Linger has been a very niche, and amongst-the-community brand, and many of our guests are friends now. We have grown slow, and avoided the usual travel agent route thus far. We did try working with a couple of travel agencies a few times, but except one, have not had a good experience yet.
In our view, Travel Agents need to solve something concrete for us. Online, offline, experiential, whatever.
Problems?
We are primarily a weekend business, and run empty on most weekdays despite significant costs for the same. Some weekends just before and after popular long weekends also see a lull. These can be solved.
There are so many folks who would love the idea of Lingering that we’re unable to reach out to quickly enough through our existing
connects. Travel Agents can play an important role for us here, and one has, for a specific niche.
If we’re able to run at better volumes, we can pay folks better (like we always keep trying to), become sustainable financially for all stakeholders, ecologically and socially for the community around, and grow.
We also ran into issues like the wrong price being communicated to our guests, and our properties themselves being mis-sold as something
they were not. We’d rather run vacant than have wrong expectations set, and eventually hurt our brand. There also have been stories in the media about unethical practices on the part of OTAs that seek to merely maximize the commission they make, and has little to do with representing a property and making a guests’ experience the best aligned with their interests.
If Travel Agents help us crack these problems, we’re more than happy to share with them. Doing it only for holiday seasons and long weekends when happy guests themselves refer enough folks seems pointless and is a little unfair on the part of the travel agent industry.
We’re sure they provide a valuable service and a nominal service charge added transparently to their clients’ bills will be accepted as a fair charge.
Who We’d Love To Work With. And How.
We’d be happy working with travel partners who’re interested in more than the transactional value of their clients – and care about their experience, their vacation, interest as well. We want to work with people who care about the idea of travel itself, and want to further interesting ways to travel, believe in different reasons for which folks travel, and without merely addressing the common (including the easy “luxury” way out too) denominator of the industry – deals, standardization and the comfort zone of the same old. We’d love to connect with folks who are focused on more bang, not just less buck.
We truly believe that reasonable value for all, and healthy symbiotic relationships do much better in the long run.
On our part, we thought the following would be a better, fairer way to share transparently:
- Solve Volumes : We offer 1 free room night for every 10 nights booked with us. After 20 room nights, we’ll offer 2 room nights for every 10 room nights booked with us, or 1 after every 6 as desired. Since this involves multiple properties at various times, the value offered free will be the average of the room nights booked with us.
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Solve Right-Selling : We also feel we should create Long Term Value for Travel Partners who we work with – so for any guest that comes through a travel partner, we’ll share 4% on ALL subsequent reservations by a returning guest with the partner over the next 3 years after the firs trip, even if the same are made directly by the guest with us. We also pass on a benefit to returning guests – this is on top of that. And those who work with us know we are transparent and ethical about this!
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The above will, of course, make sense only if we’re not being mis-sold in terms of the offering or promises made. We like speaking to our guests and being as transparent as possible before they confirm with us, and would like to be able to do that even as we work with travel partners.
Doesn’t this make more sense? We’re taking this stand for now, and perhaps will start working with those travel agents willing to question norms and change the industry to be friendlier, more transparent and ethical.
If you are a travel outfit who shares our ethos, and thinks the above can be explored (or if you know of one), we’d like to connect for sure.
We’re also looking to partner with folks who design & operate travel around specific themes and activities (history tours, coffee tours, cycling, hikes and treks, bouldering – you tell us!) for the same around our locations.
We’re at hey@linger.in OR at +91-95900-50001. Look forward to hearing from you.