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To find out more, we reached out to a group of professionals who are roughly between 30 and 40 years old – these are people who are active on the travel and vacation front. And as we mentioned in our previous interview, this demographic is useful to us – and relevant, in terms of vacation interests and feedback. (Where they go, what they do, and what they look for at a vacation resort.)

(Here’s one young professional we spoke to.) For us, a swimming pool comes first at a vacation resort. We’re not club members in the city that we live in, and do look forward to just hanging around in a pool setting. All resorts have pools these days, and many of them also have a junior pool which is extremely useful, according to me. The little ones can be reasonably safe out here.

I must add here that the pool needs to be safe to swim in when it comes to water quality. Some of them overdose on chlorine, which is not exactly desirable. We also look forward to clean changing rooms, shower heads that work, and a good supply of well-laundered towels and accessories.

What else? Resort pools these days don’t have a lifeguard at the pool location, and I wonder if this is too much to ask because it gives you some reassurance. Even if a guest in the pool can do a rescue job, you need someone from the assigned pool staff to know and administer first aid procedures.

There’s more on this story at this link > World of Airda / September 2022

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I am a member of Sterling’s Ooty resort in Tamilnadu. And I am really happy I picked a timeshare plan with them a little over twenty years ago.

And as you can see, that is a long time in terms of my member relationship with Sterling. I have seen them grow, expand, modernize and widen their footprint in the country – and of course world wide as well through the exchange companies they are associated with.

Sterling was one of the early entrants in the timeshare space in India, and what you see evolving today is the result of a lot of groundwork done by them. In those days, timeshare was a concept that was new to India and lead players like Sterling did a good job of adapting a global trend to the travel and vacation needs of Indian prospects. The timeshare blueprint is largely the same, but the spinoffs were appealing to Indian customers such as me.

There’s more on this interview with Mr P. Ramakrishnan at this link >
World of Airda / July 2021


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Can you re-live one experience back home in India, linked to a dream vacation?

The backwaters of Kerala got me hooked as soon as I took my first boat ride with my parents from Vaikom to Kochi. It was almost like a dream; I was just a child then. I had to wait many more years for another visit, on a Coir Board photography assignment in Kerala. The trip coincided with the famous Nehru Boat Race at Alappuzha, and that made things all the more interesting.

The call of the backwaters

For me, personally, the call of the backwaters didn’t stop with that trip. I did go back to Kumarakom, many times – and the last trip in 2018 was extraordinary. For one whole day, I was drifting about the Kumarakom Kayal with my family and friends – with not a worry in the world. Keeping me company of course, was a glass of fresh toddy – neat for extra comfort! The Pulikkattil houseboat ride was like no other – an unforgettable experience worth doing all over again.

There’s more on this story at this link >
Message of the Month / February 2021

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This is an interview with James George from Dubai, in our Q&A section.

How hard does it become to take a break for a vacation?
My brother Joel and I look forward to the great outdoors, together – because I live and work in Dubai and he is based in Bangalore. Oftentimes, life gets in the way and the time we do eventually spend when we meet is with other family members at home. When I came down this time, he had planned this trip so we could spend some quality time together and really unwind. Naturally we wanted the quality of our destination to be enhanced by the locale of our stay.

But, taking a break isn’t easy – you need to align calendars and make concrete plans that you can stay with. I am glad we were able to make this trip in the beginning of February – before more than half of the world’s population went into lockdown due to Covid19. Since the experience is recent, I have fond memories at our resort in Virajpet, of the Club Mahindra experience.

More on our interview with James George at this link >
Q&A Interviews / May 2020

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In the last months of 2019, people looked at 2020 as the turnaround year for business and enterprise, building up to a year of strong consolidation. The anticipation was short-lived as Covid-19 literally took the world by storm. As we present this story, the world is no longer the same – but we always have tomorrow to look forward to. (We do.)

This month’s Q&A session reflects the thoughts, feelings and emotions of people who actually planned to go on vacation during March / April this year. With bookings made, all they needed to do was pack their bags.

However, these conversations also reflect an understanding of the current situation. People are overcoming their initial disappointment with responsible thinking.

More on this story at this link >
Q&A Interviews / April 2020

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A swimming pool with a beautiful backdrop – at Sterling Wayanad

Ullas Abraham is a young hospitality professional based in Mangalore. He runs two transit guest houses in the city –a 64-room property and a smaller 12-room establishment. He also has hands-on experience in running a standalone restaurant – which means he knows what it takes to keep his guests happy, comfortable and satisfied.

Before he ventured into the world of hospitality, Ullas worked with Thomson Reuters as a content analyst, and says working within the rigid framework of the corporate world was not what he had in mind as a long term career path. More importantly, “hospitality” was something he always had a passion for – to be with guests, to anticipate their needs, and make them comfortable.

In this interview Ullas talks to us about his vacation at Sterling Resorts in Wayanad. He also talks about the one good reason he was forced to take a break from his hectic work schedule.

More on this story at this link >
Q&A Interview / March 2020

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A.V. Ramachandran is an Independent Sourcing Consultant based in Bangalore, with business interests in Tirupur and Sri Lanka. He has over 20 years of experience in apparel buying and sourcing with a delivery focus that is largely on exports. Over the years, he has built strong associations with leading international companies and their brands, and is considered a reliable source-point in India for globally based importers – handling a range of finished products and in-process supply lines.

There are two reasons why we talk to Ramachandran this month. One, the fact that he is widely travelled – his line of work taking him to focus markets in Europe, Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Two, he’s been on a timeshare vacation along with his extended family – almost every year, for the last ten years.

More on this story at the link below >
Q&A – June 2019

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You have been in the hospitality industry for nearly four decades, how have things changed from a customer experience point of view? (Facility design, quality of service, cuisine, customer takeaways.)

The industry has undergone a sea change since the time I started. The competition is huge and almost all the best brands are available right here in India. I must say here that the Indian traveler is also more evolved and has a knack of finding and knowing what’s best.

The facility design of our hotels is sleek and increasingly international. Hotels are also finding ways to utilize their public spaces when they are vacant. Moving to cuisine, quality standards here keep improving – and since many of the guests have experienced authentic international cuisine, they expect the same in our hotels.

At the end of the day, “sending back a delighted customer” is the objective of all hoteliers. Hence training plays a very important role to ensure the objective is achieved, and hotels have a steady stream of repeat customers.

All these changes have ensured that you’re at the top of your game all the time. There is absolutely no room here, for complacency.

This is among the many “Views from the Top” being featured
on our website : http://www.airda.org

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What are your feelings like when you’re heading back home, after a really nice vacation?

A good vacation rejuvenates me as nothing else does. No spa, no mall can come close to the feeling of absolute contentment I feel when I am away from the city and when I am one with nature. Of course, the moment I touch city limits after a good holiday, it’s a sinking feeling. The stress sets in immediately, and I know that until my next vacation I have to wake up to the sounds of incessant honking and traffic – rather than the melodious bird sounds and the pollution-free air that I miss so much. I call it the holiday hangover, and the only ‘fix’ that can help me get over it is another holiday. Most of the times, I cannot wait to simply pack my bags, load the camera, and leave.

 

Q&A: In conversation with Travel Blogger Shama Ahmed

More on this story at the link below >
Q&A – May 2019

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