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Dear Partners
It is close to thirteen years now, we have been advocating and promoting what have been essentially small independent hotels and lodges, owner run with a concept that is hugely experiential and hence ideal for the world traveler. Today we have 44 hotels on board and slowly consolidating to ensure that only those that adhere to our strict audit of the small, experiential, community oriented and green continue as a part of the community. The numbers are essential to ensure that our budgets for the events are distrubuted among all of you and our office works as a team. When we began in 2004 we were the only one in India, and today with over 40 rep companies ( there is one that opens almost everyday J ) our work and commitment to this niche is what sets us apart, add to this our product knowledge and communications which is second to none in the industry.
Even as I write, we have a highly acclaimed agency from Australia who wants us to work with them on a road show for the ‘RARE and Premium” in Australia in 2017. We are also working on a road show for Africa sponsored by a very well-known high end operator. We are looking at all options closely, as all our alliances have to be strategic and add value to our brand and yours. At MPTM ( Oct 15,16 ) we had three Australian agents, all of them knew about RARE, thanks to Sowmya’s visit last year, an initiative we took up at our cost to develop this market. DMC’s in India have begun to promote ‘RARE itineraries’ and seek our help with narratives. RARE is now widely known in India and abroad, infact we are taken as market leaders and invited by publications ( Sowmya was a Jury on the Outlook Travel Awards ) and associations to speak about this very niche industry. WTM is around the corner and the response and invite to offices for Sowmya is heartwarming.
We have a good team working for your benefit at RARE. Purnima ( handles mountains and retreats ) , Faiza ( wildlife and nature retreats ) , Sowmya ( South India ) and I ( Rajasthan ) look into the entire portfolio working towards ongound strategies and immediate day to day solutions as well, Murali looks after domestic, expat and corporate marketing, Diksha looks after social media and PR – a function spearheaded by Sowmya, Shomik looks after events, RAAG ( hotel pricing and detail ) , data base etc, Sunil and Mithun head reservations and Vinay is our design person who makes our flyers and newsletters.
On a day to day basis this is what RARE does for you :
1.Between our teams we meet agents – INB, DOM and direct resources like corporates and embassies. Travel to over 26 cities across India to take your concepts to them.
2.Offer media regular stories based on rare hotels
3.Create co-branding opportunities e.g. BMW, Magic Bus, Explorars
4.Participate is trade and life style fairs like German Christmas Mart, TTF Mumbai, GITB Jaipur, WTM London etc.
5.Organised knowledge and communication events to engage the agents and file managers for better visibility.
6.The Travel Mantra alliance is perfect for those who have been asking us for online sales. Powered by Manish, himself a small hotel owner, it has been perfected on the basis of his insights into running a small key, boutique hotel. One look at the Soulitude website and you will know that it works perfectly.All the above activities and more is aimed in creating leads for you which we send out to you in our report along with the key people and contact details.
To optimise what we do at RARE for you on ground , both with B to B and B to C, it is important that all our marketing activities are followed up with active follow-up from your end and diligent reporting and feedback.
This is the flow chart of our work.
Rare ( media, marketing , events and exhibitions ) ⚡️Publication, Tour operators , corporates , expats, direct travellers, special interest groups ( yoga, women, wildlife , photography ) etc. through meetings, communications , newsletters, media release, event announcements, presentations , mailing advertisements etc. ⚡️ The idea is to help you develop relationships and sustain them through pricing advantages, FAM offers, promotions etc. ⚡️All meetings are summarised as a report at the end of the month with details of all the contract people and communicated to you. -> this is the lead which you have to pick up and send all your details, data, special rates to. Infact your opportunity to make relationships.The Ten things you can do to make the RARE Community work for you is as follows :
1. Be regularly in touch, via email, whatsapp or even call. Let us know how each month was – bookings, guests who have stayed with you, agents who have begun to use you, corporates who have called upon you and publications who may have
2. Update us especially in the season on whats happening – new cutlery, a new expereince, a guest feedback, a rare sighting, a festive event, sold out date, rooms still avialable, low occupancies, for lodges sightings, naturalists, a new spa menu… this could help feed our social media or even make it to our bi-monthly newsletters.
3. Be a part of our community activities especially those that is shared as there is strength in being together and exhibiting together. Last year at GITB with six booths we aere the largest group of hotels and by sheer size drew a lot of interest.
4. Please have our logos on your website, this connects you with us and increases visibility for you as well as others in the community, we have over 100 visits to our page everyday. Our fliers schedule is as follows : 2 fliers per month based on seasonal requirements ( over 5000 – to agents, corporates and direct travelers ) , one newsletter to the trade ( about 4000 DMCs ,FTOs and DOM agents ) and one communication notes ( 350 top niche agencies ), personally sent from Sowmya.
5. Like us on Facebook and like our updates. We have over 6300 likes on FB which has been largely organic.
6. Our online project with Travel Mantra and the RARE list is to increase your web presence and online sales, do sign up and lets make this the most significant community group in the world driving businesses together. The difference between us and the others is that – we strive for quality and turthfully drive the right clientele to you.
7. Make it to Delhi atleast once a year. Inbound still remains our strongest support in this hospitaity ecosystem. Send in your dates and block the Blitz calender – blitzing is possible through the year except for May and June ( which is when we do our bulk of work )
8. Please build a marketing ( apart from what you pay us as retainer ) budget for advertising, promotions and events into your annual budget. It is well known that atleast 10% of your revenue should be dedicated for marketing. For the burgeoning domestic market ( the high-end and experiential ) one of the biggest ways to promote yourself is advertising.
9. Please support our journalist and FAM initiatives. This is the singular most effective way to put you all there. We have some interesting FAMs coming up and your support is highly appreciated.
10. Finally the report we send you is a round up of all the work we have done for you. Post meetings we send agents a summary of our meeting/training and also send you the details. You are expected to write back to the agents and establish your own relationships – do call them, send them a mail with special rates or just acknowledge. This is to sum all the endorsements we do for you and here-in lies to the key to your increasing sales.To end we would like to add that RARE is your marketing arm for all of you here in Delhi, we cover agencies ( INB and DOM in 26 Indian cities – Delhi & NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Anand, Surat, Coimbatore, Chennai, Trichi, Bangalore, Mysore, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Cochin, Trivandrum, Kolkatta, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Jullandhar, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Raipur, Nagpur, Jaipur, Guwahati ), corporates, expats and direct clients through media, FAMs and fairs. Your support with rates and promotional offers will help us promote you better.
We look forward to your active support and regular inputs. Please call or write in case you have any questions. For a quick summary here is what we have coming up in the next six months :
1.Nov 16 : WTM London, Press Conference in Delhi ( sponsored ) , Heritage Fair ( Delhi )
2.Dec 16 : Hyderabad Road show , German Christmas Fair ( Delhi )
3.Jan 17 : Bangalore Road show, Expat Fairs Delhi, SATTE ( Delhi ) , North India FAM
4.Feb 17 : TTF Mumbai, South African Road Show
5.Mar 17 : RARE Event ( Await information) , Wildlife FAM
6.Apr 17 : GITB Jaipur
7.May 17 : Indaba, South Africa ( Await information ), RARE Event for Agents , Ladakh FAMRegards
Shoba Mohan
Founder Partner @ RARE India
+9198102 65781
http://www.rareindia.comWhat we save, saves us.
Think before you print.
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