“As high as mountains climb, as deep as oceans dive.”
This is exactly what Thomas Cook MICE envisaged, planned and executed for 700 Asian Paints travellers in April 2023.
We caught up with Rajeev Kale- President & Country Head – MICE, Leisure Travel, Visa & Passport, to tell us more about this mammoth project, which turned out to be such a great success.
This is what we discovered.
Rajeev said, “If we briefly review the past few years, in 2020-2021 we were basically in the ‘recovery’ phase from the pandemic, mainly concentrating on putting our systems back into place. The tourism business was among the worst impacted, so we did all we could to remain relevant. We stayed connected with our clients and partners. We ensured that we were still there for them with small gestures. A simple example was the “Gourmet Genie” initiative, where through couriers we delivered meal hampers to clients at their meetings, when they were digitally working. It gave them a good feeling and showed we cared.”
On the cusp of 2022, when the world started opening up gradually, MICE did some business in Dubai and certain parts of Europe.
“But what I really want to talk about,” said Rajeev, “is the historic event in April 2023, when we undertook and delivered an ambitious trip for 700 clients— the Asian Paints Super Premium Group!”
It all started in September 2022, in Milan, when MICE was handling a small Asian Paints AED (Architects,Engineers,Designers) Group. It was a successful trip, and on the last morning, the Asian Paints MD asked what TCIL MICE would provide for 2023.
When we said, how about a 9-day trip to Switzerland and the Maldives, he was sceptical and not impressed. He felt Switzerland had been done since 2004, and had become too common a destination. His comment was, “I don’t think it will fly.”
Rajeev asked for a chance to explain why it would be very different. A trip with 4 days high up in the mountains, and 4 days down in the deep blue sea! It would be, indeed, very different.
As the details unfolded, scepticism turned into interest, but the MD felt it sounded “good, but logistically impossible”.
A few more details, and he was convinced.
It was a humongous project… 700 passengers, divided into 2 groups of 350 each, doing the same thing one day apart. From September 2022, we had to make the sales pitch into a reality. Everything had to be executed to perfection. It did sound impossible. But it happened and it worked!
The days in Switzerland provided a unique experience. Five modes of transport in a single day… a special “chocolate” train, where the passengers indulged in Swiss Chocolates and serenaded with Bollywood music from “DDLJ”! Next was a bus ride, followed by a trip to the glacier in a helicopter. Up in the mountains there was another treat…. Snowmobiles and husky rides, and a glacier party with an ice bar! Then again, a cable car ride down. Finally, a lovely round-off to the day was a cruise on Lake Lucerne. The day began at 6.15 a.m. and ended at 1.30 a.m.!
The 4 days in Switzerland were filled with different experiences, which included para gliding, and drifting in German super cars for that adrenaline rush. The cars sped at 100-150 kpm and spun at 360 degrees!
There was a flash mob of Indian dancers at Sanen railway station, gourmet food, high tea…. Surprises at every corner!
Then on Day 4, everyone took a plunge… literally!
From Zurich to Male, from the snow, to sun ‘n’ sand.
“It was like a big, fat wedding,” said Rajeev. “An out-of-this-world experience in the Maldives.”
Luxurious accommodation in water-bungalows at the Siam World Resort. Air taxi rides, high tea in the swimming pool. Special food including an authentic Sadhia lunch… a sit-down meal for 350 people at a time, curated and catered by Foodlink.
The planning and execution was a Herculean task, and Rajeev acknowledges the extreme hard work carried out by the entire MICE team. Meera Charnalia, who was in charge at the top, Sandeep Nandola, who was the Product Head, Manish Kabre, Tour Manager, who was the on-ground Executive Head, along with a 50+ team managed and took care of every little detail to make it all happen.
The planning in September 2022, culminated in April 2023, and was a resounding success and big business. No one in the industry had done the Europe-to-Asia, cold-to-hot combination before.
Kudos to Thomas Cook MICE for undertaking such an ambitious assignment and executing it so perfectly.