The Fern Hotels & Resorts Announce Strategic Partnership with Cleartrip for Exclusive Influencer Marketing Campaign

Mumbai, June, 2024– The Fern Hotels & Resorts and Cleartrip are thrilled to announce a strategic partnership for a collaborative influencer marketing campaign. This co-branding initiative will bring together elite influencers and celebrities to create engaging and authentic content for their followers, showcasing the unparalleled travel experiences offered by both brands.

By combining The Fern Hotels & Resorts reputation for diverse and sustainable hospitality with Cleartrip's seamless travel solutions, the partnership aims to enhance the visibility of both brands among key audience segments, including eco-conscious millennials, premium travelers, and digital enthusiasts. Elite influencers participating in this campaign will have the opportunity to produce captivating content while experiencing exceptional services. The long-term nature and flexibility of the program allows influencers to choose their preferred dates for booking and visiting, simply by informing both brands in advance. As part of the program, Cleartrip will sponsor the flight tickets, while The Fern Hotels & Resorts will handle hotel transfers and accommodation, ensuring a seamless experience.

Mr. Deepak Kadam, General Manager – Marketing, The Fern Hotels & Resorts, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, "This collaboration with Cleartrip offers influencers an unparalleled platform to grow their follower base while experiencing the best of travel and hospitality. The support from both brands ensures that influencers can focus on creating authentic and engaging content that resonates with their audiences."

Echoing the sentiment, Pratik Basu, Head, Supplier Relations, Hotel Category, Cleartrip added, "We are thrilled to partner with The Fern Hotels & Resorts in this unique initiative. By combining our expertise in travel facilitation with The Fern’s exceptional hospitality, we aim to offer influencers and celebrities a seamless and memorable experience that they can share with their followers."

The program will initially focus on 10 select leisure properties, gradually expanding to include 50 properties in Phase 2 and eventually covering all 100+ properties across India in Phase 3. This phased rollout ensures scalable growth and effective audience targeting, maximizing the impact of the campaign.

Cleartrip sees 4x growth in B2B Business; celebrates the second edition of Agentbox 2.0 Achievers’ Night

The event saw participation from 400+ travel agents across the country.

New Delhi, February 2024:  Cleartrip, a Flipkart company, celebrated the outstanding growth of its B2B Business in 2023 with the second edition of its marquee event - Cleartrip Agentbox 2.0 Achievers Night.  This event, hosted at Crowne Plaza in Noida, saw the presence of senior leadership from Cleartrip - Ayyappan Rajagopal, CEO, Cleartrip and Prahlad Krishnamurthi, CBO, Cleartrip and notable dignitaries from the Saudi Tourism Authority, including the President of APAC markets, Alhasan Aldabbagh. 

Attended by approximately 400 travel agents from across the country, the Cleartrip Agentbox 2.0 Achievers Night served as a platform to celebrate the remarkable growth of Cleartrip's agency business, which witnessed a staggering 4x growth in 2023 compared to the previous year. Furthermore, the number of agents partnering with Cleartrip has seen a substantial 40% rise.

During the celebration, Sukesh Shetty, Head of B2B Business at Cleartrip, stated, “We are thrilled to celebrate our extraordinary community of travel agents, who are integral to our B2B business. The Cleartrip Agentbox 2.0 Achievers' Night serves as both a celebration and an expression of gratitude for the unwavering support of our valued travel agents. I am pleased to announce the rollout of new innovations on the Agentbox 2.0 platform, which will see a greater focus on hotels and holiday packages. I look forward to another year of success and collaboration with our  partners, and a new chapter of B2B growth.”

Agentbox 2.0 continues to assert itself as the fastest-adapting tool in the agency network, providing a seamless booking experience for agents. It is a one-stop solution for travel agents, which enables seamless bookings across an inventory of 100+ airlines, 5L+ hotels, exclusive holiday packages, Group bookings and MICE. Its multi-supplier model ensures that the agents receive the best market fares. The user-friendly design and 24x7 support centre ensure an easy booking experience for agents. 

Cleartrip soars to new heights; emerges as fastest growing OTA and gains second-largest market share

The findings are based on a comprehensive travel market study conducted by VIDEC  across FY 22-23

Bengaluru, July 2023: After a phenomenal post-pandemic revival of the travel industry, Cleartrip, a Flipkart company, cements its position as the second-largest OTA player in the country. A recent in-depth OTA benchmarking research study by VIDEC revealed that Cleartrip saw industry-leading growth in FY23 and strengthened its position in the segment.  

While we have seen significant growth in the air category, we have made strategic investments in Hotels, Buses, and B2B businesses, revamping our existing offerings and launching new tools and products. At the beginning of the year, we also launched our own marquee event, the Nation on Vacation event, redefining and bringing forward the booking period for the traditional summer holiday season by partnering with 40+ airlines and 80000+ domestic and  4L+ international hotels in offering lucrative prices and value-added services to our customers. Cleartrip’s B2B topline grew >2x on the back of the launch of new tools providing a seamless booking experience for our partners. Our investments in key business areas not only helped us achieve market share gains but also won recognition and awards from the wider community.

Regarding the latest development, Ayyappan R., CEO, of Cleartrip stated, “This move is a milestone in Cleartrip’s journey and is a testament to our commitment to customer-centricity and sustainable growth. Travel is a massive industry that has witnessed rapid growth and is expected to scale further heights. We believe that we are in the right position to innovate and bring about disruption through technology. This is a new chapter for Cleartrip and by no means the end destination. We will continue to curate value-led constructs, expand our product categories, innovate on behalf of our customers, and make travel an affordable and accessible aspiration for all.” 

VIDEC, a boutique research company with a singular focus on the global travel industry has conducted the current study - Indian OTA Landscape: India Travel Market Sizing, OTA Benchmarking & Consumer Insights. The report encapsulates the market sizing, segmentation, OTA benchmarking, and travel consumer insights for the Indian travel marketplace through executive interviews with suppliers, travel distributors OTAs, and travel technology providers operating in India.

Shedding light on the key research findings, Virendra Jain, Co-Founder and CEO at VIDEC said, “Led by the OTAs, the India travel market has made a resounding recovery to ₹3,892 billion (US$48.7B) in FY23 and is estimated to reach ₹5,787 billion (US$72.4B) in FY26.  Air would continue to be the largest travel category at ₹1,743 billion (US$21.8B) in FY23, the growth henceforth would equally come from the rise in Indian international demand and non-air categories. The ground category will fuel the often talked about the ‘next billion Indian opportunity’.”  

Since the Flipkart acquisition, Cleartrip has continued to invest in customer-centric offerings under ‘Clear Advantage’ that provide unmatched flexibility and affordability. It enabled customers to earn and redeem supercoins and improved the customer experience on multiple fronts such as a 24-hour refund policy that resulted in an industry-leading NPS score. The company recently launched buses in its service portfolio, revamped its hotel UI, and unveiled its marquee summer sale event - NationOnVacation. Cleartrip saw a 60% rise in bookings (which is 2x times over what was achieved during the same period last year) across categories.