Tag Archives: CEO

OYO has formed a strategic partnership with Motherland Joint Ventures, the group that has helped build India’s global brands, including Incredible India, Royal Enfield, Make in India and IndiGo. This partnership will enable OYO and Motherland to co-develop a series of exciting new hotel formats and enhance various aspects of customer experience – including key touch points such as Interiors and ergonomics – all of which will offer guests an unprecedented combination of style, efficiency and affordability. This category transformation process began in 2017 with the launch of OYO Townhouse, the ‘friendly neighbourhood  hotel’ that is receiving rave reviews as it rapidly expands across the country. This alliance will facilitate and strengthen OYO’s mission of creating beautiful living spaces via its innovative approach to brand strategy, product definition and customer experience design. As part of this strategic partnership, OYO and Motherland will be launching a massive new retail collaboration that will feature a mix of original products specially designed for new age brands such as OYO Townhouse. Initially available exclusively at OYO Townhouses, Motherland products will soon be available at other OYO spaces, including online channels. Commenting on the partnership, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, OYO said, “In our pursuit of creating beautiful living spaces, the partnership with Motherland will enable us to co-develop new, exciting hotel formats and enhance guest experiences – including Interiors and ergonomics – offering guests an unprecedented mix of style, efficiency and affordability. We are confident the Motherland alliance will augment OYO’s overall value propositions through their skills in brand strategy, marketing and designing.”  

VITS Luxury Hotels has unveiled ‘VITS Mango Blossom, Gurugram’, a luxury corporate hotel located near Udyog Vihar Industrial Hub. Well-connected through railways, road and air to all major cities, the hotel offers ease of travel and transit to all the corporate travellers. Announcing the launch, Chandrakant Shetty, CEO, VITS Luxury Business Hotels says, “We are extremely upbeat on the exponential growth prospects in Gurugram that has fuelled demand of upscale mid- market hotels in this region. The city has seen steady growth in inflow of business travelers in the last two decades but there is still acute shortage of upscale mid-market hotel rooms. We are extremely delighted to bridge this gap with the launch of our first property in Gurugram. We believe VITS Mango Blossom with its strategic location, imposing décor, banqueting and host of hospitality will appeal to both leisure and business tourists”. The well-furnished accommodation blends contemporary design with unmatched comfort. The 37 guest rooms comprising Deluxe and Superior rooms present a corporate sojourn with impeccable amenities. Mirroring the aura of elite class living, each of the rooms boats of tastefully adorned décor, upscale comfort, luxury ambience and exclusive facilities.

Treebo has announced its acquisition of Events High, a marketplace for experiential events and activities for an undisclosed amount. Events High’s acquisition is strategically aligned with Treebo’s mission to become India’s most loved travel network by delivering delightful experiences to every traveller. Events High offers customers information on, and ability to book activities like treks and hikes, cooking classes, dance classes, concerts, heritage walks, nightlife, etc. in eight cities – Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata and Goa. The move will effectively enable Treebo to enter the thriving events and activities segment in India. Post the acquisition, Treebo has absorbed the entire Events High team. Commenting on the acquisition, Sidharth Gupta, Co-founder, Treebo said, “We are on a mission to offer delightful experiences to travellers and build the most loved travel network by offering curated local events and activities to our customers through Events High. Experiencing these local activities is a core part of people’s travel plans. More so now than ever before, people are keen to buy ‘experiences’ not ‘things’.” Nikesh Garera, Co-founder and CEO, Events High said, “Customers value engagement and unique experiences, and Events High has always been committed to curate these experiences and make them discoverable. Stay is an integral part of the huge number of travellers who attend such experiences, and with Treebo we share the vision to offer delightful experiences to such travellers.”

Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) regional wing, SilkAir, is set to undergo a significant investment programme to upgrade its cabin products as part of a multi-year initiative that will ultimately see it merged into SIA. The programme will comprise investment of more than $100 million to upgrade the wholly owned subsidiary’s cabins with new lie-flat seats in Business Class, and the installation of seat-back in-flight entertainment systems in both Business Class and Economy Class. This will ensure closer product and service consistency across the SIA Group’s full-service network. “Singapore Airlines is one year into our three-year Transformation Programme and today’s announcement is a significant development to provide more growth opportunities and prepare the Group for an even stronger future,” said Goh Choon Phong, CEO, SIA. “Importantly, it will be positive for our customers. It is another example of the major investment we are making to ensure that our products and services continue to lead the industry across short-, medium- and long-haul routes.” Aircraft cabin upgrades are expected to start in 2020 due to lead times required by seat suppliers, including to complete certification processes. The merger will take place only after a sufficient number of aircraft have been fitted with the new cabin products. Specific details will be announced progressively as the programme develops and timelines are finalised.  

Yatra Online, Inc and Chrome River Technologies, Inc a global provider of expense management and supplier invoice processing software, have announced an agreement to deliver streamlined, integrated expense automation solutions for companies based out of India. Yatra will resell Chrome River EXPENSE as part of an integrated travel booking and expense management solution with Yatra’s Self Book platform. Chrome River EXPENSE will empower Yatra’s corporate customers to better enforce expense policies, provide an optimal traveler experience, and reduce wasteful spend. Commenting on the partnership, Dhruv Shringi, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Yatra Online, Inc said, “As we continue to grow in the corporate travel segment, we are teaming up with Chrome River, to further drive efficiencies in travel bookings by automating the expense management process. The depth and reach of its network and solutions is unparalleled in the industry. Our technology platforms complement each other, and together we will offer services best suited to the needs of Indian travellers to ultimately enhance their travel booking experience. We look forward to growing with Chrome River.” “India is one of the fastest-growing business travel markets, and corporate travel spending is increasing at 12 per cent per year, which is more than double that of the U.S. and almost five times the growth seen across Europe. This growth, combined with a need for many Indian companies to improve business processes in areas such as travel booking and expense management, offers an excellent opportunity for Chrome River and Yatra,” said Alan Rich, CEO, Chrome River.

Forging ahead with the fourth destination in India after Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kochi recently, Jazeera Airways will now fly to Mumbai starting May 9 to expand its growing network of Indian routes. Responding to the travel demands of its customers, the airline will provide strong connectivity through Kuwait on to 14 destinations across the Middle East. Jazeera Airways will operate daily flights to and from Mumbai starting May 9 departing 20:30 pm from Kuwait arriving 03.00am in Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO, Jazeera Airways said, “Our network in India is developing well and is continuing to support the travel needs of over 920,000 Indians from Kuwait, as well as offering Indian citizens connectivity across the Middle East. With our increasing passenger numbers, Jazeera Airways is proud to open its own dedicated terminal at Kuwait International Airport in May. This is an exciting phase for the brand as it reiterates the long term commitment of honouring Jazeera’s support for the Vision 2035.”    

Switzerland Tourism and the Swiss Travel System have together launched a special ‘Ranveer on Tour’ train dedicated to Ranveer Singh to honour the actor’s contribution towards the increasing popularity of the country as the preferred destination of Indian tourists. The train’s maiden journey was inaugurated by the official brand ambassador of Switzerland Tourism. Also present at the inauguration were Martin Nydegger, CEO Switzerland Tourism and Maurus Lauber CEO Swiss Travel System. Post the inauguration, Singh took a commemorative ride on the train while interacting with the passengers and signed a few postcards. Nydegger said at the inauguration, “The Indian market is fundamentally important for Switzerland Tourism. In 2017, activities to promote Switzerland in India have resulted in a strong increase of 23.4 per cent in overnights. Our campaign with Ranveer Singh as our Brand Ambassador has powerfully contributed to this recent success: Switzerland has become increasingly famous as an adventurous and fun destination for younger Indian visitors.” Lauber added, “ Indians are extremely important for the Swiss Travel system and the number of Indian travellers using the Swiss Travel Pass has doubled since 2013. We are very proud that the Golden Pass Panoramic train is named after Ranveer Singh and we hope this inspires more Indians to travel on this premium route on the Grand train tour of Switzerland.”

AccorHotels has signed an agreement with Mövenpick Holding and Kingdom Holding to acquire Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, for an amount of CHF560 million (€482 million). Sebastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO, AccorHotels said, “With the acquisition of Mövenpick, we are consolidating our leadership in the European market and are further accelerating our growth in emerging markets, in particular in Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The Mövenpick brand is the perfect combination of modernity and authenticity and ideally complements our portfolio.” “Its European-Swiss heritage is a perfect fit with AccorHotels. By joining the Group, it will benefit from AccorHotels’ power, particularly in terms of distribution, loyalty-building and development. This transaction illustrates the strategy we intend to pursue with the opening up of AccorInvest’s capital: to seize tactical opportunities to strengthen our positions and consolidate our leaderships, as well as leverage our growth,”Bazin added. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will benefit from AccorHotels’ loyalty programme, distribution channels and operating systems, which will help optimise their performance. This acquisition further consolidates the current footprint in Europe and in the Middle East and accelerates growth notably in key regions where the Group has been established for many years, such as Africa and Asia. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. It should be completed during the second half of 2018.

JetSetGo has announced the acquisition of Indo Pacific Aviation, India’s oldest non-scheduled aircraft operator (NSOP) with operations in India. Speaking about the acquisition, Kanika Tekriwal, CEO, JetSetGo, said, “As the oldest NSOP, Indo Pacific has been instrumental in many ways in the growth of the private jet and helicopter market in India. Indo Pacific has far too many firsts to its credit and we are excited that this acquisition brings together the values of the old with the dynamism of the young. This acquisition now gives a significant boost to our ability to grow our fleet and offer unique services and next generation aircraft for personalised on-demand mobility.” Aggregating India’s available private jets and helicopters for the first time, JetSetGo now has pan-India presence with 2,800 aircraft movements executed in the last financial year. Typically managing and executing chartered flights through DGCA approved non-scheduled operator permits that are owned by others, the acquisition of Indo Pacific Aviation now gives more flexibility to JetSetGo to directly manage its own fleet and to provide on-demand air connectivity. It will also offer its customer’s aircraft sales and acquisition, fleet management and other aviation support services. Government approval from the DGCA and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) was obtained prior to completing the transaction.  

The 17th Kailash Sankhala Memorial Lecture organised by Tiger Trust in collaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature – India, raised awareness about the world of snow leopards. Organised in memory of the Tiger Man of India, the esteemed gathering was addressed by Dr Koustubh Sharma, Senior Regional Ecologist, Snow Leopard Trust; Dr Tsewang Namgail, Director, Snow Leopard Conservancy India trust and Ravi Singh, CEO, WWF. Anjana Gosain, Chief Functionary Officer, Tiger Trust, helped put together yet another insightful lecture while trustee Amit Sankhala added some food for thought. Tiger Trust was founded by Padmashri Late Shri Kailash Sankhala, in 1989 to protect endangered tigers in their natural habitat. The Trust functions in a three-way approach, namely capacity building programmes, awareness campaigns and working with the ground staff.