As individuals most of us love to travel to visit new places, and get acquaint with the culture and people of that place. The famous American Essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson beautifully defines the spirit of a traveller as Life is a journey, not a destination. Living up to this saying is a seasoned sailor-cum-travel enthusiast, Mr Kiran Vinchhi, COO, Corporate, Marine and MICE, TripJack, who loves to travel, and inspire to do lots of road trips within India.

Having over 40 years of work experience, including 12 years in shipping and 28 years in travel catering to marine industry. His insights and in-depth knowledge is a great asset to any team. Focused on a performance driven and open culture, he leads by empowering and enabling the team to work towards a collective goal.

Serving the biggest and most demanding corporates, he is always focused on delivery and experience. By creating the right systems and processes, he enables the team to deliver, grow and exceed expectations as well.

In a riveting conversation with Miss Delphine Estibeiro from Marex Media, Kiran talks about his passion for travel and the latest the travel industry has to offer the marine industry.

What inspired you to join this profession?

I joined shipping as a Radio Officer, and in the early 90’s this designation was redundant. However, the travel to some of the least travelled places in my sailing days, helped me to see a bigger picture and widen my horizons. Entry into travel industry happened by chance when I was working with a shipping company in Hong Kong. The opportunity came at the right time and that enabled me to change my profession from a seafarer to providing travel services to shipping companies. Since then, I didn’t want to look anywhere else.

Why shipping companies and corporates should use TripJack?

Tripjack is a technology driven company that is evolving all the time. Built on strong supply network and technology, we cater to the B2B travel landscape across all major categories of flights, hotels, holidays, rail, cruise, visa, marine, M.I.C.E., and corporate. The travel industry is evolving around technology at a much faster pace than it was in the 90’s and early 2000s. Our offerings and technology makes us very attractive for shipping companies and corporates. Additionally, TripJack has instilled strong management values such as transparency and honesty in the travel business, with its experienced team in marine and corporate along with in-house 24×7 support team that provide seamless services to our clients.

Could you please elaborate on the potential aspects of TripJack’s MICE service to its clientele?

Tripjack has recently added a new vertical called MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events) with highly experienced team. MICE is already making ways into some of the large corporates. Even shipping companies can utilize this expertise for their annual events and off site conferences.

The pandemic brought in lot of restrictions, how did you adapt to changes in global travel policies? How did you help your clients understand their options?

The pandemic has taught the entire industry lots of new lessons, which is the only positive side of the pandemic. Except few months where everything was at standstill and we were working from home. As the skies opened again for Domestic flights, Tripjack was in full action again. We are also proud to say that we are the only company who did not layoff any staff during this period, and in fact, we were recruiting during the pandemic. The technology helped us a lot during pandemic.

Price, Product or communication, what do you consider most important?

All three are very important in service industry today. Everyone wants the best at the most reasonable price and need complete information, and hence communication too is very important. When you get the right combination of all three, you get a satisfied customer.

Your message to your competitors and clients

Competition is part and parcel of the business, and they are as important in the business environment otherwise there is no comparison.

The message is very clear to the clients that Transparency is the way forward which needs to be on both sides, and not one sided.

Marex Media