The anecdote starts with a glimpse into the life of a seasoned entrepreneur, go-getter and persona striving to deliver unmatched travel experience to the people. Ajay Anand – the Founder and CEO of Kaia Tourism. A man of his words who placed his best foot forward and converted every obstacle into an opportunity!
The Voyage to Find One-self
Ajay joined Balmer Lawrie & Co Ltd. as a trainee and entered into the professional world at the age of 18, where he got exposed to distinguished personalities like Dr. Abdul Kalam, Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan etc. After two-and-a-half years of training, he joined PNO as a travel consultant and attained a diversified travel experience working with companies like Bosch, HP etc. Later he joined American Express, where he pulled an opportunity of becoming a Team Leader for managing the end-to-end travel program of Intel, nationally. After becoming a pro at handling both domestic and international airlines ticketing and visa’s for different countries and managing end to end travel, Ajay started exploring hotel bookings, RFP (Rates for proposal), contracting, and client management to its core, Ajay functioned as a National Account Manager handling high-profile clients for FCM – an Australian based company.
This journey sculpted him into a rare breed of people who travel an extra mile to quench customer needs – a star performer honored with client appreciation certificates, global award. While his experience at FCM left him unsatisfied, his efforts dissolved despite doing every deed with hard work and determination. Also, coming from corporate travel background he saw a huge gap and opportunity to support and specialize in accommodation.
Soon, the dream of becoming an entrepreneur started taking shape. Placing the cornerstones of his venture in 2009, Ajay finally established Kaia Tourism in 2010 with a vision to send people on a holiday they have never been before!
Struggle – The Constant Companion
Holding the reins of an organization is not an easy task. Leading Kaia with courage and personal savings from last few years of employment and with a personal loan obtained, Ajay started promoting Karnataka as a tourism destination. His gut feeling, confidence and the learnings which he embraced from the industry icons like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates is what kept him going.
One fine day, he realized that the idea of offering personal travel services is good but would take time to generate revenue. As such, Ajay changed his strategies and started focusing on his strength – corporate travel. Embracing each opportunity with credibility, he built a canvas showcasing:
Prominent Commitments | Competitive Price | Better Services | Ethics | Transparency
An office comprising a chair, desk and a laptop slowly and steadily started achieving new heights. Ajay’s concrete endeavors helped Kaia to add more members to its foundation. He then backed the company to expand its horizons in Bangalore. Overcoming setbacks related to the expansion, finance, sales, operation and people management, Ajay firmly stabilized Kaia Tourism with utmost prominence.
As an entrepreneur, Ajay’s journey was full of struggles. But his experience and business acumen helped him to defy conventions and go beyond the success horizons. This is why, Kaia – a company initially started with the support of a few clients is now knobs global accommodation, conferences, and MICE PAN India.
About Kaia Tourism
“We are Consolidators” says Ajay.
When corporates send their employees in India or anywhere throughout the globe they have to call the hotel directly and check them personally. There is no surety of getting the right price or the dynamics of the booking. This is where Ajay led Kaia Tourism steps in and provides state-of-the-art travel services to the corporate clients.
“We specialize in this segment. We don’t believe in saying we will offer the cheapest and give some lousy place to stay. Just tell the number of people, location, and number of days. We will send you options to select and confirm the booking,” states Ajay.
The company specializes in corporate accommodations across India and globally. It has worked with more than 100 clients managing their hotel bookings, and conferences (MICE) worldwide. Delivering unique services by focusing on the best negotiated rates, Kaia efficaciously ensures quality stay for its clienteles.
Empowering Personnel
Ajay believes in creating and giving employees the necessary opportunities for their self-development. Empowering them with a hassle-free work-environment, he maintains a creative blend of ‘Space and Freedom’ at Kaia.
“The culture we follow, sometimes it works, sometimes it backfires, and people take things for granted. But, giving them an opportunity and enabling them to grow is also a satisfying feeling,” asserts Ajay. For him the scenario that some people, who joined as a trainee are now transformed into a manager and earning quite a good salary is more quenching. This gives him the will to withstand the complexities of the market.
At Kaia, Ajay focuses on building relationships with the employees at an individual level. He assigns them tasks and gives them the necessary space in order to augment and explore their abilities. Also, get-togethers are organized to build a tangible and trustworthy employee-company rapport. Fueling personnel with motivation on each stage, Ajay boosts the company to focus on taking feedbacks from the personnel. Apart from all this, Kaia Tourism also makes swift moves and plays a pivotal role in crafting out incentive programs with an aim to cultivate a healthy competition in the team.
The Enlightening Words
With his dexterity and industry experience, Ajay advices the young minds to always be ready for the struggle. “Have that passion and burning desire of creating an empire of own. Have the spirit to clinch every moment from dusk till dawn and acknowledge the obligations to its best,” says the founder.
“If you don’t have the passion and determination your fuel will get burnt really soon. So it is important to understand that there is no other substitute for hardwork. Focus and keep overcoming challenges and move on,” he added further.
It is significant for a company to consistently keep on reinventing. Flexibility in terms of decision-making processes would help one analyze the right direction. The best part in the first place is to take a deep dive into the business waters, that’s when the individuals can navigate, swim against the tides, and reach the success shore. Also, making some adjustment and moving forward would definitely add more glory to the success.
The Zeal to Succeed
Ajay believes that ‘motivation works itself’. Starting from scratch and facing every hitch with determination, he has a dream to create a niche in its sector by 2020, as the best service provider – the brand should attain a foremost visibility in the national market. This goal kept Ajay going for the past nine years and with the same vision he will strive another one year to achieve it.
As a company specialized in accommodation, Kaia Tourism has spread its wings across twenty-five percent of the market, seventy-five percent of the market is still open – a long way to go!
The travel industry is witnessing evolutionary changes and growing with a full swing. In last ten years, various new hotels have been opened across India and many international brands have come in. In the next 5 years at least 3000 rooms will be added to the existing picture, due to the contribution of renowned players like Hilton, Hayat, and Marriot etc.
“We are in the right time to capitalize this growth. It gives opportunity for us not only to grow in India, but also grow in the international market, it could be the UK/Europe,” states Ajay.
In the near future, he is planning to explore Belgium, Iceland, and Netherland. Passionately empowering Kaia Tourism to be a one-of-its-kind brand, he is taking constant measures to make it run independently.
Ajay Anand: Creating Experience, Spreading Happiness
