Deepak Narula has been in the travel industry for over 37 years. He is also the founder of the B2B hotel booking portal GRNconnect.com based in New Delhi, India, with offices in Dubai and the United States. GRN is an aggregator that buys supplies from large corporations and small DMCs. In addition, it has direct contracts with more than 10,000 hotels.
Deepak confirms that working with TravelgateX is a way to instantly connect with different suppliers and customers around the world. In this interview he also previews the outlook for the coming year and the growth he expects for his company.
- Tell us a bit about you, what you do and your company.
- My name is Deepak Narula, and I am the founder of an online B2B hotel booking portal, www.GRNconnect.com. I have been in trave trade for over 37 years now. The company GRN is based out of New Delhi (India) with offices in Dubai and the US. We have 12 GSAs worldwide, and we sell in over 65 countries. We are an aggregator, buying supply from large players as well as small DMCs. Furthermore, we have direct contracts with over 10,000 hotels and counting.
- What are some of the biggest challenges for your sector right now?
- There are no challenges as I see a lot of opportunities in this business, the whole world is the market, and we can distribute our product globally. Having said that, one cannot overlook the changing phase of geopolitics around the globe and the uncertainty attached to it, but I feel the opportunities are still far greater than the challenges.
- What do you think are some of the biggest opportunities for the travel industry in 2022?
- The world is moving, and everyone wants to travel more than ever before, this is a golden period for the travel business, and we can grow as much as we can.
- What is a crazy or out-of-the-box product or technology that you would personally like to ?
- To be able to create a single window for all travel related global products in a single platform.
- What is your favorite thing about working in hospitality/Travel/Tourism?
- To be able to equip our travel partners with a global product, so they can service their clients with utmost ease.
- What does TravelgateX add value to your business?
- TGX is an excellent platform to instantly connect with different suppliers and customers from across the globe instantly. We have been able to connect with many partners in a short period of time, which otherwise would not have been possible with our own resources.
- What suggestions/challenges would you give to the TeamX?
- TGX should add more travel related products too.
- Can you talk more about solutions you think will be most impactful in the next 12 to 18 months as travel begins to recover?
- Ease of making global reservations with fewer clicks, different travel related products in a single window will be more impactful in the near times to come.
- What are the plans for 2023? Looking ahead to the next year, what are your top two or three priorities?
- At GRN we would like to equip our global travel partners with more technology and more travel related products is on the top of our mind.
- What advice do you have for young people just entering the travel technology space
- Though this is not my quote but still my recommendation is stayed hungry, stay, foolish.