Many years back I happened to visit the office of a travel agency. One of the posters caught my attention. It was a long shot composed of lush green mountains with a water-filled deep & narrow valley. A ship in the long spanse of still waters that looked tiny from the distance. The picture stayed […]
Tag: 2014
Uber gets to learn from the market
Question: When did booking a taxi become an exciting affair? Answer: When Uber was launched I and my family & friends are enjoying the plethora of discounts & free rides that Uber has been offering. The technology is disruptive i.e it can break existing economics of the transportation business. Much as been said and written […]
My tryst with Accor hotels
My tryst with Accor hotels began in the early 2009 in Paris with stays in Novotel & then switched to the preferred Suite Novotel. While Novotel is good for short stays of less than a week, Suite Novotel is cosy for long stays. Also, a couple of times in Ibis when I wanted to stay […]
Vacation surprise for the family to The Leela in Kovalam, Kerala
I wanted to surprise my better half with an awesome travel experience. It had to be short, luxurious & relaxing. In summers, coastal India is considered off-season. Hence anĀ ideal time to experience those aspirational resorts at reasonable rates. These go at some insane prices at other times of the year. The Leela, Kovalam turned out […]
Avoiding early-mover’s curse in hotel bookings – How to catch the last-minute deals
Book early, save more. 90/60/30 day advance booking rates. Most of us are familiar with such offers to sweeten our hotel and resort bookings. Strange are the ways of dynamic pricing + occupancy rate targets + unknown factors, one could be a victim of early-mover’s curse i.e a well-planned booking made in advance turns expensive […]
Getting to & back the Bangalore airport
The Bangalore airport (officially called Kempegowda International Airport, named after the founder of Bangalore) opened in 2005 and located about 40kms from the city centre. It is the only commercial airport of Bangalore. The old city airport is only used for testing & defense purposes (probably also for private planes. When I own one, I […]
How to earn air miles, bitcoins and cash back for booking hotels, not only staying
It is a funny world out there. Besides earning loyalty program points for staying in hotels, it is also possible to earn airline miles, bitcoins or a cash back for just booking a hotel. Here’s how… Earn airline miles for booking a hotel: PointsHound & RocketMiles Both are like any other hotel booking services, just […]
From a low in August 2013 to lifetime high in March 2014: What changed in 6 months?
On 28th August 2013, the Sensex closed below 18000 and the Nifty at 5285. Headlines in popular media went something like this: – Sensex recovers after morning crash, ends 28 points higher, The Hindu – Sensex drops over 500 points, Nifty slips below 5,150, The Economic Times As always, when markets are down, most of […]
Days in Spain/Catalonia: Happy bartenders of Barcelona
One of the positives of solo travel- one has no choice but to watch others! Especially in vibrant cities like the one am in now, Barcelona. It is a insightful and fun experience. Last evening at La Pizza Del Born (If one thinks the best pizzas are always thin crust, this place will change that […]
Days in France: Random train of thoughts
————————————————————- This was written on July 2013!!! ————————————————————- The world was seen in just 2 – India and Foreign! It does seem lame and dumb but this was the belief as a young boy. That was an era of postal letters, telegram, (that died recently in India) and newspapers. No internet, no mobiles, one channel […]