How the Hotel Segment Is Driving Growth for TBO Tek

The growth in hotels and ancillaries segment has driven the growth for B2B travel platform TBO Tek in the October to December quarter. The segment increased 48% year-on-year during the quarter, TBO co-founder Gaurav Bhatnagar noted in an earnings call last week. 

“Both India and the international operations are growing fast. Leading contribution this quarter has been from Europe, which has grown 90% year-on-year,” Bhatnagar said. The company has also seen significant growth in the Latin American and the Middle East regions. 

Hotels and airlines are TBO’s core businesses. The company has a new hotels platform called H-Next, which is being rolled out. In the coming weeks, it is set to launch an AI-enabled smart search in H-Next to allow travel agents to find solutions to customer queries. 

To further grow its hotel segment, TBO has launched a new program called TBO Platinum. “The idea here is that we will have some exclusive/semi-exclusive tie-ups with a curated set of luxury hotels. Our sweet spot is the premium outbound traveler,” Bhatnagar said. 

Pillars for Growth: In the call, the company highlighted three pillars that it believes will drive growth: Geographic expansion, diversified lines of revenue, and its platform. Bhatnagar said that the Asia Pacific and North America are new regions for the company. Now, TBO is also expanding its presence in other geographies by setting up new entities in Indonesia, Greece, and Israel. 

However, it has started investing in other lines of businesses as well, such as access to high-quality attractions, car rentals, rail, cruises, and more.

Role of AI: The co-founder said that AI and automation has become a new avenue for the company to improve its platform for driving growth. “It is very clear that this will have quite a material impact on our business going forward.”

Currently, it is implementing AI to optimize its operations. It has launched an AI-powered voice bot for outbound calling processes, specifically where there is a need to call hotels. The bot is currently live for about 16% of the workflow and is delivering similar or slightly better quality of outcome and is five times faster, Bhatnagar said. TBO plans to scale this to cover about 50% of the workflow soon. 

It has also gone live with a bot “which reads supplier emails and decides, classifies them into actionable and nonactionable emails.” The bot is able to close 45% of supplier notifications automatically, significantly reducing TBO’s workload, he added.

Westin Resort in Uttarakhand Acquired for $61 Million

Hotel developer Chalet Hotels has acquired The Westin Resort and Spa, Himalayas in Uttarakhand for INR 5.3 billion ($61 million). Chalet is taking over the hotel from Mahananda Spa and Resorts, a subsidiary of Mankind Pharma. 

The acquisition of the 141-key Rishikesh resort is part of Chalet’s strategy to expand its presence in key leisure destinations, the company said. The transaction is expected to be completed by February 28. Mankind said that it is planning to use sale proceeds of non-core assets to settle a part of its debts. 

Last year, Chalet had acquired Courtyard by Marriott Aravali Resort near Delhi from Ayushi and Poonam Estates, which is owned by the family of Mankind Pharma chairman RC Juneja. In Chalet’s latest earnings call, CEO Sanjay Sethi said that the company is looking to rebrand the Courtyard by Marriott Aravali Resort into a Marriott property.

Meanwhile, Greenpark Hotels and Resorts has acquired Four Points by Sheraton Chennai OMR for INR 530 million ($6.1 million). This is the company’s third acquisition in Chennai, and also the third hotel managed by Marriott. With this, its existing inventory of nearly 1,300 rooms will increase by another 116 keys. 

Air India to Hold Off on Buying More Boeing Planes For Now

Full-service airline Air India is holding off on exercising its option to buy additional Boeing jets until the manufacturer’s backlog is cleared. CEO Campbell Wilson told Reuters that the airline does not want to commit until it is sure of when the order will be delivered. 

In 2023, Air India had placed an order of 220 planes from Boeing as part of its revamp and fleet upgradation efforts. It had then also signed options to buy additional 70 planes from the planemaker. 

Boeing can currently produce a maximum of 38 planes a month. The limit had been imposed by the US Federal Aviation Administration last year after a plane door blew out on an Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing plane. Air India is also facing supplier delays for its seat upgrade programs, which is delaying its product transformation plan, Wilson said. 

Himachal Opens Homestay Tourism to Non-Residents… Sort Of

The northern state of Himachal Pradesh has new regulations for homestays. Under the new rules, non-residents of the state will also be allowed to operate homestays, but with caveats. 

Entrepreneurs belonging to other states but having lived in the state for more than 20 years will be able to register for homestays. It has also included properties within apple orchards and tea plantations in the policy. 

However, homestay operators would have to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the local resident welfare association. Compulsory rainwater harvesting systems and integration of local handlooms and handicrafts are also required under sustainability measures. 

Cordelia Cruises Plans India’s First Cruise Line IPO

Cordelia Cruises operator Waterways Leisure Tourism is planning to raise INR 8 billion ($92 million) through an initial public offering (IPO). It plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to add two more ships to its fleet. 

If the IPO materializes, it would be the first from a cruise line in India. With the two additional ships, the guest capacity of the cruise line will increase by 4,000 passengers taking its total capacity to 6,000 passengers. It will have about 1,800 to 2,200 new keys, adding to its current room inventory of 800 staterooms.

Ashutosh Chhibba Appointed CEO of WelcomHeritage

Ashutosh Chhibba has been appointed as the CEO of luxury hotel brand WelcomHeritage Hotels. Since August 2024, Chibba has been the chief operations officer at the company, which is a joint venture between hotel company ITC Hotels and Jodhana Heritage Resorts.

He started working with ITC Hotels in February 1992, holding positions as food and beverage manager and general manager at several hotels. Chhibba has managed properties in Riyadh, Aurangabad, and Hyderabad, the company said in a statement.