Hari Nair
I have been fascinated with the world of travel, tourism & hospitality for a very long time. My first career as a Management Consultant and Project Finance professional allowed me to travel quite a bit around India and around the world. It whetted my appetite for more. I am now in my second career (remember Alvin Toffler’s prediction about multiple jobs giving way to multiple careers..). Having set up HolidayIQ, India’s first travel & holiday community, I am now steeped in the tourism world – and enjoying every minute of it.
In this blog are observations from my travels. Plus stuff around tourism & hospitality within India as well as across the world. I also use this is as my bully-pulpit for other irrelevant ruminations on “life” with an occasional digression into my other favourite area – future studies.
http://www.c-span.org/guide/congress/glossary/bullypul.htm
Click here to find posts on various countries & places
Click here to find an early post on why I call this blog “The Long Hol”
Here is a really short video of me playing Spiderman, just after my eye laser surgery (zyoptix) - setting is a little hotel in Coimbatore, circa early 2006.
If you want to send me a message, my email id is : ceo@holidayiq.com
Finally, here is a link to prove that I too have a “past” :
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2002/03/27/stories/2002032700420500.htm
26 responses so far ↓
John Pasmore // March 1, 2007 at 12:09 am |
I was just curious if you’ve had any experience with Voyages TV…
harinair // March 1, 2007 at 12:08 pm |
Nope. I just heard that they are setting up ops in India, based in Mumbai.
sweta // March 16, 2007 at 11:49 am |
Hey Hari,
Could you please give me your email id. I’d really like to talk to you, asap. I’m a FILM&TV student from SIMC Pune.
Apurva Pradhan // March 25, 2007 at 8:10 pm |
Hari:
You may want to add Xplorz.com under your “Online Travel” section and MeraTrip.com under “Other Travel Tools”.
Cheers
Apurva
Dhruv Bavishi // April 5, 2007 at 6:49 am |
Check out latest KSRTC, APSRTC, MSRTC, RSRTC bus routes information.
http://www.indiatransit.com
DANDAPANI Y. // June 21, 2007 at 8:47 pm |
My family was , recently in Egypt and Cyprus.. I was fascinated by the mediterranean Island of Cyprus. Lots of english speaking tourists flock there. In almost all the cities there are excellent Indian restaurants too.
The place is very expensive but who seems to bother now. Holiday IQ should be the first to sneak into Cyprus and call the Indians , starting with the Bolliwood film shooters.
harinair // June 22, 2007 at 10:26 am |
Dear Mr Dandapani – very nice to see your comment on this blog. Yes, HolidayIQ will launch our international offering very shortly. Incidentally, Cyprus has always fascinated me – wanted to to go there when I was in the middle east many years ago, but couldnt. Your idea of HolidayIQ becoming the first into Cyprus is very appealing.
Anuj Mittal // August 26, 2007 at 8:48 pm |
Hi Hari-I am quiet fascinated by the business you have set up. I am passionate about travel and have some terrific ideas…keep ruminating about setting up my own travel business. In my travel research I had chanced upon your website and discovered that you are already doing a bit of my ideas and a lot lot more. Would love to work with you. I am currently a Brand manager with a leading FMCG MNC and am from IIT Delhi and IIM Lucknow(2003) batch. Do let me know if there are any exciting opportunities.
Thanks.
harinair // August 28, 2007 at 8:29 am |
Hey Anuj – good to hear from you. In a young company like ours there is something exciting always to be done. It is only limited by our imagination. Let us take this offline; I will write to you.
Sunil George // November 26, 2007 at 11:21 pm |
Hello Hari,
Since most of the portals and travel agents offer similar travel experience, maybe you should come out with “theme” based travel packages which involves groups… something like the amazing race. This will create quite a hype because its different and nobody have tried that atleast in India. you could start of by catering to a niche segment. Many themes can be worked out.. just a matter of sitting down and brainstorming…you could also try something like “chasing time”(you must have seen this in nat geo)
Cheers
harinair // November 27, 2007 at 9:43 am |
Dear Sunil – Thanks for that comment and the interesting idea. Just a quick clarification. HolidayIQ is not a travel agent and does not offer any packages or sell any holidays. HolidayIQ is India’s first travel community & an information resource. Our ambition is to become the most independent & credible advisor to Indians going on holiday. In that sense we would like HolidayIQ to be seen as the Indian ‘Lonely Planet’. Here is a link to a recent article on HolidayIQ in The Hindu newspaper which has captured some of this well.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/25/stories/2007112560961300.htm
Having said all this, your idea is definitely interesting – to bring out the excitement of travel, which is something we would want to disseminate.
Look forward to more comments & ideas from you.
Ashwini // December 12, 2007 at 11:05 am |
Hi Hari,
I’m writing from 080 magazine. We’ve featured your blog in our previous issue, and I wanted to ask you a few questions for an upcoming travel story. Is there a number or email address I could contact you at? I couldn’t find one on your blog.
Thanks,
Ashwini
harinair // December 12, 2007 at 3:16 pm |
Error rectified – added an email id. Thanks for pointing that out Ashwini.
Avira // April 24, 2008 at 10:28 am |
Hari,
I am now a confirmed long haller.
I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s at the other end of the state – and am astounded to hear someone else who likes mackerel fry, had a crush on a Muslim girl and knows what SPAN did and read Steinbeck listening to Paul Simon feeling low and getting laid.
God bless you brother ! that’s coming from a confirmed convert to atheism-it runs deep in the soil.
I have now lived in the Steinbeck State for 30 years on the border with Mexico- We enjoy their fantastic molles – (we have a version of Molle called Fish Molli(y) in Kerala) Common Mexican Molles are Molle Verde- tart with Tomatillo, Molle Negro – with unsweetened Dark chocolate, or Molle Poblano with Poblano chillies.
So, in your musings, consider the complex cuisine of Mexico among the greats- after all the country gave the world such fantastic gifts as Chocolate, Vanilla, Tomato and most of all chillies!
Viva Mexico Tambien !
If you get down to San Diego- you have a standing invitation to sample Tijuana
Do you remember Herb Alpert?
cheers,
Avira
Nisha Pillai // June 5, 2008 at 9:16 pm |
Hari,
Nice to find this blog – thanks for stopping by mine, and commenting. As a traveller and wannabe travel blogger, I’m looking forward to exploring this blog. (Spectacular photos of St. Mary’s Island, Malpe — I’m hooked!)
- Nisha.
ug // July 9, 2008 at 1:28 pm |
was wondering if you could possibly start a column/section on safe travel for women, especially for girls only groups or single women. not to major cities (may be a hint or two if necessary) but to places away from the hubs. of course, no place on earth can be guaranteed 100% safe for anybody; still it would be nice to know say –can a group of two or a single woman can travel to a place like Lenayadri (Maharastra).
harinair // July 9, 2008 at 3:37 pm |
Hi ug – interesting idea. HolidayIQ did something around that a few months ago – of an all-women group that went to South Africa. Here is the link.
http://www.holidayiq.com/vacationer-southafrica.php
If you want to contribute anything on these lines (or anything related), do let me know. HolidayIQ would welcome it.
Welcome to my blog.
pakru // December 11, 2008 at 10:51 pm |
in ur blog it there is a temple at the sea side , can u plz tell me where it is at calicut ???. i am from calicut
regards
prajeesh
lakshmi // December 30, 2008 at 12:39 pm |
hi
your blog and your profile sound interesting….reading bout your stint with consultancy in hospitality industry …thought may be i should try my luck with some of my queries
I have an upcoming 3 star hotel property (n construction) coming up in a tier 3 city kerala. As part of this i was thinking would it be a good idea to do a market research on the potential of this idea….
nfact i realise that m confused whether i should position my property more as a business hotel..or a leisure luxury..
would love to get some guidance in this context
harinair // January 1, 2009 at 3:38 pm |
Hi Lakshmi – welcome to my blog. Of course, you must do some amount of market research. After all, you are going to invest a fair bit of money and knowing what consumers want is a good starting point for figuring out the right way to make the investment.
A no-cost way of doing MR is to spend a fair bit of time reading user reviews on HolidayIQ.com, which is what I would suggest you start with. That should give you a sense of what people look for and dont like. Once past that, you should probably get some kind of market research done – although I would always recommend targeted stuff that need not bust your budget.
Do let me know how I could help, if at all. Be glad to chip in.
Kalyan Banerjee // January 26, 2009 at 9:22 am |
A great blog Hari. The best part about your blog is, it isnt what to do how to go kind of travel blog. Rather it is a take on the entire travel industry. I love it, except that I would love to see it updated more frequently.
And yes, I’ve linked to your blog at mine.
harinair // January 26, 2009 at 10:25 am |
Hi Kalyan – welcome to the Long Hol and thanks for those kind words. Yup, I too would love to update this more often, but…
Arvind // August 6, 2009 at 11:57 pm |
Good stuff. I liked your writing. You are obviously a well-traveled person. Best of luck for your company!
harinair // August 7, 2009 at 9:04 am |
Hi Arvind – welcome to the Long Hol.
Aditi Mukherjee // November 15, 2009 at 1:54 pm |
Hi,
I was reading the about us page on holidayiq.com and thought I should read your blog as well!
Congrats, the holidayiq website is great. It is sensible, simple to use, and the user reviews ring true.
But the best thing I think you did was to give up your career with KPMG and move to the travel sector which is apparently your passion! I did something similar a couple of years back and am now having a whale of a time – I am working far harder but enjoying every moment of it!
My husband is already a member with holidayiq.com, so I haven’t become a member. But I am going to be soon, for my new calling requires a lot of travelling.
All the very best,
Aditi Mukherjee
http://handloom.wordpress.com/
harinair // November 15, 2009 at 5:58 pm |
Hi Aditi – great to meet another user of HolidayIQ. Love your feedback – “sensible, simple to use, and the user reviews ring true” – exactly what the team there tries to achieve. Do let us know if & when we stray. hari