Holiday Differently with Sterling

I attended a blogger’s meet with Sterling recently. During the interaction, Sterling revealed their new Holiday Differently with Sterling philosophy and brand identity. The whole talk had me thinking how my own holidays have evolved over the last two to three decades.

Holidays – Then & Now

When I was young, we took a lot of road trips as holidays. I remember we would pour over paper maps for hours to decide the route and the stop overs. Friends and acquaintances would tell us about the road conditions and recommend hotels. Upon reaching the place, a good two to three hours were spent in a recce of hotels and then negotiating a good price for a family room.

Today, everything from your stay to the activities to even where you’d eat can be pre-booked. When I travel, I want to enjoy and explore the place and not have to think about logistics. I’d rather experience the culture and food, than the negotiating skills of the front office staff at multiple hotels. Thankfully,  hotels gave way holiday resorts several years back. Resorts understood that people on a holiday are looking for a peaceful relaxing time. With the dawn of the millennial age, mere peace and relaxation are not enough. The meaning of holiday has changed. People are moving away from the touristy and toward the experiential.

What is Holiday Differently with Sterling?

Change for the sake of change is not progress. Sterling has based their change on the changing needs of their market. They understand that rather than take a long annual holiday, people prefer taking multiple smaller breaks throughout the year. While holidays with family are precious, holidays for reunions or even with travel groups you met over social media are pretty popular.  Every individual is looking for something they enjoy and may not be something the rest of their travel companions do. They expect the resorts to provide the right environment for these kind of holidays and facilitate the discovery of unknown. After all, each holiday needs to be Instagram worthy, or we don’t get value for the buck. Right?

Resorts are responding to this need by reinventing themselves and the experiences they offer. Sterling realised this about five years ago and since then has spent almost 250 crores on rebuilding their existing properties and building new ones, especially in off-beat destinations.

Where can we Holiday Differently with Sterling?

Sterling has 33 resorts across the country where they cover the popular as well as off beat locations. For both, they are creating Sterling Discoveries, which are unique experiences curated for explorers. The idea is to take the travellers into the heart of the place, let them see and feel the uniqueness – be it food, culture, local life. I was especially intrigued by the Ooty Heritage Trail and the Dindi Food and Culture Trail. Ooty Heritage Trail lets you peek into the lives of the lesser known Toda tribe who were the original inhabitants of the hills. Dindi is a small village on the banks of Godavari river that is rich in culinary options as well as the women weavers who work on rickety wooden handlooms to create beautiful sarees.

Holiday Differently with Sterling – A new identity

With the new and refurbished properties, their new holiday philosophy and a new decentralised business model, Sterling has transformed. It is the time then, to create a new brand identity! Their new logo is inspired by the pinwheel and speaks of childhood, fun, wandering. Click on the image below to see the Sterling Website

Am leaving you with a few glimpses of the event…

A big thank you to Indiblogger for organising this event and all the wonderful bloggers I met. It was great catching up.