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  • Coronavirus Challenges for Travel Startups & how to Survive them?

    The coronavirus aka COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread with no signs of fading away. Preventive measures taken by the public sector and by global industry are already having widespread effects. Most of the businesses around the world are facing many challenges and lower demands of their services & products. Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has said the global economy may now grow at its slowest rate since 2009.

    With the COVID-19 virus spreading to dozens of countries globally, the travel industry is working hastily to both prevent the spread of the virus and navigate through heavy economic uncertainty & slowdown. Now, with the globalized world going into partial or complete lock down over the Covid-19 pandemic, startups in the travel sector are facing a huge stress test as well as immediate interruption to business because public health concern has increased and entire populations are encouraged or even forced not to travel.

    Travelers are reconsidering travel plans both to prevent infection and avoid being quarantined. Due to this, airlines are also facing a huge fall in bookings. Airlines have ceased flights to the hardest-hit areas and reduced capacity elsewhere. Similarly, many hotels are empty or facing declining fall in occupancy; conference organizers are losing major events, local tour operators have far fewer customers due to travel avoidance of customers as experts say that there’s no sugar-coating: It’s rough out there right now. Lean times are inevitable for the travel industry – that much is for sure. But among the furrowed speculation and fearful reports, some of the startup founders have been busy formulating ideas and plans catalyzed by the recent crisis.

    No to non-essential travel

    With restrictions on travel and large business events, many startups, IT majors and corporates have ruled out non-essential domestic and international travel. In a statement, IT major Wipro said: “Wipro has suspended travel to and transit through mainland China, including Hong Kong and Macau, until further notice. Employees have also been advised to avoid non-critical travel to Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Italy.” As many companies have asked their employees to work from home, it has caused decrease in travel. Asheesh Chanda, CEO of digital wealth management startup Kristal.AI, said all necessary precautions as advised by the government were being taken. “Kristal.AI operates in three locations – Singapore, Hong Kong, and India. Non-essential travel between offices is currently discouraged. We have asked all employees across locations to work-from-home.”

    In the same way, many travel tech companies have seen a spike in cancellations. In general the impact is heavy. While some have stated that demand is dropping off a cliff but it’s not as bad as they thought — but it is definitely heavy. Bookings are down by almost half It’s seeing similar changes in booking behavior. Advanced booking has come down drastically. TravelPerk told that it’s currently dealing with a drop in business globally of around 50%.

    Lockdown due to COVID-19 has resulted in low demands of bookings

    The co-founder and CEO of TechCrunch, Johannes Reck said, “This is the most severe shock that I’ve seen in the last 10 years. The irony of Europe is that we had a fantastic start to the year, consumer sentiment was high, and then it fell off a cliff a few days ago.” An airline trade group said last week that the industry will lose as much as $113 billion in sales because of the coronavirus pandemic. Also, Booking.com withdrew its forecast, citing the worsening impact of the virus on travel.

    Here’s some of the useful tips and tricks for staying afloat in these tough times –

    Look for bright spots

    If your startup has a global focus, look for bright spots of travel demand. Not every area is affected by travel restrictions and flight bans. For instance, depending on your business model and market, one can switch to targeting short journey. Another tactic is to target travelers from areas less affected by the virus. Take a methodical look at current travel conditions and compare that with your target demographics. Wherever you find opportunities, you’ll need to balance pricing with market share and thus customers can be attracted to use your services.

    Also Read: List of Top Travel Startups in India

    Work on your expertise

    The travel community has a unique perspective with many “boots on the ground” i.e. contacts in different places around the world. So ask your suppliers, distributors, partners what is happening on their end. So, by gathering information from them, your expertise can be utilized to provide customers what they are actually needing at this time. This can help with lowering cancellations while also keeping your team informed on the virus.

    Create your USP

    Travelers now face uncertainty and lack clarity over when, where, and how to travel due to constraints. If your startup has a unique selling proposition that addresses some of these challenges, work on it! Try to be creative and see how you might be able to apply your product to add new or unexpected value to the current global situation. Or, perhaps there are aspects of your business model that could be improved a bit to increase relevance in these circumstances.

    Partner up with others

    Now is the time to get creative with partnerships and building relationships. By joining hands with other startups which are also facing the same challenges, new solutions can be found to deal with current circumstances. As you consider potential partners, look for those who may be especially hard in this climate and needing cost-cutting or short-term revenue.

    Also Read: Coronavirus Impact on Digital Payments Startups

    Final Thoughts

    It’s important to remember that no crisis lasts forever and to attempt to look to the future. This isn’t the world’s first recession and it won’t be the last. It’s not the world’s first pandemic and it won’t be the last. The key for entrepreneurs is to keep a cool head about you, don’t do anything and adopt a war footing while your company struggles through choppy waters for 12 to 18 months in the wake of this pandemic. When the crisis recedes and the courts reopen, your company will need to provide an accounting of its obligations and answer for any it has fallen short on in the meantime.

  • 6 Must Follow Tips to Work from Home During the Coronavirus Outbreak

    The COVID-19 pandemic has changed every aspect of work and life. Coronavirus spread during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led many organizations to recommend their staff to work from home full-time; now also being known as WFH, for their safety. As more and more companies implement work-from-home policies due to the spread of COVID-19, employees are now asked for trying to be just as productive without the normal routines and resources that they get in the offices while working. While working from home sounds like a luxury, in theory, it’s certainly no vacation and being productive is not very easy.

    But to get the same productivity from work from home, some specific strategies & Goals need to be implemented. Every job is different and the amount of work one can achieve will vary between career types, employers and internal policies, but there are some key strategies to working from home when it comes to getting your tasks done efficiently. Working remotely or the practice of working for an extended period outside the formal office environment is growing steadily in popularity by using various digital tools from Web conferencing, e-mail to mobile collaboration applications and virtual event platforms to connect people and make sure the work-from-home is possible without any difficulty. “Some of the best strategies & Goals to make yourself productive without distractions are”.

    Create a dedicated Work Space
    Make sure you have Strong Internet access
    Stay Connected with colleagues
    Get used to Video Calls
    Make use of Google Docs and Sheets
    Prepare for Distractions

    Create a Dedicated Workspace

    As an employee, one needs to create a dedicated work area at home even if it is temporary during this Coronavirus outbreak situation. It can be a separate room or a space at home where you can’t get distracted. Although it’s convenient to stay in bed or on your sofa but to get in that work mode, it is always better to create a dedicated workspace. A separate workspace is healthy as well as keeping to your regular work routine, even though you are not in the office. If you don’t have a desk, one can use the dining room table which can make you feel like you’re at the office. This helps you focus on your work, avoid distractions, and maintain a work-life balance at home.

    Creating a Dedicated Workspace

    Make sure you have Strong Internet access

    Internet access is the most important thing for getting your tasks done at home. When you work at home, having a strong internet connection will be most advised as most of the work or tasks assigned to you will be over the internet. Wifi/Data Card/Hot Spot is used for better network connectivity. Having a robust internet connection is required for video conferencing and chatting will make you an active participant and also helps in finishing your tasks without difficulty.

    Strong Internet access

    Stay Connected with colleagues

    Staying connected with colleagues is very important for a professional. It helps you evaluate your work, perform well in your tasks and also social skills. If you work on a team, it is essential to keep in touch with the other team members. For this purpose, there are many platforms like WhatsApp, Slack so that people get updates for the quick task. One can also stay connected with team members with the help of email communications. Any queries, inputs must be discussed with the other teammates. Messaging programs like Slack is a good idea to set up regular check-ins via phone or video conferencing like Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom.

    Get used to Video Calls

    Working from home means a lot more video calls. On the tech front, video calls can make a remote workday feel more connected. Video calls are crucial as teams like to see each other when they collaborate for a better understanding of each other’s perspectives. For this, you need a good webcam and headset to have a comfortable and quality experience. Using your built-in webcam and basic headphones should work well enough but if you want to upgrade the experience, investing in a webcam or headset is a good idea if the worker’s base computing device does not have one. In some organizations, 720P is the minimum acceptable resolution for quality results, for which one may need to get a webcam. A high-quality headset or headphones with a mic are a must for phone or web conferencing. Apart from this, using appropriate software for web or video conferencing is important. There are many software available for connecting people on video conferencing like Skype, FaceTime, Zoom, Microsoft Teams Webex, Zoho & so on. Accounts are free for the basic plan in Zoom if your company does not already have a corporate one. Zoom is packed with features and is fast with clear audio and video.  Now, these companies are making many features free and lifting the limitations to cope with coronavirus outbreaks.

    Make use of Google Docs and Sheets

    Google docs and Sheets are used to interact & update the status or progress of the assigned task. It is advisable to use Google Docs and Sheets to keep the records and store the data. Google Docs and Sheets let teams collaborate making monitoring tasks easier and evaluating the progress without any confusion. There is one more tool named Zapier which is a web service having many features like voice typing which increases productivity and also makes the work easy.

    Prepare for Distractions

    Needless to say, working at home comes with the high possibility of distractions. Working from home is never as same as working in offices. You must realise that at home we can’t always be as productive as we are in the office with the family being at home.

    Conclusion

    The Covid-19 pandemic has changed our perspective towards many things. Work-from-home is one of them. Work-from-home can be possible and very effective if you make an effort to make yourself productive by creating your own goals and strategies. Following a strict routine and improving your skills every day can make you a better professional.