Hotel ka Guru, Travelguru's key to selling hotels online

As one of the first few entrants in the online travel industry of India, Travelguru, in late 2005 started its operations by offering air tickets to end consumers. To create visibility and the brand awareness in the market space, Travelguru started promoting its products and services through panels at the rear of public transport buses in Mumbai and other metro cities. These were essentially used as a marketing tool to create the much needed visibility in the market. At the same time, the company also tested some hoardings as an effective marketing tool to disseminate information about the services offered. In early 2006, Travelguru introduced ‘Travel cheap or travel free,’ campaign, which guaranteed a choice of the most attractive and lowest priced domestic airfares on its website. “The bus panels and hoardings were also used as an effective medium to let the travel industry partners know of our existence. The ‘Travel cheap or travel free’ was our way of assuring users best deals and anyone who found out a cheaper deal than Travelguru was given a free ticket,” recalls Ashwin Damera, CEO and Founder, Travelguru.