MAM
Booking.com showcases its ‘Connected Trip’ vision with Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal
Mumbai: Booking.com, an online travel company, along with actor couple Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal teamed up with Booking.com’s country manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia – Santosh Kumar to enjoy a guided cooking experience, highlighting one of many exciting experiences and attractions available on Booking.com.
Planning a dream vacation can quickly turn into a logistical nightmare. A recent Booking.com survey reveals that nearly half (42 per cent) of Indians find trip planning stressful, including juggling flights, accommodations, car rentals, activities and the overall logistics. Booking.com, one of the world’s leading online travel companies, is addressing this need by orchestrating the best traveller experience and aiming to make every trip a connected trip.
Booking.com empowers Indian travellers to seamlessly plan and book all key aspects of their journey on the Booking.com platform, eliminating the need to navigate multiple websites and apps. From finding the right flight to booking the perfect stay, travellers can craft their ideal itinerary with ease. Additionally, options for car rentals, private airport transfers and a vast selection of exciting local activities are all readily available in one place, to create a frictionless travel experience.
With nearly half (48 per cent) of the Indian travellers choosing a destination to indulge in local cuisines, the event was a perfect blend of travel, food and memorable experiences. At the ‘The Connected Trip: A Culinary Experience’ event on 12 September 2024, Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal shared their food inspired travel stories while learning to prepare their favourite avocado and cucumber sushi and sattu ka paratha with eggplant and tomato chutney, a delicacy from Bihar reflecting on their local and global adventures and childhood memories. The event illustrated how Booking.com connects travellers with diverse, authentic and immersive experiences based on their needs and preferences.
Actor Sonakshi Sinha commented, “Travel is my passion. I love immersing myself in the destination’s culture, exploring the local markets and of course relishing the local cuisine. But planning is a bit of a headache. Juggling flights, accommodations and activities can be overwhelming. Thankfully, Booking.com has simplified this and travellers can now book various elements of their trip on one platform and enjoy a stress free holiday.”
Adding to this, actor Zaheer Iqbal said, “Food is integral to India’s culture. It has the power to unite people from all over the world. As someone who loves exploring local cuisines whenever I travel, I’m excited to be a part of this event showcasing Booking.com immersive experiences for Indian travellers. Travellers can easily book attractions like sushi making class in Japan or exploring Kolkata’s street food scene – everything in the palm of their hand.”
Booking.com leverages smart, data-powered predictive technologies, like machine learning and AI, to enhance the traveller experience further. By analysing past choices and preferences, Booking.com can suggest other useful services for their trip, such as car rental, dining reservations, tickets to attractions, and shuttle services, ultimately creating a personalised, AI-enhanced and truly connected booking experience.
“Today travellers are looking for seamless trip planning and travel experiences where they can search, book and manage different aspects of their trip on one platform,” said Booking.com’s country manager, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia – Santosh Kumar. “At Booking.com, we are dedicated to eliminating friction in travel by continuously innovating to address their evolving needs. Our ‘Connected Trip’ vision embodies this commitment by offering multiple elements of the travel experience in one place and providing seamless, end-to-end support throughout the entire journey. Today, we’re excited to see real progress with our vision for a ‘connected trip’. Today we are seeing real progress in our vision. According to our Booking Holdings Q2 2024 earnings, our connected transactions increased by 45 per cent y-o-y and continue to represent a high single digit percentage of Booking.com’s total transactions.”
He further added, “We are excited to have partnered with Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal to showcase how travellers can easily book just about every element of their trip on Booking.com – whether it’s renting a car, enrolling for a cooking class or booking an airport taxi – and easily create a travel experience.”
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
