To be or not to be! (At ITB Asia)

Trade shows are always fun, especially if you are exhibiting and not just visiting! ITB Asia 2018 has been no different. There is, of course, the thrill of meeting prospective customers in person but there’s also the challenge of doing things better than the last time! Increasing footfall at the booth, getting more registrations, setting up more appointments, reaching out to a wider audience through digital media, and all that jazz. After weeks of work, Hotelogix finally made it to the ITB Asia 2018 event which took place in Singapore last week. Let’s run you through a few highlights of this amazing trade show, at which we’ve become a regular now.

Take a guess as to what the attendees’ most favourite topic of discussion was, at our booth… Yup! Cloud application! To be a little more specific, what does cloud do differently from an on-premise system or what additional benefits can one derive from a cloud-based PMS. This was a great validation for us because we know the revolution is gaining pace and is spreading like wildfire. For those of you curious on what value the cloud really brings to a hotel management system, check out this blog. In here, we’ve discussed the power of Hotelogix as an enterprise-grade cloud PMS. It perfectly summarizes everything we discussed with the attendees, at the event

Another facet of attending trade shows is being recognized at the show and in many ways, ITB Asia never fails to deliver on this front. We had people walk into our booth just because the name Hotelogix is a name that is synonymous with cloud-based property management systems. What’s better is existing customers, dropping by to cheer for you and leave a few words of encouragement. That was truly satisfying, to say the least.

Another source of joy at a trade show is watching companies from the hospitality industry approach us for a opportunity to contribute to the ecosystem. Third party integrations are a major upside of our cloud system and having companies approach us for a possible partnership is always encouraging. You know you are in the right space, at the right time when your customers, your peers and the ecosystem are excited to be associated with you! This validation is what keeps us going back to trade shows, year after year.

We’ll let the pictures do the talking, but before that it is important to establish that success in such events is the result of team work, and nothing else. Especially in such a high-stress environment, where you need to think on your toes and stay on top of things all the time during those couple of days, you build a connection with team mates that goes beyond the company, or the job. You develop a sense of trust and respect for one another, when thrown out of the comfort of your office! And in that sense, attending trade shows has also helped us develop deeper interpersonal connections across teams and departments.

Our favourite booth at this year’s event had to be the Kazakhstan Tourism Board’s. It was a simple set up with two Kazakhstani giants, dressed in traditional attire, towering over the crowd. There is no way you could cross their booth without looking twice.

Here’s an image of our CEO Aditya Sanghi standing next to these giants.

To sum it all up, being part of ITB Asia 2018 was a stellar experience for Hotelogix, just like it has been for the past 4 years. We look forward to the next ITB Asia already, because by now we have realised that every year is different from the previous and it only keeps getting better! Here are a few highlights from our visit this year.