Tag: post-COVID

Sahara Star
Business World

Sahara Star partners with PREFME for a contactless experience

Nov 24, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Mr. Manish Sodhi, #post-COVID, #PREFME technology, #Sahara Star

Sahara Star is recognized by the industry thought-leaders to provide seamless hospitality to guests, PREFME is the state-of-the-art hospitality solution that comes with industry-first features to make stays completely contactless and personalized. The Hotel has taken a leap towards adapting a shift to adopting newer technology. PREFME provides contactless check-in/out, offers guests the to personalize their stays, it also has a multilingual chat.

The application also presents the users with in-app service booking, in-app food menu & ordering, food ingredients scanner, along with many other benefits. Using the Prefme app, the guests can pre-check-in from any corner of the world, whereas, on arrival, they can get their identities verified through a quick & secure digital ID verification and avoid check-in queues. Guests can also enjoy a completely contactless and hassle-free checkout by viewing their services and making payments from the app.

On this collaboration, Mr. Manish Sodhi, CEO, Hotel Sahara Star said, “By keeping in terms with the Covid-19 situation in the country, we are ecstatic associating with PREFME giving the best and safest experience to our guests and team members. At Sahara Star, we make sure that our guests experience a completely relaxed stay, and easily access our hotel in a contactless way right from their smartphone.”

The PREFME technology will not only be a great tool for the current Covid times for the guests and the hospitality industry but it is a great solution for Post-Covid times too. It enriches the hospitality and staying experience through the power of personalization.

redBus Logo
Business World

Bus travel on path to normalcy: Over 3 lakh passengers travelled through redBus for the 2nd October long weekend

Oct 16, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Andhra Pradesh, #Gujarat, #Karnataka, #Maharashtra, #post-COVID, #Prakash Sangam, #redBus, #Tamil Nadu

RedBus, India’s largest online bus ticketing platform, recorded over 3 lakh seat reservations across the country over the 2nd October long weekend, in the latest sign of the industry returning to normalcy. States such as Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are currently showing high demand for bus travel, surpassing pre-lockdown levels, partly due to limited availability of trains on key routes, making buses the most preferred means of travel.

Over the long weekend, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal recorded maximum demand for travel in the country, while the top destinations preferred by the passengers were Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

The top 5 routes in the country for which redBus is witnessing significant bookings at present are, Bengaluru – Hyderabad, Delhi – Chandigarh, Hyderabad – Vijayawada, Asansol – Kolkata and Gorakhpur-Delhi.

Safety of passengers and the bus crew continues to be the top priority for redBus and the platform had earlier launched its Safety+ program, certification for its partner bus operators who meet the highest standards of excellence in safety and sanitization. Safety+ certified operators follow strict safety protocols to address the concerns around safety due to COVID-19.

The redBus ticketing platform indicates bus operators with this self-certification, with a Safety+ tag next to the bus listing, enabling passengers to opt for such operators or buses.

While Safety+ ensures that the partner bus operators enforce a slew of strict safety measures to keep the passengers safe, redBus has also listed out a set of passenger guidelines encouraging them to travel responsibly for a safe journey.

A behavioural shift that has been evident post-COVID is the preference for online bus booking going up. This has gained traction lately due to the safety and convenience aspects associated with it, compared to offline modes of ticket purchase. redBus has seen a rise in first-time customers, with the percentage of the transactions undertaken by new customers nearly doubling from 11% (Pre-COVID) to 21% (Post-COVID).

Another interesting trend being witnessed is the willingness among people in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns to travel, resulting in them contributing around 67% of the current bookings, as they look to return back to their workplaces (this was 56% earlier in the pre-COVID period).

Some of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with high demand for bus travel at present are Jaipur, Gorakhpur, Indore, Visakhapatnam, Kalaburagi, Rajkot, Malda and Guwahati.

Speaking on the upbeat near-term outlook for the industry, Prakash Sangam, CEO, redBus, said, “The current phase is an important inflection point with a steady rise in demand for bus travel across the country, brought about by the gradual resumption of activities across all spheres, making travel a necessity. We expect this trend to continue with an increase in economic activity, further relaxation in locked down activities, the upcoming festive season and also when colleges/universities reopen. On many routes, we have also seen a substitution of demand moving from Trains to Buses.”