Teaming up with technology

With the advent of rising digital trends, technology has already changed every aspect of travel. Read more to know how India Travel Awards winners are going the tech way to enhance their services.

TT Bureau

Entrepreneur of the year  — Manoj Saraf (East 2017)

Maanav Saraf, Business Development Manager—Leisure & MiCE, Gainwell Enterprises, has diverged most of his company’s marketing budgets to digital media by investing heavily in search engines and social media marketing. He says, “One of the other major areas for digital growth for us is search engine optimisation, with a number of inquiries today being originally traced back to Google searches. These achievements have led us to further invest in technology like CRM and cyber security software helping to build a strong digital base for the future. Instead of using traditional paid digital promotions, we have been making good use of blogs and testimonials on digital media platforms.

Best B2B Travel Company — dnata India (North 2017)

Sagar Raman, National Head—MiCE and Leisure Business, dnata India, tells that his company uses state-of-the-art technologies to ensure the best possible service and a seamless travel experience for corporate travellers. “Offering tailor-made services, we flexibly customise external and internal tech solutions to meet each customer’s requirements. For MiCE, technology has become an integral part of our service offerings. Hence, we ensure best implementation practices for developing efficacy and efficiency into service line,” Raman adds.

Best MiCE Operator — iCON Planners (East 2017)

As one of the niche incentive and conference management companies, iCON Planners believes that technological enhancement is the key to success in the service industry. On this, Sunaina Chatterjee, CEO, iCON Planners says that technology can create success ladders for a company, if implemented well. “Apart from using the email blasts and social media interactions/promotions, we use technology in enhancing our operations as well. To name a few, we create hotel and services RFPS on Cvent and similar portals. For all major incentive groups and conferences, we create individual mobile application. We also create online feedback forms to be filled in by customers,” Chatterjee adds.

Best City Hotel — Sayaji Hotels, Kolhapur (West 2017)

For Sayaji Hotels, Kolhapur, the most apparent manifestation of technology is room booking, and the hotel has its hands over a few worldwide platforms for marking its global presence. Manish Singh Kushwaha, General Manager, Sayaji Hotels, Kolhapur says, “Technology and digital marketing techniques are our key weapon to offer enhanced customer satisfaction and boost internal efficiency. We use reservation diary software for database management and F&B booking information, which has made the workflow prompt and seamless.”