LHW’s program for agents
With a portfolio of 400 luxury properties in 300 destinations, The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) is all set to roll out a special program for travel agents.
India is a growing market for LHW, says Philip Ho, Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, LHW, and he claims that approximately 15 per cent of their total business comes from India. “The Indian economy has been growing at a high GDP for the last five years and much of it can be attributed to the growing middle class. It is a market to invest because of increasing outbound travel as well as growing domestic and inbound travel.”
Owing to this growth, LHW has new plans for the Indian market. “Firstly we want to explore possibilities of business in India beyond the metros and reach out to Tier-II and for the last five years. And 75 per cent of it comes from travel agencies, which shows how significant they are for us.”
However, this year LHW did not organise its annual roadshow for the trade, which brings many partner hotel representatives from around the world to India. Ho explains, “We want to take a peaceful approach to things. Instead of bringing 20- 30 hotels from different countries having different themes and styles, we want to be more targeted. We think it’d be easier for our travel agency partners to thematically group hotels together and sell accordingly and we are working towards that.”