feBusiness Traveller Awards Curtain-Raiser

AND THE WINNER IS...

T he feBusiness Traveller awards are the first ever popular choice awards for the Indian travel segment, which will be polled by our readers (business travellers) from around the country. Instituted by feBusiness Traveller and presented by Antiquity (a premium brand from the Shaw Wallace stable), with Ernst & Young as process validators, these awards will represent the Indian consumer's choice of their most preferred Business Hotels, Destinations, Airlines and Car Rentals. February 6, 2004, will reveal who truly rules the roost as far as business travel is concerned in India...

Why feBusiness Traveller Awards?

feBusiness Traveller, being India's only business travel magazine plays the role of a catalyst, providing holistic travel related information to Indian business travellers. In our endeavour to provide comprehensive data, we constantly analyse business travel patterns and requirements, and have reason to believe that business travellers contribute to a very significant percentage of income generated through tourism. In recent times, tourism has witnessed some very trying phases and business travellers have been the most resilient lot showing fastest recovery through all global calamities, be it SARS or WARS. Besides, business travel being need-based and not whimsical, external factors exert very little influence on the decision to travel. Moreover, in the case of business travellers time is of essence and money of lesser consequence; they are generally high spenders who use top-end tourism products such as business and first class airline seats, rooms in five-star hotels making this a very lucrative segment for the tourism players. Having said that, we have also remarked that travel service providers have upgraded tourism products to suit the needs and expectations of their esteemed clientele.

What are these Awards about?

As we have traced the growth of business travel, one also needs to recognise the role that travel service providers play in ensuring that business travellers maintain a high level of comfort and arrive in better shape. The arteries of business travel, if one may call them such, are airlines, hotels, car rentals, etc. All over the world, specialised magazines such as ours recognise and award these services for their outstanding contribution to the business travel segment. In India as well, with business travel coming of age, the time has certainly come to encourage further development and reward consistent performance with an aim to uplift the overall quality levels of service. It is therefore imperative that these awards become the voice of the consumer, the business traveller who is finally the end-user of all the products on offer.

The Categories:

1. Airlines

2. Hotels

3. MICE Destinations

4. Car Rentals

Category 1. AIRLINES:

The airlines awards are broken up into domestic and international for the respective carriers operating in India.

DOMESTIC AIRLINES:

1. Best Business Class

2. Best Economy Class

3. Best Service (Airport & In-flight)

INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES:

1. Best First Class

2. Best Business Class

3. Best Economy Class

4. Best Service (Airport & In-flight)

In current times, an aircraft is nothing short of a five-star hotel with wings. In most airlines today, first and business class passengers enjoy in-flight a la carte meals where they can decide what they'd like to eat and also decide the sequence and time of their meals. In-flight food and wine service is getting more delectable, varied and certainly more personalised. Menus are being designed, selected and prepared with both eyes firmly fixed on the customer's tastes. And consulting celebrity chefs and wine experts for the same is becoming common practice. Most international carriers plying on Indian routes lay special emphasis on Indian vegetarian meals.

The prime issue in the battle for the business travellers' loyalty has been space or seat-width, leg-room and the angle of incline. While seats with a 160-degree incline are more or less commonplace, some airlines have started converting to complete flat beds for their first-class passengers. Some even offer a 'turn down service' for passengers travelling on night flights of at least seven hours and day flights exceeding nine hours. "For a business traveller it is very vital to sleep well on flight to avoid jet lag. Some airlines have perfected the art of service and their 'turn down service' leaves nothing to chance, not only do they offer a flat bed but also ready it up for you. When you are ready to retire for your rest, simply inform your cabin crew who then transform the seat into a bed, complete with down-filled mattress, duvet and a large pillow. This ensures that I arrive feeling fresh and ready to take on the most challenging business meeting," reveals Arun Nanda, executive director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

Among other things, airlines have spruced up in-flight services. Most aircraft feature flat beds in business and first class, customised meals, hi-end technology, well-equipped lounges, tele check-in services and various other benefits are extended to business class passengers.

CATEGORY 2. HOTELS:

The hotels have also been bifurcated into two segments to ensure a level playing field for polling across various cities within India. The business traveller is free to vote for a hotel of choice whether in India or abroad, irrespective of whether it was used for business or leisure. We have therefore categorised this segment into:

BEST LEISURE HOTEL:

1. International

2. Domestic

BEST BUSINESS HOTEL:

1. International

2. Domestic

Hoteliers on their part are getting serious about innovative business facilities and services to attract corporate business. They are literally rolling out the red carpet for their business travellers who are usually picked up from the airport in luxury cars like Mercedes, BMW, Chevrolet, Limousines – the choice varies as per the guest's profile in the hotel.

Such pampering of the business traveller is being done for a good reason. The last one-and-a-half decade has seen a major shift in the profile of hotel users in India from leisure to business travellers. In most leading hotel chains in the country, especially in the cities, over 70 per cent of usage is from business travellers. Some hotel chains are totally dependent on this segment. The boom in industries like telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, Information Technology, banking and finance, automobiles amongst others have also propelled a growth in business hotels in key Indian metropolises. A host of new properties have branded themselves 'business hotels', prompting even established names to reposition themselves as corporate venues.

To cater to the corporate segment, hotels have brought about a massive change in their service design. Services provided, benefits offered and technology used are very different from the yesteryears. Today, most properties offer the new broadband solution called 'Wireless Fidelity' (WiFi). From 24-hour check-in and checkout facilities to broadband and wireless Internet connectivity in rooms, hotels have kept pace with those on a 'time-is-money' schedule. Conference halls are today equipped with cutting-edge technology, and business centres in hotels offer facilities on par with any upscale corporate office.

Regular features of executive floors are state-of-the-art and personalised in-room facilities, viz. butler service, tea and coffee makers, interactive televisions, worktables, dedicated communication facilities (with two lines, direct dialling, personalised voice-mail and in some cases fax, copier, printer and scanner etc), multi-utility data ports. Safes with laptop chargers are the in-thing along with meeting rooms, lounges, etc. Some other special features include floors specifically for female travellers.

Apart from all the above mentioned services, hotels and airlines have their guest loyalty programmes and frequent flier programmes to maintain their customer loyalty.

CATEGORY 3. MICE DESTINATIONS:

Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) are what business travel is really about. Today, destinations are specifically positioning themselves to woo the business traveller or corporate entity with a host of tailor-made MICE offerings. The Business Traveller will vote on two counts for this category:

BEST MICE DESTINATION:

1. Domestic

2. International

MICE destinations all over the world as well as the Indian states are gearing up to meet the expectations of corporate travel managers by developing better infrastructure, business facilities, convention centres and all of that packaged at attractive prices. Incentive travel forms a very significant chunk of MICE in India and there are various destinations that have identified this segment and are in competition for a lager slice of the Indian MICE pie.

CATEGORY 4. CAR RENTALS:

There are various domestic and international players in the Indian car rental segment, which is an intrinsic part of any business travel. We have therefore instituted one award in this category to recognise the Best Car Rental Agency in India.

THE AWARDS PROCESS

In our estimation, the Indian business traveller has matured enough to now endorse travel products and services as per his experience and preference. Business travellers have a first hand experience of the travel products on offer, they are hence more knowledgeable and better qualified to evaluate the services on offer. Besides, given that the travel service provider is targeting to appeal to this segment, it is only fitting that their endeavours are endorsed by their target audience.

The feBusiness Traveller Award is a popular choice award. It will be a result of an extensive nationwide polling process among our readers of both publications, the Financial Express and the feBusiness Traveller. The voters will be a highly select and discerning audience throughout the country.

As part of the nationwide polling process, polling forms were sent across the country with every copy of the Financial Express and with this issue of the feBusiness Traveller. The entries will then be tabulated and the data validated by a process audit which will be conducted by Ernst & Young, an audit and consulting firm of international repute, to finally arrive at the winners in each category.

And as we all wait with bated breath for the winners’ names to be declared, I guess the suspense will continue till the awards ceremony on the evening of February 6, 2004 in Mumbai. We'll be there to applaud... May The Best Man Win!