Weddings remain key for Della

Arika Holidays, in partnership with Della Resorts, recently hosted more than 200 agents from Mumbai for a day visit at Della Resorts. The trip’s aim was to showcase the leisure potential of the resort, as well as highlight its offering – DATA Resort by Della Adventure.

Hazel Jain

Experiential weddings are in, says Pearl Sanga, Group Director, Della Group. Recently, she hosted a group of about 220 travel agents to showcase their various venues, as well as DATA Resort by Della Adventure – which offers military-themed luxury glamping. It has luxury tents with a rustic, military themed exteriors located in Lonavala.

Speaking about weddings, Sanga says, “Weddings have always been our forte. We have multiple venues – both indoors and outdoors. The segment has picked up well for us now, especially with the ‘Wed in India’ campaign and we are doing 35-40 weddings per year. We see experiential weddings take place now rather than standard weddings where the bride and groom want to use different venues for different functions. The millennials and Gen Zs are the ones taking decisions, they are aware of new things that are possible and so expect a lot. The bride and groom are very much involved with the venue and the décor, as they want more personalised service.” Della plans to increase their B2B engagements and plan to organise more Fams for the travel agents.

Udesh Kejriwal, Managing Director, Arika Holidays, who led the delegation, highlighted some wedding trends as well. “We see big weddings coming to India now with destinations like Jaipur, Lonavala, Dehradun, Bengaluru and Kochi picking up. While during COVID, the demand was for under-50 room weddings, now it has gone up to 50-room and above. People are now looking to do weddings in India, wherever there are big hotels. So, Dehradun is a new destination because of Hyatt Regency Dehradun Resort & Spa, Bengaluru has now become a wedding destination with JW Marriott Bengaluru Prestige Golfshire Resort & Spa, Grand Hyatt Kochi has picked up due to their huge inventory, and Fairmont Mumbai is also in demand,” he explains.

Arika plans to do another round of Fams of the same size soon. This is mostly for the counter staff who sell to clients. Kejriwal adds, “We are still an offline agent because you need a face to sell luxury products. Our clients don’t buy luxury products online yet.”