What do people look forward to, at a vacation resort?

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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World of AIRDA – P Ramakrishnan

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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Conversations with Vidushi Gupta, from the City of the Taj

Talk to us about the romance and magic often associated with the Taj – what makes it so special?
You need a little eloquence here to answer that question, and I quote William Shakespeare – “A wonder of wonders in the world, the Taj Mahal is a living edifice of human passion, which neither History dares to bury in its grave nor does Time dare to forget.”

When you’re right there, standing in front of it, the Taj is like a painting with a warm glow of passion, love and romance – intricately woven into the architectural highlights. I am also fascinated with the thought of how a monument of love can turn into one of the Wonders of the World.

The Taj Mahal is perhaps the biggest and most magnificent symbol of love – and the visual appeal here is just as romantic as the stories associated with it. Both the Taj and the Mehtaab Bagh nearby, are popular locations for wedding and advertising related photo-shoots – sometimes the backdrop can make all the difference to the story.

More on our interview with Vidushi Gupta at this link >
Q&A Interviews / June 2020

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Putting your vacation on hold . . .

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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All the fringe benefits of a vacation at Sterling Wayanad

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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Coming up this year: “International Timeshare Appreciation Day”

Here’s an update on “International Timeshare Appreciation Day”

2020 will mark the 8th celebration of this very special day that I created in an attempt to show all that is great about timeshare around the world.  I’ve been writing about timeshares for nearly 20 years and decided that the industry, the people within the industry and the owners themselves deserved a day to celebrate and share all the good news about timeshare.

There’s a dedicated Facebook page as well as a Twitter hashtag, #YES2TIMESHARE, to make it simple to share good stories with everyone. To date, we’ve had resorts, exchange companies and thousands of owners join in.

How can stakeholders work together to project a positive, brighter image?

I’ve learned in the 7 years that I’ve been promoting International Timeshare Appreciation Day to associations, exchange companies, resorts and members is that those who aren’t willing to come together and discuss both the wonderful aspects as well as the challenges facing timeshare ownership probably have something to hide. In this day and age of consumers looking for companies and industries that operate in their best interests and with transparency, it’s vital for those in the timeshare industry to embrace that. International Timeshare Appreciation Day is a platform for the positives that sometimes get overlooked. It’s a win/win for both sides.

Q&A: In conversation with Lisa Ann Schreier

More on this story at the link below >
Q&A Session on the AIRDA website
January – 2020

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Coffee roaster Vasantha Machaiah talks about Kodagu as a holiday destination

How would you describe “Kodagu” as a travel destination in South India?

How do I describe Kodagu? Ours is such a beautiful experience that I am sometimes at a loss for words. Famous people have referred to it as the Scotland of India – some have even gone to the extent of calling it the Kashmir of Karnataka. I would love to call it “Heaven on Earth” – because Kodagu presents an unmatched panorama of beauty and everything that goes with that.

Believe me, in this fast changing world there still is an old-world charm about Kodagu – expressed so beautifully through its dense forests, majestically flowing rivers and spirited waterfalls. Another key visual experience is the wide expanse of lush green plantation cover.

No story on Kodagu is complete without one drink that says good morning to you, every day – Coorg Coffee. Kodagu is a world famous hill station, largely growing coffee and spices – known the world over for quality and yield.

More on this story at this link >
Q&A Interview / December 2019

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AIRDA adds to its family of resorts in India

In conversation with Jai Sreedhar, Joint Managing Director and CEO, Rosetta by Ferns – our newest member.

“Rosetta by Ferns is a boutique timeshare company that aims to operate and manage a growing chain of 5-star luxury resorts located in the most idyllic locations in South India.

We are here to re-define the timeshare market, because a luxury vacation is no longer an expenditure, but an experience of creating priceless memories. All this, without worrying about inflation – what’s more, at the end of the membership tenure we return your money back. (That’s a very important highlight.)

Our mission is to create a credible and yet affordable luxury-boutique lifestyle brand that delights guests every single time they visit our properties. We shall leverage our immense background knowledge and experience in creating premium gated communities and spaces, to consistently deliver experiences that enthrall.”

More on this story at this link >
Q&A Interview / November 2019

 

 

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Stories at Work – there’s one here about Club Mahindra

Indranil Chakraborty has combined three qualities to pioneer business storytelling in India: a love for stories; the entrepreneurial bug; and two decades of experience in leading teams and driving change at top firms like Unilever, Tata Group and Mahindra & Mahindra.

His firm, StoryWorks, has helped organizations and leaders harness the power of stories to create and deliver impactful messages.

Since 2013, using the same approach outlined in Stories at Work, he has trained more than 2000 senior leaders in over thirty organizations, teaching them to be more effective in their communication. The firms he has worked with include Airtel, Accenture, Asian Paints, Barclays, Cognizant, GSK Pharma, HCL, ICICI Lombard, Infosys, PepsiCo, Philips, Roche, WNS and Unilever.

In this story we feature an extract from Indranil Chakraborty’s book – Stories at Work – where he talks about the new vision he had created along with his team for Mahindra Holidays. The vision was ‘to make every moment magical’ for members.

The expected behaviours were:
1. No room for ordinary (ordinary is not magical).
2. Experience is everything.
3. Make smiles.
4. Proud of our club.

Indranil also ran workshops designed to share Mahindra Holidays’s new vision and values with the company’s top 500 managers.

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

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The torchbearer for the timeshare industry in India is no more…

On the 30th of June, the world of vacation ownership lost one of its most passionate torch bearers. B.S. Rathor (fondly known as Anil) believed in timeshare as a product that could deliver genuine and long term benefits to customers who chose to become members of the organized section of the industry, represented by AIRDA and its members.

Keeping this in mind we thought we would feature a Q&A interview done with him in September 2010. (Especially since our Message of the Month too, is dedicated to tributes from professionals he has worked with in the industry.)

In this interview, he talks about timeshare from a vantage point – the product, the market and his own personal experiences of going on a holiday with the family on his personal membership.

Here is the interview taken from our archives. (click on link)

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