Brands
Cleartrip appoints Shubham Khurana as the head of brand marketing
Mumbai: Cleartrip announced the appointment of Shubham Khurana as the brand head on Thursday. In his new role, he will be responsible for augmenting Cleartrip’s brand presence across the country and further expanding its footprint in the newer markets, along with enhancing the customer experience.
Talking about the appointment, Cleartrip chief marketing officer Kunal Dubey said, “At Cleartrip, we strongly back the notion of scaling a business that will not only disrupt the OTA space through innovations but also build a brand that is loved and trusted by millions. We have the ambition to build the brand with a differentiated positioning. Shubham joined the marketing team at Cleartrip at a very exciting time as we were getting ready to take the category by storm. Shubham joins us with a unique experience in consumer marketing, travel, and digital marketing and will definitely add value to the team in our journey ahead.”
Speaking on his appointment, Khurana said, “I am excited about this mandate as it brings me back to the industry that I’m extremely passionate about. Travel is one of the most inspiring categories with some of the most uninspiring communication as of today, which is possibly why there isn’t any distinctive brand from India in this space yet. There is a great opportunity to create a contemporary and exciting brand, breaking the clutter of the price and discount-led communication that dominates the industry. Cleartrip has been able to create a niche and a loyal base of customers over the years, and I’m looking to take the goodness of the platform to the world at large with a renewed and refreshing brand identity and communication as my first priority. I am excited about being a part of Cleartrip and look forward to contributing to its renewed growth and success.”
Khurana joins Cleartrip with over 12 years of experience at corporates like Facebook India, Unilever, and startups like Treebo Hotels, where he played an instrumental role in accelerating the growth strategies of the brands.
At Unilever, he built a deep consumer understanding and a strong business acumen, having handled their largest sales area followed by a stint leading their coffee brand, Bru. He joined Treebo in 2015 as the Brand Head, where he built the marketing infrastructure from scratch. At Facebook, he managed India’s largest FMCG advertisers like HUL, Nestle, Mondelez, etc.
He also conceptualised and built Facebook India’s strategy for tier-two and tier-three towns. He has completed his engineering from IIT- Roorkee and his MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur. Amongst his many achievements, he has also been recognized at India’s top business forums with awards like ET Young Leader and IAMAI Digital Marketer of the Year.
Brands
Uber launches hotel bookings feature in partnership with Expedia
From hotel bookings to room service at your door, the ride-hailing giant is making its boldest push yet into everyday life
CALIFORNIA: Uber is done being just a taxi app. At its annual GO-GET product event, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform unveiled a sweeping set of new features designed to plant itself at the centre of how people travel, eat and shop, hotel bookings included.
The headline move is a partnership with Expedia Group that lets Uber users in the United States book hotels directly within the Uber app, with access to a catalogue that will eventually grow to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. Uber One members get 10 per cent back in Uber One credits on all hotel bookings and savings of at least 20 per cent on a rolling list of more than 10,000 hotels globally. Vacation rentals from Vrbo, Expedia Group’s home-rental brand, will be added later this year. The partnership is expected to expand beyond the United States. From June, Uber rides will also be integrated directly into the Expedia app, with push notifications sent to travellers ahead of hotel check-in to book discounted Uber rides for the duration of their stay.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, framed the expansion in terms of the modern condition. “Uber is becoming an app for everything, helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place,” he said. “We’re all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living.”
Ariane Gorin, chief executive of Expedia Group, struck a similarly ambitious note. “Travel should feel effortless, and this partnership gets us one step closer to offering a seamless traveller experience,” she said. “By connecting our two-sided marketplace with Uber, we’re bringing Uber rides directly into the Expedia app and Expedia Group’s lodging inventory into the Uber app through our Rapid API technology. Together, we’re helping travellers spend less time planning and more time enjoying the journey.”
Beyond hotels, the product announcements come thick and fast. Travel Mode, available within both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, offers curated recommendations on local favourites, tourist destinations, OpenTable restaurant reservations and on-demand delivery to hotel rooms. Uber One International means the membership programme now works globally, allowing members to earn credits on rides abroad that can be redeemed once back home. A new Shop for Me feature lets users request items from any store, even those not listed on the app. Eats for the Way allows riders in select cities booking an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV to have a drink or snack waiting for them in the car. Voice Bookings, powered by artificial intelligence, lets users book a ride conversationally, without touching their phone. And a redesigned One Search bar consolidates results for places, food and items across the entire Uber platform in a single query.
Uber has now logged more than 72 billion trips since it launched in 2010. The question it is now answering is what comes after the ride. The answer, apparently, is everything else. Whether users want a hotel in Paris, a coffee in the back of a car or a snake plant from the local garden centre, Uber would very much like to be the one to provide it. The app economy’s land grab has a new front-runner.
NOTE: The image used is AI generated and only for representational purposes.
