DRMumbai: The second edition of TBO Preferred Hotels Roadshow was held in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai in September. Ankush Nijhawan, Co-founder, TBO Group and Andy Tan, Chief Hotel & Supplier Partnership Officer led the delegation of 55 partners from Europe and US including hotels, attractions and cruise lines.
Speaking to media, Nijhawan said TBO is investing heavily into dynamic packaging which allows agents to save time and effort especially when creating short vacation packages to nearby destinations like Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Dubai etc. TBO has 700,000 hotels globally and 50,000 agents on their platform.
TBO Academy is another big focus area for Nijhawan who feels that the front line staff and even owners have a lot to learn about destinations and attractions in order to sell better. TBO Academy is a free online learning platform with immersive and on-demand modules from tourism boards, cruise lines, airlines and hotels.Upon completion of courses, a joint certificate from concerned supplier and TBO is issued.
The OTA major recently picked up a minority stale in SanKash, a travel fin-tech which extends flexible payment options through banking and NBFC partners to leisure travelers through travel agents and tour operators. SanKash helps travel partners to upsell as well as unlock working capital.
“Thailand (Bangkok, Pattaya & Phuket) has topped the list of hottest destinations on the TBO platform for the first time in 2019 upsetting all time favorite Dubai,” said Tan. “The other top destinations are Istanbul, London, Paris and Singapore.”
TBO witnessed 55 per cent growth in Q1 2019 compared to same period in 2018 according to Tan. Metro cities continue to contribute a major share of the business though Tier II cities are emerging stronger. Cruise is the most recent vertical addition and TBO currently holds inventory of Genting Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Jalesh Cruises.
