Tag Archives: Kerrie Hannaford

Kerrie Hannaford, Vice President Commercial, Accor (India & South Asia), says that hotels should work along with travel agents as they are experts in packaging the right products, and together they shall strive towards offering a value proposition and unique experiences to customers. Speaking at the 2nd TravTalk Digital Conclave, she said, “What we need to do collectively, with our consultants, is to become absolute experts in offering something unique and bespoke. There must be those ‘surprise & delight’ moments for our customers. The perception of value for money is going to be crucial. It is also important to know what unique experiences we can give to consumers, whether they are from the same city or have travelled from another end of the country. How the travel agent community helps us to establish that uniqueness is important, so that we can sell something to a consumer. As we step towards that level of recovery, that’s what people are going to want. They want to be able to ‘feel’ the value and it doesn’t matter whether it is a $50 hotel or a $100 hotel. They only want to ensure if they are getting that connectedness, that personalisation and as an industry, we need to come together and build that confidence for consumers.”

Kerrie Hannaford, Vice President Commercial, Accor India & South Asia during the 2nd TravTalk Digital Conclave said that after the COVID-19 crisis is over, hotels will have to change how they function. “We will be coming out with new standard operating procedures (SOPs) wherein a health certificate will be needed by hotels. The hotels need to work closely with the travel agents, who are the source on which our consumers can rely to get information. Anyone who engages with the consumer needs to have a certificate of health. That’s our priority. The idea is to build consumer confidence, allowing them to check-in without any fear,” she added.