The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) recently organised the second edition of its sales mission in Mumbai and Delhi. This year saw participation from 57 hotels from India, Bhutan, Dubai, Langkawi, London, Maldives and Sri Lanka, as compared to 37 properties in 2017. Renu Basu, senior vice president, Global Sales, IHCL, said, “In 2016, we did our first sales mission in Dubai and other markets of the Middle East like Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Bahrain. Along with India, we also did London and Dubai last year. This is in addition to all the travel shows we participate in and the trade shows.” While trade partners from Pune, Nagpur, etc., also attended the one-day event in Mumbai, in Delhi the sales mission is for two days due to a larger number of agencies there.
“We believe the time was right to start this in India. The general managers and directors of sales and marketing participate under one roof and meet all our travel trade partners, wedding planners and conference organisers to engage with them, build and nurture relationships, to update and educate them about all our hotels, and the new things about our hotels,” stated Basu, adding that new hotels participate to showcase the products they have to offer.
She pointed out that last year there was more participation from destination management companies (DMCs), while this year it included many wedding planners, conference organisers, and travel agents who handle Indian business. “We have expanded the scope of the effort. Not only did we get a good response from our customers, but we also got an excellent response from our general managers who are happy to meet the travel trade,” remarked Basu.
Weddings form an important segment of the sales efforts. About 12 years ago IHCL started focusing on having a sales team to handle weddings. Last year The Taj Wedding Studio was launched. “In India, the Taj had been part of wedding events for over seven decades. Decisions on weddings are taken by word of mouth. At the hotels there is a lot of expertise and knowledge we carry, across different destinations – from large cities to smaller cities, we are the preferred wedding venue. Then came the era for destination weddings – from beach weddings in Goa to royal weddings in Rajasthan. The palaces became a huge driver for people to have their weddings there. People want authentic experiences, which we have. We epitomise what the customers are looking for,” mentioned Basu.