Tag Archives: SOTC

Thomas Cook India & SOTC in its India Holiday Report 2023 highlighted a 70% surge in cruise holidays. Speaking on this, Daniel D’souza, President, SOTC Travel, said, “Cruise holidays offer an all-inclusive experience onboard a luxurious floating hotel.These include a wide range of services, from entertainment and exciting activities to diverse cuisines, wellness spas, shopping, and exploring new locales. We are witnessing strong growth in this segment from regional India’s tier II-III markets, besides metros and mini metros.”

Register yourself for the webinar organized by SOTC on 20th December at 3-4pm IST and get exciting B2B offers on International & Domestic group escorted tours for the travel partners. Contact: jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com , 9650196532 or anuj.mehta@sotc.in, 9873490166.

Register yourself for the webinar organized by SOTC on 20th December at 3-4pm IST and get exciting B2B offers on International & Domestic group escorted tours for the travel partners. Contact: jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com , 9650196532 or anuj.mehta@sotc.in, 9873490166.

To maximise on the opportunity of available space at attractive commercial considerations, Team SOTC moved into its new owned premises at Marathon Futurex building (13th floor) in Lower Parel. A special puja arranged on June 14th marked an auspicious beginning for Team SOTC. Vishal Suri, Managing Director, SOTC, said, “We have seamlessly shifted to our spacious new office premises and have hit the ground running as we leverage on India’s pent-up travel demand. The location is property owned by our Group and comes with significant advantages: a valuable cost savings for us and with easy access – to collaborate and interact with our common resource pool of product-contracting-operations at Thomas Cook India – in the same building!”

Thomas Cook (India), along with its Group Company SOTC Travel Ltd., jointly launched ‘Assured’ – a comprehensive program to safe travel in the COVID-19 era, and the companies have partnered with Apollo Clinics for the same. Thomas Cook India and SOTC took customer opinion to understand their concerns and priorities when it comes to travel in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant 75% of the respondents of the Thomas Cook India & SOTC Holiday Readiness Survey stated that health & safety was their overriding concern. To build confidence that it is safe to travel again, the companies have worked jointly with partners across the travel eco-system to create the Thomas Cook & SOTC Assured program, that ensures meticulous health and safety protocols – at every stage of the customer journey – from the various contactless booking processes, safe physical outlets & processes at the sales/servicing pre tour stage, as well as the on-tour stage. Madhavan Menon, Chairman and Managing Director, Thomas Cook India said, “Across Thomas Cook India & SOTC, our customers have been clear that health, hygiene and safety is their prime concern when it comes to travel in the COVID-19 era. Hence, our teams have spent a significant time at the drawing board and worked jointly with key travel partners/stakeholders to create this very comprehensive initiative. I am proud today to launch of The Thomas Cook & SOTC Assured Safe Travel Program, in association with Apollo Clinics – the most respected brand in the healthcare sector, to jointly set a benchmark for customer safety in this new normal for travel.”

SOTC has launched ‘Holiday Essentials’, keeping in mind the type of vacation and destination requirement. The Holiday Essentials range is an integral part of SOTC’s services and have been designed to make every vacation worry free by understanding the customer’s minute necessities. SOTC Travel has witnessed the change in travel experiences over the years and has observed a growth in queries for the inclusion of various kinds of experiences which is about 30% to 35% as compared to the last year. Being a new age travel curator, SOTC strives to make holidays a priority for every Indian. To accommodate these new requirements of the present day traveller, SOTC has included a strong line up of their own Holiday Essentials range of travel merchandise along with a few other Indian and international brands on their website https://www.sotcholidayessentials.com/. This merchandise website currently provides around 70 unique products across categories. Bringing together a range of accessories to help relieve discomfort and boredom are a fantastic way to beat the travelling blues! SOTC ‘Holiday Essentials’ line offers a wide array of products, from neck pillows to hand warmers, adaptors to backpacks. There are plenty of nifty gadgets too; such as compact portable luggage weighing scales, padlocks and waterproof pouches. It includes SOTC’s private label under the brand name of “Holiday Essentials” and mix of international brands like Osprey, Nrit, Trekmates and award winning Indian brands like Tag8. Customers can also place orders at their nearest SOTC store.

SOTC Travel has ventured into the forex business to provide travellers with a one-stop solution for their entire travel related requirement. Users can see the best rates for foreign exchange and based on customer requirement, they could either collect it from the store or have it home delivered. To bring complete transparency, SOTC showcases the exchange rates in real time and delivers the order to the customer’s doorstep. SOTC engages in the FFMC business which enables it to not only service such requirements internally but also make an entry into retail and wholesale foreign exchange business, thereby opening up another revenue stream. Speaking on the launch, Vishal Suri, Managing Director, SOTC Travel said, “The main priorities of Indians travelling abroad are secure and hassle-free travel, easy access to foreign currency and convenience of making payments. With the launch of the forex business, SOTC offers all these benefits and more. It aims to provide the ease of travel with utmost security feature to the target audience. As a company, SOTC is focusing on the growing travel requirements of the millennial and looks forward to making a mark in this segment.”  

The Board of Thomas Cook (India) (TCIL) has approved (subject to regulatory approvals) a corporate restructuring exercise aimed at streamlining its businesses into four key verticals namely, Travel (outbound, domestic, business travel & MiCE), Foreign Exchange, Destination Management Services and Portfolio Investments such as Sterling Holiday Resorts. In its current structure, TCIL along with its subsidiaries and associate companies such as SOTC, TCI, TC Travel (earlier Tata Capital Travel) and Sterling Holidays are engaged in various travel and travel-related financial services, vacation ownership and resorts while Quess Corp is engaged in human resource and business related services such as industrial asset management, integrated facility management, and technology solutions. In order to streamline the various businesses of the group, both from operating and management perspective, the restructuring will consolidate like businesses into identified entities creating a simpler and more efficient operating structure with dedicated and focused business verticals. Madhavan Menon, Chairman & Managing Director, TCIL said, “This proposed restructuring with the realignment of the travel businesses of TCIL and consolidation of the  human resource services business into Quess Corp, will simplify the group’s structure, enabling both TCIL and Quess to grow independently and consolidate their positions in their segments with far greater clarity of focus from an industry and growth/opportunity point of view – for investors, management and teams.”  

SOTC has curated two products both for outbound as well as the domestic Indian traveller- Great Rail Journeys & Self Drive Holidays. To capture high potential leisure markets for the outbound Indian traveller, SOTC has launched Great Rail Journeys in collaboration with “Great Rail Journeys” UK’s leading operator with over 40 years of experience in arranging holidays by rail. This enables the travellers to discover the best of the world through travelling on iconic trains across entire continents such as Europe, Asia and Americas. The Great Rail Journey Holiday package from SOTC offers personalized travel through fully ushered rail tours that provide authentic experiences delivered with complete seamlessness. Each itinerary involves travel on special trains indigenous to the region. From ultra-modern trains to iconic heritage lines, SOTC believes that traditional rail travel will give travellers the most memorable aspects of their global adventures. Self-drive holidaying, as a travel product and a trend, is becoming progressively more popular amongst Indian travellers. To tap into this segment SOTC has launched Self-Drive holiday packages for the domestic market in India. SOTC provides self-drive car rental on a set itinerary combining with choicest hotel stays on stay & breakfast basis. The itinerary has suggestions for tourists, which they can follow if they wish to. These packages offer great value for money and convenience for customers. With a fixed package, all hotel and car arrangements are taken care of, plus complimentary road maps and a detailed route itinerary. The unique product offerings ensure a comfortable and hassle-free journey on wheels, for families, couples and ad hoc groups of friends. Speaking about the exclusive product offerings Amod Thatte, Head Product, Contracting & Innovation, SOTC Travel said, …

In a bid to streamline its sales process, SOTC has introduced a new sales app called ‘Engage’. The mobile sales app empowers field representatives to close deals on the go from anywhere. Sales representatives can now deal with last-minute scenarios. This allows users to customise the app for their business, close deals faster, use marketing features to turn consumers into customers and deliver customer service immediately. Daniel D’souza, Head Sales, India and NRI Markets, SOTC Travel said, “The sole purpose of introducing the app was to boost the team’s sales productivity while giving the team the core sales tools needed to grow the business. With mobile data reiterating the Indian travellers’ shift to ecommerce, as pioneers in the travel services space, we are pleased to present the new sales app.” The app simplifies the sales and booking process for the sales user, enhances customers’ experience and lowers risk of errors. Users can now record bookings and confirm packages while they are on the go.