that we socially isolate and hunkering down with our heads buried in the ground has for months been the only way to protect ourselves from this enemy. The inherent panic over contracting the virus colours every decision we make and no one is as influenced as the traveler. Consequently, our grand plans of traveling the world unhindered have been emaciated
with one fell swoop and now we sit wondering how to make it to at least Goa without apprehension. We yearn for the freedom of movement we were used to and at the same time are terrified of what that means for our safety. However, slowly but surely we have begun to open ourselves to the idea of a life beyond our caged presence and are gently unleashing our wanderlust bug again.
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s we resume our lives and travel again, we must change our ways. Deliberate consumerism steeped in sustainability is the future of not only travel, but of where we go from this moment today. It’s safe to say that as a collective people, we have corrupted and pillaged the Earth of its resources and magnificence for far too long. A global pandemic is nothing if not a desperate call to arms for a reckoning and restructuring of how we live and how we move. There are so many cool companies from around the world eager to develop products that will help us re-jig our consumer and behavioral patterns in favour of a more ecologically sound existence. So, I did a bunch of research to find travel related merchandise that would make it safer, cleaner and greener to be on the move going forward.
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Coffee is my kryptonite and travel mugs fuel my addiction. I make sure I am never without one when I am on the go. I have only 100 (this is before I made inroads to a greener lifestyle), all of which I would gladly cast aside for the Stojo Cup. Free of BPA, BPS, cadmium, mercury and lead, the Stojo Cup is the world’s first ultraportable, collapsible, reusable, leak proof cup. Made of the highest-grade silicone and polypropylene, it comes in an array of colours and sizes to suit every purpose from drinking coffee on the go to carrying soup on a flight.
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The first green rule is no plastic. Any product that replaces or even minimizes the use of plastic is a hero and should be celebrated as a sustainable alternative to the existing norm. Eddington’s Bee’s Wraps are the perfect example of an eco-friendly substitute for something plastic that we use often and take for grantedfood wrappers. On the road or in the sky, food from home is a COVID-19 travel staple. Made of beeswax, organic cotton, organic jojoba oil and tree resin, they keep everything from sandwiches, fruit, carrot sticks and cookies fresh and ready to eat on the go.
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Since we are on the topic of food, let’s talk about cutlery. Disposable plastic cutlery ranks second after fishing nets as the most dangerous plastic trash which chokes the ocean and slowly kills marine life that
confuse it for food. Bambaw is a zerowaste consumer brand focused on creating replacements for single use products. Their bamboo cutlery set is not only the perfect accessory to any meal on the go but should be used on a larger scale to replace disposable cutlery entirely. The set has a spoon, a fork, a knife, a straw and a cleaning brush that is made of bamboo and is neatly tied together in a cotton pouch.
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Bambaw also makes reusable makeup removal pads, which are a combination of cotton and bamboo and can be washed repeatedly. They eliminate the need to buy disposable cotton pads that are catastrophic for the environment because of the amount of fertilizers, pesticides and water required to grow cotton. Not to mention, single use cotton pads always come in plastic packaging that only further adds to the global plastic crisis.
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In the current zeitgeist where sanitization is second only to breathing (also with much trepidation) and the concept of sharing is a distant memory, Marleys Monsters has created the perfect product which not only enables our “new normal” but makes sure we’re being gentle with the planet. Their Unpaper Towels are made of 100% flannel cotton and can be used for anything from drying your hands to cleaning surfaces. The towel can be tossed with the laundry and be used hundreds of times without the fear of fraying because of its serged seams. It’s an ideal travel companion at a time where the fear of touching anything shared like paper towels dispensers in public toilets is all consuming.
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After all this eating, drinking and subsequent spillage, AttireCare has you covered with their range of you guessed it - attire care. The Garment Spray Prima is a bottled laundromat designed to neutralize smell and kill bacteria off your clothes. Instead of artificial fragrances and unkind chemicals, AttireCare’s formulations are an all-natural amalgam of organic anti-bacterial substances made with plant derived sandalwood, rosemary, lavender, pine and cedarwood. Although it isn’t a replacement for a proper wash, and doesn’t claim to be, it delays the need for a wash without ruining your clothes and leaving you feeling fresh. Traveling during a pandemic is scary
enough as is; no one needs the added dread of thinking about how to keep his or her clothes clean and germ free constantly. This eco-friendly spray alleviates your worry and assuages the need to unnecessarily waste water.
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Last but not least, luggage! The Initial Studio has recently started making travel hold-alls with canvas and vegan leather trimmings. They are perfect for those quick weekend getaways we are all currently lusting after. Spacious and light, the bags comes with a side strap which can be adjusted for size and a matching pouch which can be used for smaller accessories and toiletries. In true Initial Studio style, it can be monogramed with your initials for that ultimate personal touch!
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Parallel Aviator has launched the ultimate carry on suitcase (amongst their legion of luggage) which is not only spectacular to look at, but made up of aircraft grade recycled aluminum, has vegan leather handles and recycled zippers made from 15 post-consumer plastic water bottles. With an interior compression board, removable pouches and a scuff hiding textured finish, it is the ultimate go-to when you’re ready to fly. Wendell Berry says, “The Earth is what we have in common” and it suits only us to take care of it".
Why data security matters Words by Nishant Pitti Ease My Trip’s Nishant Pitti on why and how companies should protect their data in the new normal.
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In the past six months, there has been a paradigm shift in the way businesses function. For most companies, either their business itself or the way their office functions has now shifted online. This digital shift has its pros and cons, but it is the need of the hour given the current scenario. In this new normal, cybersecurity has emerged as an area of utmost importance. It has become essential for organizations to use advanced data security systems to protect their sensitive data from getting attacked by hackers. Companies that do not protect their data can expose themselves to a world of data security risks- from data tampering and eavesdropping to data theft and unauthorized access to data rows. In the travel & tourism industry, where data is critical to advertising, marketing, customer acquisition as well as product customisation, cases of data theft are increasing day by day. Our company, EaseMyTrip is a purely online platform and for that reason data security has been an integral part of our organization since the beginning. So, here I use my accumulated knowledge to try and explain data security and share some simple steps for data protection. So, what is data security? Data security refers to the processes and technologies you use to protect data from unauthorized access or data corruption both intentional and unintentional. When it comes to data security the means for protection, incident detection and response, has three common elements: people, processes, and technology. The actual techniques and technologies available however are numerous. Some of them are authentication, access control, data encryption, hashing and tokenization. Why is it so important? The data that your company creates, collects, stores, and exchanges is a valuable asset. Whether your company needs to protect a brand, intellectual capital, or customer information, the need for safeguarding data from corruption and unauthorized access by internal or external people protects your company from financial loss, reputation damage, consumer confidence disintegration, and brand erosion. Therefore, with the growing threat of data breaches, data security in today’s business world is no longer a luxury but rather a necessity. Organizations around the globe are investing heavily in data security to protect their critical assets and EaseMyTrip is no different. In fact, for us this investment is imperative. A travel portal like ours, during the process of conducting our business and serving our customers, we become
the repository and custodians of the confidential data of our customers who faithfully confide their private information with us. They have faith that their data is safe and secure with us which gives us a competitive edge. Data security is the cornerstone of our customer relationship and it is vital for us to keep our customers’ trust intact. Therefore, we are committed to protecting the security, secrecy and privacy of the data of our large customer base. What are some simple steps to ensure your data is safe? There cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution for data security. Companies will have to customise their data security measures depending on the way their business operates, the size of their organisation, their method of storing data, their customer base, and the types of technology they use. They should keep themselves abreast of emerging trends in data threats and security and need to have a data protection strategy and plan. For effective data protection, companies need to provide training in data security to all employees. They need to build an enterprise-wide, security-first mindset, encouraging employees to use strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, regular software updates, and device backups, by teaching them the value of these actions. Besides, organisations must also employ trained IT security staff. Further relevant data security technologies like data masking, data encryption and data erasure should be utilized. EaseMyTrip takes the issue of data security very seriously and all our customer data and interactions are maintained under the most secured environment. We follow key management practices that protect data across all applications and platforms and also keep our systems updated with the latest technology. We ensure that any data flowing out of the system is encrypted via hashing to ensure protection from any possible hack. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, encryption is a way of scrambling digital data, software, hardware and hard drives, so that only authorized parties can understand the information. In simpler terms, encryption takes readable data and alters it so that it appears random, therefore rendering it unreadable to unauthorized users and hackers. Furthermore, our website is secured through Secure Socket Layer (SSL). Basically, SSL encrypts the link between our web server and a browser which ensures that all data passed between them remains private and free from attack. Finally, in addition to maintaining appropriate checks on our end, we also ensure and enforce that all our partners maintain the highest standards when it comes to maintaining necessary
privacy and data security. These are just a few methods for achieving data security nirvana. Protecting your organization’s data shouldn’t be overwhelming or complex. The key is to start educating yourself on the latest security tactics and tricks, and use some good old common sense. Also, use services or experts that make it understandable and easy and then take simple steps to control and protect your data according to your own comfort level. Be safe!
About the author Nishant Pitti is the Co-founder of EaseMyTrip, one of India’s leading online travel portals. His company provides hotel bookings, air tickets, holiday packages, and black-label services to its customers and last year achieved a turnover of over Rs. 4,000 crores. A wildly successful online business, EaseMytrip has a database of over 9 million customers and over 15 million people visit the website monthly. Nishant has won many awards for his work in the travel technology industry including the Indian Achievers Awards, the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Entrepreneur Magazine and also the prestigious TnH Award for being the Most Promising Entrepreneur in the travel industry.
The Importance of Building Brand Loyalty in the Travel and Hospitality Industry Words by Ramsha Akhtar Today, travellers have a seemingly endless variety of choices. No matter what type of business you run in the sector, there are always other companies offering a better – or at least cheaper – version of what you are already selling. So, to survive in this new economy, businesses must be able to build brand loyalty and retain their loyal customer base. To help us, we have a few industry experts weigh in on what they are doing to cut through the clutter of options and increase brand loyalty.
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The development of the Travel and Hospitality industry is so dynamic that it inadvertently calls for tight competition amongst business competitors. With the number of choices in every spectrum of travel and the technological advances and innovations happening every step of the way, the consumer or in this case, the traveller, can choose the product they want. Naturally, this means that even the companies that are at the top cannot relax. So, each company is required to have the right brand strategy to be able to maintain its product or service in the market. Nowadays, travellers are opting to choose products based on its practicality rather than the brand. Thus, to retain these consumers, companies need to build brand awareness. Accordingly, the study of consumer’s attitude towards brands is one that has increased exponentially in the past few years amongst both, practitioners and academia. But before we delve further, let’s try and understand the meaning of a brand. The American Marketing Association defines brands as, “Names, terms, signs, symbols, or design, or combinations thereof, intended to identify goods or services from one seller or seller group and differentiate products or services from competitors.” Thus, often more than differences between the product itself, brands have dimensions that make them distinguishable from one another. These differences are more symbolic and emotional representations of the brand. How Community Influences a Sense of Loyalty Brand loyalty is a measure of the consumer’s relationship with the brand, which results in a repeated purchase(s) of a product or a service based on their satisfaction. One of the major factors that contributes to an increased sense of brand loyalty is community. Studies show that a community accounts for 80% of a brand’s business and is a result of merely the 20% of brand community members. Currently, online branded communities are gaining momentum and emerging as the new driving force for sales. Apart from repurchases, communities provide brands and other consumers with an additional communication channel. This communication/interaction helps the brand to establish more connections and secure more members. The brand community also emphasizes the benefits of the products and services from their chosen brand and simultaneously highlights any negative information about other brands, directing the attention away from the positive traits of other brands. Thus, it is vital for brands to engage with the loyal 20% members/consumers of their brand. After all, compared to non-members of the brand, community members tend to spend more time on the brand, return more often, buy/avail products and services at a higher rate, generate activity and also refer the products or services to others.
Even if the brand is strong in the market, it is necessary for the brand to continue to innovate and engage, to maintain its loyalty amongst repeat consumers. Therefore in spite of being the head of a leading GDS provider in India, Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Operating Officer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient, reveals that, “To connect with our existing and prospective customers, we have adopted 360-degree marketing approach including communicating through external channels such as press, social media and website. Our major emphasis, however, remains on internal sources including our Relationship Managers to bring that personal touch in our communications about not only the latest offers but also shortfalls, especially in pressing times like the current pandemic. As a service focused organization, we ensure the products we sell come with right trainings, best practices, 24X7 support and subscription to latest in-house technologies including those driven by artificial intelligence and robotics, such as chatbots.” Customer Lifetime Values Customer lifetime value is the average amount of money your customer will spend on your business over the whole period of your relationship. It has long been acknowledged that this metric both provides evidence of the effectiveness of a company’s brand awareness and relates to its net worth. By comparing the revenue value per traveller to his/her life span, a brand can strategize how best to cater to different consumers with different values. To improve the CLV, a brand must engage with its consumers and build trust that will be the foundation of their business relationship. Not only does this make the brand seem invested but also improves the onboarding process by eliminating those members who most likely will drop out of the sales funnel. Meeting set expectations, delivering on promises, creating a personalized feed catering to their interests, responding to help requests in a timely manner and a money-back guarantee in case of any inconvenience, are some of the ways that brands can establish trust and improve their CLV. Hospitality veteran, Sunil Ghadiok, Head - Development, Shanti Hospitality Management Services, reiterates this fact. He explains, “When it comes to building brand loyalty, the most important thing is to build trust with customers. It is also important to be responsive to the needs of customers. That is why we take every feedback of our customer very seriously. The other important factor for building brand loyalty is consistently exceeding customer expectations by delivering stellar level of services and always meeting brand standards.” So, essentially, a brand’s focus should entirely be on customer experience. In fact, in one of the studies conducted
Sandeep Dwivedi Chief Operating Officer InterGlobeTechnology Quotient
Sunil Ghadiok Head Development Shanti Hospitality Management Services
Alex McEwan Country Manager – South Asia Virgin Atlantic
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by Temkin Group, it was found that 86% of those who have had great customer experience are likely to return to repurchase the product. How to Engage the Price Sensitive Indian Consumer Many foreign companies have wanted to tap the large and lucrative Indian market, but have found understanding the peculiar price-sensitive Indian consumer an issue. A BCG-CII research carried out with consumers from more than 10 countries highlights that Indian consumers are far more value conscious than their counterparts abroad. They are more likely to negotiate prices, spend lesser on luxury items and save more than most of their foreign peers. Most likely, this is because Indian consumers are used to paying nominal prices for most services, thanks to the stiff competition in almost every segment that ensures numerous alternatives. In addition, the majority of India’s population is young and still in the struggling phase financially. As a result of this lack of understanding of the Indian psyche, many companies limited themselves to accommodate the premium section, but the actual potential lies outside of those bounds. To tap this latent potential travel companies should try and cut down on operating costs and offer the least price possible. When this is not possible, as compensation and to provide extra value, brands should offer rewards, flexibility, discounts, value additions etc., to increase brand loyalty. Virgin Atlantic is one international aviation company that has successfully understood the pulse of the Indian customer and is continuously working to adapt to the needs of the market. Accordingly, Alex McEwan, Country Manager – South Asia, Virgin Atlantic, said that, “Opportunities to fly with us this year have been more limited, with travel restrictions in force. We have recognized this and made sure that points earned by our frequent fliers will never expire. So if you flew a lot with us in the last couple of years, you can have peace of mind that the points you earned will not be lost, and you can plan your next trip with confidence. Customers are really valuing the flexibility we are offering during the pandemic; with our Covid-19 insurance policy included in all tickets giving customers complete peace of mind when they travel. Our flexible booking policy allows customers to make changes to their bookings easily in case their plans change. Further, when customers utilize and redeem their points on a flight with us, they will also earn more points for their next trip, an innovative development for Flying Club, our frequent flier program.” Initiatives like
this can explain the overwhelming response they have received since restarting operations in September to India. Brands That Have Successfully Built Recognizable Brands One such successful brand is Amsterdam based Booking. com. It now has 9,00,000 listings since its conception in 2012 in the Indian market. Keeping in mind the pricesensitive Indian audience it provides thoroughly competitive rates, yet the brand knows that the market also seeks value and authenticity to the extent that they wouldn’t mind paying a premium for a unique holiday experience and provides those options too. Additionally, it offers personalization using data, analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. All factors that have helped Booking. com break through the tough market and acquire a large business portion. Another such brand and model is that of 27 year old, Ritesh Agarwal’s OYO Rooms. Yes, OYO has its adequate share of problems but the company has been able to build a highly visible and highly recognizable brand, across the world’s most populous regions such as India and China. It is India’s largest budget hotel chain and the world’s third-largest hotel chain, it now has over 23,000 hotels, 8,50,000 rooms and 46,000 vacation homes across the globe including in US, UK, UAE and Malaysia. It has innovatively addressed the biggest concerns in the budget segment- cleanliness, safety, amenities and ease of finding availability. Apart from its essential room booking services, it also offers other options to cater to as many needs as possible through OYO townhouses, OYO Homes, Silverkeys, OYO Palette, OYO Living, Studio Stays and Holidays Packages. At a nominal fee, their hospitality membership program, OYO Wizard, offers its members additional discounts, special offers, appraised and curated lodging, etc. Conclusion Keeping your customers and clients happy plays a big role in the overall success of your organization. Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to create brand loyalty. By rewarding current loyal customers a business can reduce its financial burden while it works on acquiring new customers and growing. These loyal consumers form a strong and special bond with the brand as they continue to have a sense of belonging, trust, satisfaction and emotional attachment to the brand. To that end, community building and engagement are an essential part of creating brand loyalty and loyal members often interact with each other and thus create an ideal environment to market products by sharing them.
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Don’t know where to go? Here’s the ultimate insider vacation guide Words by Deep Kalra Summer is over, and the Covid-19 pandemic shows no sign of fading. Vacationing without worry is still not feasible, yet we can’t stop thinking about where to go when all this over. To help us with this dilemma, here is a list of Deep Kalra’s favourite holiday destinations. Rest assured, there couldn’t be a better guide to suggest where you should go, because Kalra knows travel like the back of his hand.
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Disclaimer: I am a big believer that travel helps people and families bond. Also, it is a great leveler. It opens up your mind, enriches your life and makes (almost) everyone a good storyteller! What I don’t particularly like is when some experiences or destinations tend to get priced out of the reach of the majority. In fact, MakeMyTrip was conceptualized with an idea of democratizing travel in India – take control from the agent and empower the traveller with choice and transparency. With that principle as a base line, this list comprises not the most exotic or exclusive, but the most diverse set of experiences I could think of! Ladakh: I love exploring mountains. A few years ago, my entire family- parents, siblings and kids went on a holiday to Ladakh. It wasn’t laid back by any standard but we all enjoyed it thoroughly! Ladakh, Shillong and Tawang are destinations in India that all nature-lovers must explore. Maldives: I usually take one or two holidays a year that are devoted to doing fun things with the family. We enjoy getting out in the open and having an active vacation. With kids, I think Maldives is the best destination to visit. There are so many water-sports to indulge in, like Scuba diving, surfing, snorkeling, nightfishing, water-skiing, water polo, canoeing, parasailing, and banana boat rides. Adventure aficionados just cannot miss the opportunity to experience the world’s largest deep diving passenger submarine. The notso-adventurous folks can go whale watching and check out dolphin shows. Scrumptious Maldivian food, luxurious spas and your very own private water bungalow make a holiday to Maldives a very pampering break! Deep blue sea, turquoise reefs, white sandy beaches, palm trees and a cocktail… Maldives is the ideal holiday destination to unwind and relax (and my absolute favorite)! New Zealand: While it requires some planning, a visit to New Zealand will be well worth the effort. The diversity of experiences and contrast between the two islands is remarkable. North Island is more cosmopolitan and you can enjoy its hot pools, thermal geysers and warmer climate. South Island on the other hand offers stunning scenery with ski-ranges and beautiful alpine drives. Kids will love the Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Te Puia thermal reserve with boiling mud pools and roaring geysers, and the beautiful countryside. Those craving adventure can try skydiving from 12000 feet! The cruise ride in the Milford Sound fjord is also enjoyable. If one has the time, a self-drive holiday is the best way to explore the country.
Portugal: This is for those looking to go on a laid-back holiday– since most of the interesting spots in Portugal can be covered while being stationed at a single hotel in Lisbon. The country offers amazing sights and natural beauty, along with some of the most unique places in the world. A day-trip to Estoril coast, the village of Sintra (the Royal Family’s summer getaway) and the picturesque Boca do Inferno cliffs help the traveller familiarize themselves with Portugal’s culture and countryside. Cabo da Roca in the Sintra Mountain Range is the westernmost point in continental Europe. Along the coast, ahead of the Guincho beach, is the Boca do Inferno – a grotto created by the rain and sea erosion. Visit the north of Lisbon as a day trip to check out Nazare, a colorful Portuguese fishing village, and Batalha Monastery, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture that has also been declared a UNESCO heritage site. Turkey: A unique country, which is Asian in hospitality and European in vibe. Turkey is a great mix of culture and heritage amalgamated with a cosmopolitan lifestyle. One can easily set aside a week to explore Istanbul and Bursa. Stay on the European side, a little away from Taksim square which can be noisy and chaotic. Visit the Blue Mosque, Spice Market, and take a Bosphorus river cruise in the evening. Local food is very similar to northwest frontier cuisine. The weather is nice, the sights are beautiful and there is a lot to do, including bargain hunting. Take the ferry to Bursa, visit ancient original Turkish Baths and old forts. A popular spot is the old jail that is now a great shopping-spot for clothes and jewelry and also has a nice coffee shop. Each one of us has a wandering heart with many latent travel desires and at MakeMyTrip we encourage people to listen to their heart. Travel, discover and keep exploring...Kyun Ki Dil Toh Roaming Hai! About the Author Deep Kalra is the founder of MakeMyTrip (MMT), India’s largest online travel operator. He is the pioneer of online travel in India. He founded MMT in 2000, it was amongst the earliest Indian consumer Internet companies to go public and made a $70 million debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2010. Kalra was also instrumental in acquiring MMT’s closest rival, Ibibo Group, in 2017. This move created an online travel giant that controls 60%-70% of the Indian online travel market. In addition to this, Kalra is one of the founders of the reputed Ashoka University[7] and is a part of its governing body.
Demystifying AI for the Travel Business. Words by Gaurav Chiripal Thanks to billions of dollars of investment in refining technical performance and commercialization, AI is now accessible and poised to have an ever-increasing impact on the travel industry.
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ith the travel industry going through its biggest turmoil and touchless being the new norm in life, a lot of work is being done on creating Artificial intelligence (AI) for the industry. In fact, AI is the buzzword among travel technology companies and travel management companies (TMC) irrespective of their domain of business. So, what is AI? AI is the simulation of human intelligence by machines, such as computer systems. In simpler words, AI can be defined as a process executed by a computer (or software you may say) after analysing a huge collection of data and creating subsets of outcomes and then matching those with the ones relevant to customers. All this can be achieved during a user transaction and recommendations can be made on the fly to create a seamless user experience. The program or code gets more intelligent by reading more data and it keeps evolving forever. This is exactly what the human mind does, but softwares are just much faster and more precise. An example of AI in our daily lives is Google maps. Whenever we use Google maps to show us the route from point A to point B, Google relies
on real time information from thousands of other people on the same route. It calculates speed and congestion based upon the data collected from those other people running on the same route. Traffic conditions are provided to us on real time basis & hence target arrival times are correct most of the time. These are all driven by highly complex algorithms working behind the scene, churning data collected by other users. Similarly, there are countless other ways that AI can potentially be applied to change the way business travel and leisure travel is viewed, managed and experienced. It benefits both corporate and leisure travellers by creating a better guest experience by providing the relevant content based upon the customer’s liking. For example, ‘machine learning’, a subset of AI, provides a personalized booking experience which can be further enhanced by applying relevant company policies and real time approvals. All those traditional functions done by a travel consultant in order to validate a quote like sending emails, policy compliance, personal preferences and managing documents for expense reporting are all gone. They are all done proactively by smart engines even before quotes are shown or any tickets are booked. Just imagine a scenario where the user looks into his outlook calendar and finds a meeting scheduled in Mumbai two days later. By just clicking a button in his outlook, the system can provide him a return air ticket option along with a stay option in a hotel next to the meeting location. All this is done after validating all possible
considerations like corporate policies, personal preference and approval budget and yet all within few seconds. Additionally, AI based analytics tools now track travel budgets for optimizing cost. Insights like budget consumption, airline options, moving business class tickets to economy class for certain sectors of travel etc. can be found through data analysis. In fact, most large organisation are now adopting cost saving measures based upon learning from smart engines. Budgets are now corrected during the time of booking based upon real time fiscal situations. For instance, business class options go off as soon as the monthly travel budget reaches a certain point or stopovers become acceptable in case the saving is more than 20% of the air fare. Further, automated smart incentives are given to employees to save cost by booking a lower class of travel. All of these results are automated and driven by analytics and machine learning. Voice or chatbots are also very common nowadays. They rely on an industry standard vernacular algorithm to understand human needs and decode them into commands which could be understood by machines. The responses from the systems are then converted back to readable language before being presented to customers. These techniques are mostly used by automated call centres, online help bots & customer relations departments for activities like post sales changes or cancelations. AI also streamlines a TMC’s operations to bring efficiency in the day to day working of
travel consultants. It reduces the dependency on resources and helps a TMC consolidate bookings from multiple sale channels. Bookings made offline over a phone can be combined with automated online & mobile bookings thus providing a consolidated view to a customer for all his reservations. Nowadays, automated robots & scripts help a TMC to ensure most of the post booking functions like waitlist confirmation, service request confirmation, revalidation, schedule change, time limits and vendor remarks management are automated. Moreover, AI is used in customer acquisition and marketing strategies. For example, one of our customers uses transactional data collected over a span of 10 years along with current market trends to predict user search behaviour. Based upon these algorithms they predict what destinations the users are searching on the web (or what the users should be searching) and accordingly they automated their Google and Facebook keyword priority and adjust discounts only on the relevant destinations. As a result, we have seen about 30% more traffic on their website and at least 45% more bookings for these destinations. To illustrate how you can upsell using AI, let’s take a case of a young 19-year-old boy traveling in business class from London to New York. Current booking engines are smart enough to understand that this customer would want a 5-star hotel in downtown Manhattan and would probably like to reserve table at
premier restaurants. Based on his profile, the system can go further and provide discount coupons for shopping at relevant places and free entry to night clubs. The agencies who are adopting these practices would definitely have an upper edge to perform effectively and efficiently in the ever competitive world of the travel industry. With the growth of adoption, we have also seen these technologies becoming cheaper. More tech companies are developing disruptive technologies and providing new way to do business. Anybody who is willing to adopt these technologies should first focus on consolidating their data. You should have a very strong data management strategy, as DATA is the key for any AI platform. A simple collection of transactional data in an excel sheet can provide you with an insight on seasonal booking volumes. Something which helps you to negotiate better with the airlines and hotels. So, just imagine what intelligent automated engines can do once this collection of data is fed into the system. Also, enquiries which are lost or quotations which never resulted in bookings are also big source of learning. If these can be consolidated in a single database, it can highlight trends and reasons for loss of business. Consequently, a simple change in sales strategy or discounting policy can give a big upswing in revenue. Currently, as a result of the COVID 19 crisis, the travel Industry is seeing its worst time it has in the last century. For months,
with no warning, the entire world came to a standstill. Planes were grounded, airports deserted and travellers locked in their homes. What really kept working were the backend systems, analytic scripts, refund engines & auto cancelation robots. For airlines and agencies, decisions regarding how to pay, whom to pay and how much to pay were not easy. All these descions were based on intelligent analytics performed by systems. As we see flights reopening and sales improving slowly, the choice of routes and the models of planes to be used are again being based upon historic data analysis. Airlines along with IATA are pushing heavily on the adoption of NDC (New Distribution Capability) based content. NDC is a new way to connect directly to an airline’s reservation system without any need for a GDS. Everybody feels that this technology was brought in order to bypass the GDSs, but the fact is that NDC is helping airlines to be closer to their end customers. Hence, the airlines can now provide personalised offers to different customers. Their internal AI engines can provide last minute fares, time bound quotes based upon demand, bundle fares and multiple other amenities. Hotels and car rental companies are incorporating AI in their yield management. Tariff discounting and inventory control are all automated and no human is required to manage these changes. Most of these are not only based upon demand & supply but also on historic data, current market conditions and customer
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behaviour. Simple Customer Relationship Management (CRM) functions are now controlled by systems and customer requirements are understood even before they check in. To illustrate, let me narrate my personal experience. Taj Lands End in Mumbai placed my preference of pillow in my room with a special note without my asking. Their systems were smart enough to track my profile from a booking at Taj West End in Bengaluru where I had requested for the same pillow. This is a very small use case but shows how data can really ehance customer experience. I would like to conclude by highlighting that AI is no longer science fiction, it’s a part of our life and we use it every day. Applying AI in the travel industry is easy and can be done very quickly. I believe we have highly skilled people in this industry who will become more efficient with the adoption of these technologies. AI will never replace the importnace of human interaction but it can help us to be more productive and provide better customer experience. About the Author Gaurav Chiripal is the Founder & CEO of QuadLabs Technologies Private Limited. With a career spanning over two decades, Chiripal has established his name as the man to connect for end-to- end travel technology solutions. His company QuadLabs empowers B2B resellers, tour operators and business travel intermediaries by providing them with world-class technology products and has won several awards for its work. It was recognized as the World’s Leading Travel ERP Technology Provider at World Travel Awards for three consecutive years.
Selling travel to millennials Words by Ramsha Akhtar Aldous Huxley said, “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.�
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Before the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental studies, reports and foresight published showed that it was going to be a struggle to make the travel and tourism industry greener and decrease its carbon footprint. No one suspected that the central issue in 2020 would be how to keep tourism alive. As we stand today, the industry is almost paralyzed. Numbers reflect the scale of the crisis affecting the industry. Estimates from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) show that tourism could decline by 60-80% over the whole year and put millions of jobs at risk in one of the most labor-intensive sectors of the economy. Although the recovery will depend partly on how long the pandemic lasts and partly on resulting changes in travellers’ behaviours, travel companies need to think of new and exciting ways to attract travellers. If sales and marketing resources are scarce and need to be target-oriented, it seems wise to focus on millennials. They seem to be the most likely demographic to provide a sustainable and resilient recovery for the travel and tourism industry. Why? Studies, including the 4th release of Fuel’s COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Study series, have shown that millennials are more willing to travel sooner as global travel restrictions ease and are less risk-averse in general. Moreover, early reports have already shown that older generations are more susceptible to the virus. As millennials literally take over the world, by taking up more and more important positions in the workplace and public office and also taking over the average global demographic ever since their arrival nearly a decade ago; this tech-savvy and digitally forward generation is ready and rearing to go. Therefore, we are here to propose a new conceptual framework for targeting millennials. This article aims to offer great insights into how to ‘Sell the Experience’ rather than a destination to millennials. It also offers a lot of food for thought on how to redefine the tourism industry so that it actively contributes to a sustainable and prosperous future and positively influences visitor’s and local population’s quality of life. It encourages stakeholders in the travel and tourism industry to rethink their models, systemic approach and plan of action by engaging different mindsets and thinking outside of the box, so that new opportunities for tourism professionals and those dependent on the industry can arise.
So to begin let’s address, who exactly is a millennial? Millennials are the children of ‘Baby Boomers’ or ‘Generation Xers’. They are born between 1980 and 2000. As of this year, i.e., in 2020, the average age of the millennial is 29. They are forecasted to comprise 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025. In fact, massive companies including Ernst & Young and Accenture have already reported that millennials make up over two thirds of their entire employee base. They have emerged as a powerful political and social force and are born in an era where information can be accessed in a matter of seconds. Millennials are competent, qualified and highly engaged with technology. Some scholars even believe that millennials are changing the face of cities but even without going that far it is given that they certainly are transforming the workplace. Making up the major part of the work force in today’s economy, millennials are harnessing their talent and potential to improve efficiencies in the workspace and introducing a more flexible and balanced work environment. This change has only been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The “Work from home” or “work remotely” policy is already a reality. With these huge shifts in demography and culture, it is even more important for travel businesses to better understand the largest base of tourism-users in the new normal. Now, this brings us to the question, ‘Who are millennial travellers?’ The millennials, with their peculiar practices, behaviour and lifestyle, are in search of special environments, that are characterized by innovation, creativity and multisensorial experiences mixing virtual and social aspects: smart and social mobile technology; innovative urban festivals of visual and performing arts; museums more attentive to new languages, digital culture and mobile social activities; new practices of shared-economy, involving mobility (bikes and cars) and working spaces; sophisticated food-districts and café-lounging with live music and glocal food; elegant, friendly and inspiring high-tech hotels; environmentally-sound and pro-social forms of urban-tourism; meaningful and personalized on-site experiences. Words like “authentic,” “tech-savvy” and “instant gratification” are frequently used to describe the millennial generation. Millennials find life’s meaning and value through experiences rather than careers or material things. According to a survey conducted by
Dimensions
Social
Relaxation
Intellectual
Competence-mastery
Meet other travellers
Relax Mentally
To Increase my Knowledge
Challenge my Abilities
Have a Good Time with Friends
Be in a Calm Atmosphere
Learn more about myself
Test and develop my physical abilities
Build friendships with people from other countries Develop Close Friendships
Relax Physically
Develop my creativity Explore other cultures
Help people in the destination
Gain a Feeling of Belonging
Avoid the Hustle and Bustle
Experience everyday life in another country
Visit friends and relatives living abroad Interact with local people
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Harris Poll on behalf of an online ticket company, Eventbrite, 78% millennials would rather spend money on experiences than things. Undeniably, there is no better experience than travel to force them out of their comfort zone. For a millennial, an ideal getaway is not a popular tourist destination but rather a remote destination that is value for money and offers authentic lodging options. That being said, it would be wrong to label them as penny pinchers. US Millennials alone spent $200 billion on travel in 2018. According to an article published by Forbes Magazine, millennials in the United States spent an average of $4,594 on vacations in 2017. Simply put, millennials don’t want a cookie-cutter experience, but rather the chef’s special gourmet experience and they are willing to pay for it. Why is it crucial to address the millennials as a market? A Millennial traveller is important to pay attention to in the hospitality and travel industry because of his or her level of wealth, discretionary income, free time to travel, affinity to travel and explore and their tendency to travel greater distances and for longer lengths of time. Research shows that had the world not been struck by COVID-19 outbreak, the expected figure of millennial travellers was estimated to increase by 59% at 320 million travellers and generate around $336 billion. With a scope that huge, it’d be a waste to not capitalize on it. Moreover, when the going gets tough, the young keep travelling. Young travellers are relatively intrepid and are unlikely to be phased by economic problems, political unrest or in this case, a pandemic. Despite the economy and tourism taking a huge hit due to the coronavirus outbreak, the millennials have shown a strong resiliency. Owing to their price-sensitive nature and attention to shared-economy activities, they are likely to find pandemic a better time to travel because you are more likely to get deals on travel. Their eagerness to explore the world once again and leave behind the mental exhaustion of months of isolation will encourage them to begin travelling as soon as possible. Remember, the millennials are the same generation that graduated in the peak of the Great Recession in 2008 and survived. In fact, there is even anecdotal evidence to suggest that young people may be stimulated to take more long trips when the economy
is poor – if there are fewer job openings, many millennials consider taking a gap year or gaining some work experience until the economy picks up again. The delayed entry in a working environment is a significant feature of the millennial age that assists the millennials to use travelling as a mean of developing themselves and their future career. Millennials also still tap into their parents’ assets and this absence of urgency to get into a workforce enables them to travel without worries. This deferral of adulthood is commingled with a flexible working environment that allows millennials to invest significant time to have a vacation or reorient career goals and skills. Many also engage in what WYSE Travel Confederation has termed ‘funemployment’, i.e., using their redundancy money or savings to have a time out until a new job comes along. What motivates a millennial to travel? Before we get to the how, one must know the motivation behind millennial travellers. In a scholarly paper by C. Ryan and I. Glendon in 1998 titled ‘Application of leisure motivation scale to tourism. Annals of Tourism Research’, four emerging factors stood out as motivation behind travellers. The four dimensions were the social dimension, the relaxation dimension, the intellectual dimension and the competence-mastery dimension. This scale can allow us to look at what the millennial travellers seek and consequently create a comprehensive framework that gratifies the above-mentioned dimensions. The following table applies the Leisure Motivation Scale to the current findings and motivations of a millennial traveller: Now for the most important question, how can one sell travel to millennials? Using what we know about millennials as a guide, we aim to provide some insight into how to effectively sell to the large population of millennials as a means to recovery in the COVID era. • Most out of the moolah: Millennials put a lot of thought into getting the most out of what they’re spending. For example, they are more likely to book a nice room that has been discounted to Rs.3000 from Rs.5000 than an Rs.3000 room at full price. This trend also seems
to permeate a desire to use loyalty programs to earn free or discounted travel rather than just be handed upgrades. Thus, it is incredibly important that marketing strategies must aim to capture the attention by focusing on providing a perceived sense of value or sense of connection and loyalty. • Experience, Experience, Experience: In a report, BCG found that the numbers of experiential travel and events have gone up by 70% since 1987. Given the current situation where a sense of belonging and being part of something larger is at its peak, experiential travel is underutilized. By embracing local culture and forming experiential travel opportunities around it, travel brands that are built on experiences can capture this added economic value and win the hearts of consumers. Whether it’s in the form of a music festival, outdoor adventure, shopping, food and wine festivals, institutions have ample opportunities to provide group promotions and services that cater to these needs. • Inspect and Adapt: We are facing a multi-level, co-creative and often informally carried out urban planning where residents, tourists, policy-makers and other-stakeholders are adapting the urban space to the needs of this generation. For example, the high-lane in Manhattan, has become one of the top visitor attractions in New York. It is even more popular than the Statue of Liberty. Its international tourism success and its impact on the urban and cultural landscape, is interpreted not only as a mere instrument of postmodern urban beautification but also as a spectacular result of new values and needs. Important cities, such as Barcelona, Ottawa, Seattle and San Francisco, are implementing urban and tourist policies oriented to attract the millennials. This helps to create “smart cities” and friendly tourist environments in an international framework of innovative urban competition. • Selling the Experience: Although fun and relaxation is the main aim of the trip for some, these “leisure” motivations were far outweighed by the desire to explore or undertake more productive types of travel such as learning a language or volunteering. These more “serious” motivations accounted for over 70 % of all trips.
• Culture is Key: Cities resemble personalities and can be described with human characteristics. For example, New York is contemporary, wealthy and individualistic; Paris is aristocratic, fashionable and chic; Berlin is versatile, dynamic and artistic; Mumbai is diverse, cultural and colourful. In the book Nation Branding: Concepts, Issues, Practice by Keith Dinnie, if destinations want to flourish, they must deliver distinctive, compelling, memorable and rewarding experiences to their target consumers. A multi-sensory travel experience, including sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, generates certain beliefs, feelings, thoughts and opinions in the consumer’s mind. From tourist attractions renowned all over the world to native identities, for a millennial, culture plays a significant and vital role when it comes to travel. These attractions lure millennial travellers who want to experience the places and activities that represent the stories and people of the past and the present. The authentic local experience is broad: from sites, buildings and artifacts to people’s values, attitudes and ways of life including food, clothing, handicrafts, dance and events. All have a positive economic and social impact as it establishes and reinforces the identity of the city, the overall vibrancy of traditions and histories and retains the value of uniqueness. • Digitize and monetize: Remember the chef’s special gourmet experience we talked about earlier? In a study conducted by BCG, 75% millennials reported having travel apps on their phones as opposed to 47% non-millennials. The group reported doing more travel research and comparisons over the Internet and is also more likely to book through a travel aggregator or an OTA. Since millennials are not one to shy away from sharing information and travel requirements online, the breadcrumb trail of data left behind as they hop from channel to channel can provide huge value to institutions. This data can allow travel companies to provide uniquely tailored online experiences based on what travellers have previously expressed interest in. Companies can segment their customers to identify those most engaged in business vs. leisure travel, the most profitable segments, each segment’s unique behaviours, needs, frustrations and preferences.
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• Social Media Takeover: Social media has a huge role in selling travel to millennials. Institutions that make it easy for these young adults to share photos, videos and content and live vicariously through their friend’s experiences often see tangible rewards. Studies show that 43% of millennials access their phones every five minutes, providing brands with an unprecedented opportunity to reach young adults during these intent-driven “micromoments”. Not only are millennials using social media to share their experiences, but they also seek inspiration here during the early phases of travel research. Institutions that focus on storytelling, social media, and content marketing are much more likely to generate interest in their products and services amongst millennials than those institutions selling through traditional sales channels. • Online Reputation: Millennials also report having a strong influence on their friends, families, coworkers and even strangers as a result of social media. The amplification of experiences using social channels is something that can be both a blessing and a curse for many. Learning to respond swiftly and gracefully to less than flattering comments or social posts must become second nature to minimize damage. On the other hand, companies should also learn to capitalize on the value of usergenerated content, that is viewed as something much more trustworthy than the well-manicured photos that make up a company’s website. Moreover, above and beyond sharing their experiences on social media, the Eventbrite studies show that 80% of millennials report that travel reviews have a real influence on their decisions and 56% of them say they post online reviews following a trip. This also means that it is more essential than ever to train and empower employees to prevent service breakdowns that might result in bad reviews. • Like bees to honey: Millennials often travel to study and/or work in the places they visit. Student travel is currently being perceived as an inexorably necessary economic driver. Further, the versatile and flexible corporate sector carved by millennials is becoming practically indispensable in certain parts of the world. It is proving to play an important role in attracting other visitors to the destination. For instance, estimations calculate that for every student studying in Australia, an average of 1.3 people visited the country. This butterfly effect
generated the Australian economy a surplus of AU$1.2 billion every year. Additionally, the “buzz” created by foreign millennials acts as a magnet for attracting visitors and businesses. This has now been perceived as a strategy across the globe wherein numerous centers and projects are introduced so the town can act as a hub for social, cultural, innovation, artistic and inventive activities. Conclusion: The millennial travellers are a lucrative market. It is necessary to study, understand, attract and satisfy them to reap the economic benefits they bring. In an industry that has typically been slow to adopt new technologies, it seems that millennials are forcing the hand of travel and hospitality institutions. Those who can capitalize on this opportunity by delivering unique brand positioning, experiential or event-based travel opportunities, and effectively reaching their audiences on social media are poised for success. Furthermore, as consumers increasingly expect their needs to be anticipated, data-driven marketing will have to become a central part of the strategy for the travel industry moving forward. Finding a balance between income and authenticity will be a challenge for institutions that want to drive revenue while at the same time form “bonds” that will encourage loyalty amongst millennial travellers. This evolution towards unique and original experiences is the real key in understanding and reaching millennials. Although the current situation seems almost desperate in many destinations, it is possible for the tourism industry to thrive post-COVID and this bounce back could be led by millennials. As sung by Leonard Cohen: “There is a crack in everything, that is how the light gets in”.
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A Spotlight on Ambika SethThe Secret Recipe Behind the Success of Brand CAARA Words by Srishti Jindal We devour anything that comes out of the kitchen of Brand CAARA. The company runs three restaurants, a catering service and a cookery school. TnH caught up with Ambika Seth, the talented and diligent food entrepreneur who owns the brand along with her partner Alice Helme, to discuss the making of CAARA, and her plans for scaling it as a platform to train Indian chefs in the culinary arts.
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Describe your path to what you’re doing now. After graduating from EHL, I was hell-bent to work for a company called Six Senses. I heard its owner of that time (Sonu Shivdasani) speaking in my college multiple times and was blown away with their sustainability approach to hospitality and for creating a company culture I am yet to see so beautifully in any other organization. I waited for almost six months until I got a job with them to be part of the preopening team for their resort in Vietnam’s Con Dao. The job was of a project manager, which basically entailed everything from being an assistant of the GM to procurement to being privy to all progress and budget-related meeting with the owners etc. And how could I have said no? It was Six Senses and Vietnam. I went on to complete the project with them and successfully opened the resort. It entailed me living between Bangkok (where Six Senses had their head office), Ho Chi Minh City and the island of Con Dao where I lived for four months out of local Vietnamese hotel (the only one on the island at the time). Every bit of that experience was unbelievable! I learnt the A to Z of how to open a resort from construction to fit-out to marketing to procurement. I went on to work for the owning company (Indo China Capital) where I was part of their hospitality team to manage seven leisure assets from hotels to luxury service apartments and golf courses across Vietnam and therefore also got to see so much more of this amazing country. Having been away from India for so many years, I was very keen to come back home and do something in my own small way for my country. When I moved back to Delhi, I started to search for land in the outskirts of the city to start my own volunteer tourism-based resort - a dream I still have. And in the process, I met with the farmers in the local area. This interaction got me curious about where our food comes from and about the plight of our farmers in India. I went on to create a brand called Farm Love where I would work with local farmers in Haryana to grow chemical-free veggies, give them double the rate they were getting from the market, cutting the many middlemen and supplying the produces to hotels, restaurants and homes across Delhi-NCR. It was
during this time when I met my partner Alice who was doing her own catering (called Damson) in Delhi. We both had so much in common- the love for F&B and great ingredients because these are really the key to great food. It was this common passion that led us to join hands and start CAARA. CAARA started as a catering company and today after six years, it runs numerous verticals: catering, home delivery (easy dining), CAARA cookery school, the chef’s kitchen, cafes and restaurants. Was there an ‘Aha!’ moment when you realized that you wanted to get into the food business? Not really!! It was quite the opposite actually. When the whole discussion about college started in grade 11, I was convinced that I wanted to go to America, just as my sisters had gone there. I wanted to have the experience they had which seemed to be so amazing. It was only my parents who said that knowing the kind of person I am hospitality maybe a career path I should look at and that the best school in the world was just an hour away from Geneva (Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne). My first reaction was that there was no way I was going to stay in Switzerland any longer. As beautiful as it is, as a teenager it can get a wee bit boring! Nonetheless, my parents convinced me to apply for and I thank my lucky stars that I got accepted and it was history from there onwards. When I set foot at EHL, I knew this was the best decision of my life and it was! What does a typical day look like for you? Given that I run a catering company also, often there are weeks I work without any time off as events happen during the weekend as well and 9 out of the 10 times I still go to do a round to check everything before the event kicks off. So the one thing I do for myself is not to miss my one-hour of exercise from 8 to 9 AM, which is a super fun aerobics class I do every day! Post the class, the dash starts- getting home, seeing my son for half an hour before I get dressed and drop him to school. Rushing for workit’s a blessing if I ever manage to make it to the office otherwise most days I’m on the road either for meetings or for visiting the four cafés we have
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or attending a catering event. It’s 8 PM before I know it and I try to get home at some decent hour, as it’s the only time I spend with my son. When I’m at home, I try to leave my work behind so I can have time with the family. My husband Rahul is also in the same industry so it is a rule at home that unless it’s some kind of emergency, we don’t talk about our work at home, as more often than not, we are dealing with the same issues. The day is packed, hectic and at the same time rewarding, and I am often dealing with a thousand emotions from managing the team (one of my biggest jobs) to our client’s expectations. At times it gets overwhelming but then when you successfully pull something off; it makes it all worth it. Any successful business requires a great team. How did you build yours? This is true. It has taken a long time. When we started we were four employees, and today we have a strength of 80 and growing with the grace of God. We have had many people coming and going both from India and abroad, some I still miss hugely because they were such an integral part of CAARA’s growth. But when the team was small, if I ever got a resignation, my heart used to miss a beat; I felt it was my fault for letting them down and the reason for their resignation but more than that, it was the fear of ‘how will we keep going on without that person.’ As we grew, as I became wiser and definitely not as sensitive, I realized that even though the team is the backbone of everything, no one is indispensable and therefore I should let the fear go and do whatever I can to make them happy and comfortable. Today, I have a relationship with each and every person who works for us, from the stewards to the chefs to the drivers. I deeply care for each one of them and I make sure that whatever we can do for them, we do it well. We may not be a huge company that can give many additional benefits to them, but yes, simple things like paying salaries on time even if in that month we may have not met our target, doing social HR activities with them, rewarding those who have worked hard and well, promoting when necessary, paying yearly increments – all small things but surprisingly many companies fail to do so. I am proud that we do that and we do it well and fairly. And it is for this reason that our retention rate is high and we have had people with us for a long time. And those who move on, I let them go with my best wishes and happiest heart to bigger and better things knowing that CAARA played some role in their growth and success.
What do you think was the most important ingredient in your brand’s popularity and success? Consistency in the product, checking and rechecking recipes before we roll them out and our unconditional perseverance to ensure that the ingredients we use are always top-notch, supporting both local artisans and suppliers, and also sourcing globally whenever required. What do you want to explore or work on in the next few years that you’re not already doing? I don’t think India has enough training facilities for someone who wants to get only into the culinary arts; not hospitality but the culinary arts. I want to be able to see many more Indian chefs recognized globally for their work; there is a lot of untapped skill here but sadly there exists the stigma of being a ‘chef’, a profession which is still not considered prestigious enough in a typical Indian home. It’s not comparable to a doctor, lawyer etc. Therefore, I want to be able to have a culinary school here to harness this talent and train the youth in this field to get recognized not only in India but globally as well, based on the education and experience, they will receive at CAARA, which incidentally stands for culinary arts and research academy. Finally, what advice would you give to a young person just starting out? Stop thinking about it and just start. You may do 5, 10 things before you actually figure out your calling but with each experience, you will learn more and if you don’t start for the first time, you will never know the incredible journey of being an entrepreneur.
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RNI NO: DELENG/2010/33723 | DATE OF PUBLISHING: 4th OF THE MONTH