“In India, everything is an adventure.” ~ Pranav Chandra, founder of The Great Indian Adventure
If you think bankers aren’t adventurous types, let me introduce you to Pranav Chandra.
A New York banker with a passion for world travel (he speaks five languages), amazing food and the blues, Pranav founded The Great Indian Adventure (GIA) in 2008. The company — with a main office in Delhi and representatives in London and New York — creates fun and flexible travel experiences that make exploring all India has to offer much less intimidating.
No one wants to get taken for a ride on their dream vacation. As noted on the GIA website:
“In a country that is so stupendously vast, so breathtakingly beautiful, so astonishingly affordable, so mind-numbingly diverse, so magnificently rich, and so magically chaotic, why can travelling be so darn inconvenient? … In India, it can be awfully challenging for visitors to get the authentic Indian experience, unless you’re on a five-star budget or staying with family or friends. Which is why we want your stay to feel like you’re going to see your friends in India — the journey must be quintessentially Indian — informal, magical, flexible and unpredictable — an Odyssey full of several mini-adventures. We try to offer experiences that diverge from the more conventional and crowded tourist traps.”
GIA is a one-stop shop for Indian adventurers, offering full travel planning services and themed holiday packages centered on everything from spirituality to eco-tourism.
The company’s Indian travel experts can organize all manner of speciality excursions — like butter chicken tours, meditation trips, cooking lessons, visits to Bollywood shoots and polo retreats. Have lunch al fresco overlooking the Taj Mahal. Stay in a treehouse at a tiger preserve or a cottage on a tea plantation. Take a hike in the Himalayas.
All with the peace of mind that comes from knowing the Indian travel experts at GIA have your back.
Reaching adventurers online
While positive word-of-mouth generates a healthy amount of business, Pranav realized early on that he needed a strong online presence to take The Great Indian Adventure to the next level. He launched a full-service website — at www.thegreatindianadventure.com — to reach more customers worldwide.
The strategy paid off.
GIA receives more than 15 business inquiries every month, mostly from overseas in the U.S., Canada, Australia and South Africa. Pranav says most inquiries his team receives via the website translate into business. The company also maintains an active Facebook business page with awe-inspiring images that will tempt you to book your next adventure on the spot.
In addition to his descriptive .com domain name, Pranav turned to GoDaddy for online services including business-class email and search engine optimization — important online marketing tools that continue to help GIA build brand trust and reach new customers. And Pranav knows he can depend on award-winning customer service if ever he needs a hand.
“I’ve called GoDaddy customer service once and had an excellent experience,” he says. “The customer service executive was very helpful, knowledgeable and answered multiple questions I had. She was very patient in her approach.”
And that’s the kind of experience you want to have — whether you’re planning your dream trip to India or setting your business up for success online.
