HRS sets up first office in India
Global hotel solutions provider, Hotel Reservation Service (HRS), recently set up its first office in India, which according to Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), is the world’s 10th largest business travel market. HRS has 25 offices around the globe, with the latest two in New York and Mumbai. “India is likely to be amongst the top five business travel markets in the next 15 years. Relationships with corporates in these countries allow HRS to enter the India market with regional know-how and support, enabling us to service both global corporations headquartered in India, and big local companies alike,” said Santosh Kumar, director of Corporate Solutions for HRS in India.
An interesting trend being witnessed in India is how the rise of millennials has changed the face of business travel. “This is, in large part, a result of the growing number of millennial business travellers – which comes as no surprise given that approximately half of India’s population is made up of individuals below the age of 26. In order to capture a greater share of the corporate travel market, businesses and travel managers alike will have to keep up with, and evolve alongside the preferences of millennials,” said Kumar. He pointed out that hotels in India are already warming up to the growing number of younger guests who are more likely to combine business and travel, offering luxury services such as entries to night clubs and complementary extended hotel stays.
The 180,000 independent hotels in HRS’ inventory include more than five million rooms across bed & breakfasts, hostels and apartments. “In a market like India, where hotel content is extremely fragmented, working with an existing base of over 4,000 major hotel chains and independent hotel properties in our inventory becomes a distinct competitive advantage,” said Kumar.
HRS plans to to leverage existing relationships with corporates for the India market by providing them with an end-to-end solution that combines online travel search and booking with services such as hotel sourcing, processing payment on-site and automated expense reporting. “We aim to position ourselves as a trusted advisor to corporates. When it comes to accommodation for corporations, we manage the entire process and have built cost-saving potentials – be it optimising commission collection, or by collecting hotel bills, breaking them down and giving corporates all the data required for tax redemption,” stated Kumar.
