GRNconnect expands horizons

GRNconnect, apart from excelling in providing tech and hotel booking services to travel trade has now opened its DMC business in USA and will soon be expanding it in Egypt and India.

Nisha Verma

Deepak Narula, Managing Director, GRNconnect, has revealed that with innovation and adaptability being the key qualities of GRNconnect, in 2021, they will go live with Amadeus, i.e., Amadeus Values Hotels and their Switch module. “Very soon we will be available on their web service too. This apart, we are also connected with some major tech players, which has helped us with our inventory, price competitiveness, and ease of integrating APIs into our product. We launched a US DMC for which we were able to secure a good response,” he shares.” In 2021, Narula said that their flagship product for hotel bookings, both the Login module and the API Out module, did well. “Also, our US DMC got a good response from our global agent base, especially from India and the Middle East,” he claims.

He added that during COVID-19, they focused a lot on technology and product upgradation by adding some key suppliers to their portfolio. “We have ambitious plans on the distribution front. We have made some major tie-ups and we will go live on these platforms as early as January 2022. We are also planning to launch a DMC for Egypt and a DMC for India,” he revealed.

Sharing more details on his international business, Narula says, “The tourism sector is opening fast in European, North and South American countries. As such, our overseas business share is increasing consistently through our subsidiaries in Dubai and the US, as many new agents have started consuming our login and API out feed. Also, with the launch of our US DMC, we can cater to even the minute requirements of our agents for destination USA.”

However, when it comes to the future looking brighter, Narula asserts, “Barring the few hiccups due to new COVID variants, we are hopeful that we will end this financial year on a high note, and we expect that in 2022, the tourism industry will boom back and will surpass the pre-COVID levels.”

For the future, his advice to travel agents and operators is, “One should try and achieve value addition and uniqueness in the products and services offered, and initiate use of technology, though in small but consistent steps.” Personalised services can never be replaced by an OTA, so don’t fear OTAs. COVID is just a phenomenon, and this too shall pass. Stay positive,” he requested.

He also stressed the need to concentrate on niche products. “Staying focused on a single product and making a niche for oneself is important, but not for a retail agent. Selling multiple products with consistent efforts and total transparency is the key to success for a retail agent,” he asserted.

Year 2021 for GRNconnect
In 2021, with the tourism sector opening in Europe and American countries, we were able to generate some volume. However, that was still not close to pre-COVID levels. We are hopeful that there will be a boom in the tourism sector and we will surpass pre-COVID business volume.