Tag Archives: Sharat Dhall

Yatra.com has announced the appointment of Mudit Shekhawat as Chief Marketing Officer of the company. He will be responsible for leading marketing activities, alliances and ancillary revenues across all Yatra.com business-lines and group entities. In addition to further strengthening Yatra’s brand positioning, he will also manage all consumer marketing initiatives across platforms to drive customer stickiness and loyalty. Commenting on the new appointment, Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com said, “We are delighted to have Mudit come on board with us. As a veteran of the industry, he brings with him vast experience in digital and consumer marketing, which will spur additional growth for us and cement our position as India’s travel planner.” Shekhawat comes with rich consumer marketing experience of more than 12 years in the consumer internet space, most recently with Ola, where he was head of marketing. In his earlier stints, he has worked with Myntra, Yahoo and HCL Technologies in various marketing leadership roles. Shekhawat is an alumnus of IIT Madras, from where he went on to do a Masters in Engineering from Pennsylvania State University before finally finding his calling in marketing, and rounding it up with an MBA from ISB Hyderabad.

Yatra.com has signed an MoU with the Government of Madhya Pradesh to jointly promote homestays in the region. The MoU was signed by Jaimon Mathew, GM operations, MPSTDC, and Manish Bansal, GM Homestays, Yatra.com, in the presence of AMD MP Tourism Tanvi Sundariyal. The partnership will enable Yatra to promote all the state tourism approved homestays, wherein travellers can rent a room in the home of a local family (host) or the entire house. With an intend of establishing itself as the largest homestays curator of over 3000 homestays across 130 cities across India, come March the portal will sign two more MoU’s with the Governments of Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Speaking on the partnership, Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com said, “We are pleased to announce this partnership and aim to promote homestays in the state. We believe that this partnership will offer best-in-class stay experience for the tourists visiting the state. Strengthening our eco-system for homestays, we are aggressively working towards promoting homestays across the country which will also generate employment for the local population and help contribute to the economy of the nation.” Yatra.com is closely working with the state governments to promote homestays. The company recently signed MoU with the Government of Uttrakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Gujrat. As a part of this partnership, Yatra will list over 90 properties on its website and encourage the growth of homestays in Madhya Pradesh, giving tourists a very homely experience.

Yatra.com has forged a strategic alliance with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to promote homestays and enhance tourism in the state through their holiday packages. As a part of this partnership, Yatra will list over 200 properties on its website and encourage the growth of homestays in Andhra Pradesh. The MoU was signed during the Partnership Summit at Vishakhapatnam in presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu. Through the partnership, Yatra will promote all the state tourism approved homestays, wherein guests can rent a room in the home of a local family (host) or the entire house. This partnership will give the tourists a chance to experience the hospitality of various families throughout Andhra Pradesh and enjoy wonderful home cooked food. Speaking on the partnership, Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com said, “Homestays as a trend is rapidly gaining popularity in India. As new age travellers seek out unique experiences in the course of their travels, we believe that this kind of non-hotel accommodation has tremendous growth potential in the country. Also, the partnership with Andhra Pradesh Government will provide an alternate source of income for the local population and enhance their livelihoods without straining their existing resources, thereby creating sustainable livelihood and creating large scale employment.”

Online travel portal, Yatra has revealed its new brand identity and logo. Commenting on the occasion, Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra said, “Today we are much more than a booking site for flights, hotels and packages. We are a travel marketplace. And our new logo symbolises just that. The change in brand identity is coupled with the evolution of Yatra’s product offering, covering an unmatched range across flights, hotels, holidays, bus, train, cabs, homestays, activities and cruises.  Today we have everything that a traveller needs on our site, and truly the one-stop travel platform for Indians. We are bursting with new ideas, with new discoveries to be made, and newer journeys to be experienced.” Speaking on the new brand identity, Vikrant Mudaliar, Chief Marketing Officer, Yatra said, “The change in brand identity is not only about the change in logo and colour but also a change in what the brand stands for along with the branding elements such as tonality, communication, look and feel. The new red logo showcases the richness of our experience and the expansive depth of our product portfolio. It also helps us to stand out in an increasingly cluttered media environment and at the same time lends a sense of confidence and reliability to our brand. The changed Yatra logo is fluid, just like travel should be. The new logo type face is hand drawn and inspired from the trail of a journey. The logo is free flowing and not bound, just like our plans should be. The logo stands for a seamless travel experience that Yatra provides with the new marketplace model.”

Yatra.com has tied up with Truecaller allowing new users to sign up on Yatra’s Android mobile application using their Truecaller account. Through this integration of TrueSDK, Yatra now offers phone number based onboarding and verification, which significantly reduces friction in user on-boarding. Any user having the Truecaller app and signing up to Yatra for the first time, will have a completely seamless experience with their user details being auto-filled in the Yatra app. Integration of TrueSDK on Yatra’s mobile app will make mobile number verification a simple and easy process. Speaking on the partnership Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com, said, “At Yatra, we are constantly thinking of new and innovative ideas to make user interface simple and convenient for our customersand the partnership with Truecaller is a firm step in that direction. Truecaller’s TrueSDK will help in instant user verification, hence simplifying the app onboarding experience. It will make the authentication more swift and secure for our users.”

Yatra.com has signed an MoU with Uttarakhand Government to promote homestays in the state as well as highlight the state’s unique tourist attractions. Yatra will promote all the state tourism approved homestays, wherein guests (travellers) can rent a room in the home of a local family (host) or the entire house. Enhancing the segment further, Yatra and Uttarakhand Tourism together will organise an orientation session for homestays where the villagers will be trained in guiding, cooking, hospitality and the cultural and natural heritage of the state. This partnership will give the tourists a chance to experience the hospitality of various families throughout Uttarakhand and enjoy wonderful home cooked food. Speaking on the partnership, Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com said, “We are delighted about this strategic alliance with the Government of Uttarakhand to boost the state’s tourism. With the peak season rolling in, we see this an opportunity to promote the rapidly growing Homestays segment in sync with the needs of travellers. Yatra is also seeking more such partnerships with other State Governments to promote local tourism and offer a taste of Indian hospitality and a very unique traveller experience.” As a part of this partnership, Yatra will list over 500 homestay properties on its website and encourage the growth of homestays in Uttarakhand, giving tourists a very homely experience.

According to the annual winter survey by Yatra.com, which showcases the outlook of Indian travellers planning their holidays this season, 30 per cent people are willing to opt for an international destination while the remaining looked at domestic travel this winter. One of the key findings was that the propensity of Indians to spend on travel has clearly increased with more than 30 per cent people willing to spend above Rs. 50,000 as against 25 percent last year. Kashmir and other hill stations topped the list for domestic travel showcasing that winter destinations are not off the list during this time of the year. South East Asian countries were international favourites and were pitted at the same percentage as Goa for a holiday this season. Sharat Dhall, President Yatra.com, said, “Vacationing in winters has become an accepted norm similar to summer travel. We have seen a number of takers opting for not only domestic but also international destinations for their winter vacations. Indians are holidaying more frequently and that’s a trend that has been on an increase over the past few years. Mobile bookings and budget accommodation are two areas where we made tremendous progress in the winter season.”  This year has been about budget accommodation and the survey also brought forth similar facts. Budget Hotels were the obvious choice of accommodation with almost 60 percent opting for lodging options under Rs. 4,000. The rest were divided between star properties, friends and family, home stays and ultra-luxury hotels, in the same order. Contrary to last year’s winter survey, family was the more obvious choice as travel partners followed by spouses, friends and solo travel. With the smart phone revolution, there …