Our endeavour is to destress airport experiences to travellers using digital technology: Harshvardhan Singh – ET TravelWorld

Launched initially in 2018 as a B2B platform, Hoi has evolved into a comprehensive airport concierge and was relaunched in 2023 with enhanced features. Since its relaunch, the platform has offered a range of smart solutions designed to ensure seamless and stress-free journeys for travellers. Currently operational across major GMR-led airports Delhi, Goa and Hyderabad, the platform transforms traditional airport processes into efficient digital experiences.

“Our central philosophy is to destress airport experiences for travellers and make it simple and experiential by leveraging advanced digital technologies. Unlike B2B business, consumer-facing technology takes a lot of time to perfect. At every level we have to take user feedback,” said Singh.

Although Hoi was conceptualised as a travel experience company, during Covid19, they remained a platform business for airport service providers at their anchor airports of GMR enabling contactless airport operations through an omnichannel presence spanning mobile app, website, and airport kiosks/tablets.

It was post-COVID that Hoi started focusing on developing a direct-to-customer app. An initial version was developed with an external vendor for limited partner feedback and later on developed an internal tech team to develop the applications internally.

“At the platform level we still have a million customers. Our effort is to use our B2B presence to further ramp up our B2C services,” Singh said, when asked about how both businesses complement each other.

The Hoi application features flight tracking, food ordering, meet and greet services, etc. “On top of it, there is an AI Chatbot which helps travellers with so much information about the airport like wheel chair assistance, medical assistance, etc. “The app will work across all airports, but it will be granular when it comes to anchor airports in the GMR network,” said Singh.

Singh said that they are in the process of incorporating and adding more and more features to the digital app. A couple of new features which are in the pipeline soon are duty free services and lounge access.

Passengers will be able to place orders of duty free products in advance and collect it on arrival or departure to save time. This service is already available for food orders, Singh said. When it comes to Lounge access, he said that the app will enable people to identify which membership cards will provide access to a particular lounge. This, Singh said, will avoid customers queueing up at lounge gates.

Another important feature they are currently working on is a feature and tool which makes airport navigation easy after entering the airport. “In many international airports this facility is available. This will help travellers move easily and locate their favourite outlets quickly,” he said. He said that there is a lot of anxiety issues that travellers face in modern airports, and their endeavour is to help reduce it with the help of digital technology.

As far as expansion is concerned, he said that they are currently in talks with other airport operators in the country to expand their services to more airports. In terms of services also, he said that the vision is to become an end-to-end service provider for any travel related services.