Dynamic Packaging the Online Game Changer
In an era of ultra-fast technology adoption, both by the service provider and the user, the formula to stand out and beat the race is innovation. TTJ spoke with Chirag Agrawal, Cofounder, TravClan, to find out what makes their proposition unique in the cr
Since its inception in 2018, when three friends came together to work on an idea, TravClan today has come a long way. Armed with their learnings at IIT, IIM, in-depth travel domain knowledge and technology, the foremost focus of its three founders, Arun Bagaria, Chirag Agrawal, and Ashish Thapliyal, was to first establish a first-class product targeting the B2B travel space.
They were very clear that technology was the way forward, and the technological foundation of the company would have to be very robust and scalable. Senior and seasoned developers were brought on board under the stewardship of Ashish, himself a senior IT professional with more than two decades under his belt. Arun and Chirag brought with them the travel industry product and operational knowledge and learnings.
Scaling Heights
Five years have passed since, and today, TravClan has grown to a 200-headcount organisation headquartered out of New Delhi, with satellite offices in six Indian cities and international offices in Dubai and Singapore. Approx. 20,000 agents are registered on their platform, with about 40 per cent transacting online on a monthly basis. Chirag proudly explains, “We still retain 75 per cent of our original agents that started working with us since our inception years”.
“We are an IATA agent and offer online air ticketing services and online hotel bookings and are integrated with almost all major providers worldwide. Online ticketing is now almost in auto mode and a very competitive low-margin product; hotels provide better retention, but what is unique about us is our dynamic online package product,” explains Chirag.
Beyond the Norm
He further adds, “We are currently concentrating on dynamic packaging of 18 destinations, 11 international and 7 domestic; we can offer a customised quote in less than 60 seconds to these destinations”. We work on the hotel and the land component and offer an itinerary with a quote. This product has been internally developed based on the specific needs, habits, and requirements of the Indian customer. We have researched the exact market requirements and also incorporated our partner agent feedback to develop this product, Chirag further explains.
This instant quote can be branded by our partner agents and shared with their individual clients, drastically cutting turnaround times, enthusing customer confidence, and increasing confirmation numbers.
Bullish Bets
Currently concentrating on short-haul markets, TravClan is bullish on Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Thailand, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bali, and Vietnam. Saudi Arabia is also a fast-emerging market with the incorporation of Alula along with the Dubai product offering.
Nautical Ventures
The other leisure products that TravClan focuses on are cruises; special tie-ups with Royal Caribbean Cruises, Resorts Worlds Cruises, and Cordelia Cruises have yielded good business. Indians can now cruise from Indian shores at very short notice, and TravClan facilitates that through Cordelia Cruises.
Customer-Centric Approach
User and customer experience teams constantly monitor processes and incorporate agent feedback to facilitate product betterment. Online webinars are conducted for partner agents, and at least two person-to-person contact programmes are organised every month across India in association with tourism boards and hotel partners for their partner agents.
Indians are fast emerging as avid travellers, and TravClan is gearing up by constantly adding more destinations and products to its offer bucket. Being a cash-and-carry B2B platform with a nocredit policy, TravClan is in a position to negotiate better deals for its supporting partner agents.