Travel disruptor, Luxury Escapes, has officially launched its new regional headquarters in India as part of the company’s expansion to the Indian Subcontinent.
Since launching four years ago, Luxury Escapes has quickly become Australia’s fastest growing travel company with more than one million members and a turnover last year of more than $200 million. The Luxury Escapes business represents some of the world’s best hotels and is credited with driving incremental traveller demand.
General Manager, Blake Hutchison, said Luxury Escapes sets itself apart by offering its customers great deals to amazing places with many of its holiday offers featuring inclusions like meals, massages and return airport transfers.
“Everyone is value conscious,” Mr Hutchison said. “On that basis we’ve set ourselves apart by offering so much more than a bed, in a room, in a hotel. We sell an experience. By bundling we are able to negotiate the best offers, while at the same time, we drive incremental demand for our partner properties.”
Mr Hutchison said the company was excited to establish a significant presence in the Indian Subcontinent as it works to replicate its Australian success.
“Over the past 12 months we’ve been hard at work in India assembling an amazing local team and perfecting our local offering,” Mr Hutchison said. “With the team now complete and relationships established with the region’s leading hotels and resorts, we’re now very excited to officially launch our new India headquarters.
“This past year we’ve spent considerable time getting a deep understanding of what makes the Indian market different to other international regions where Luxury Escapes operates. While much of what we do will remain the same, we have made a number of customisations to match local travel patterns and preferences.
“For example, holiday-makers from this region tend to prefer a three to five night stay as compared to Australian holiday-makers that have a preference for longer vacations. It’s also no secret that India leads the world when it comes to accessing the internet by mobile phones so we’ve been investing heavily to optimise Luxury Escapes for the mobile experience. Already close to 30 per cent of our sales in this region take place on a mobile phone and this is increasing month on month.”
General Manager for Luxury Escapes in India, Mahesh Thota, is a chef, photo and travel enthusiast, blogger, entrepreneur and master salesperson. Prior to joining Luxury Escapes he worked for more than five years with Accenture, followed by close to five years with Zomato as Assistant Vice President.
Mr Thota said even before its official launch, Luxury Escapes had established a strong customer base in the Indian Subcontinent.
“Luxury Escapes already has close to half a million customers in the region and this continues to grow by 30,000 each month,” Mr Thota said. “We’ll now ramp up our efforts benefiting both travelers and suppliers in the region.”
“When you consider the proximity of amazing destinations like Dubai, Bali, Sri Lanka, Phuket, Maldives, Vietnam, Bangkok, Singapore and Koh Samui it is clear there is huge untapped potential and we’re very excited.
“We now have a business development team on the ground who are working with these properties to bring the world’s best holidays to Luxury Escapes customers both in India and around the world,” Mr Thota said.
Lux Group is the owner of Luxury Escapes and Co-Founder & CEO, Adam Schwab, echoed these comments and said the Luxury Escapes model had very strong appeal to travel operators.
“High-end properties worldwide are keen to partner with Luxury Escapes for one simple reason – we generate profitable campaigns,” Mr Schwab said.