Post Covid, we’re launching new features on our travel platform Headout, says CEO Varun Khona

Travel & Food

He was featured in the Forbes India 30 Under 30 for co-founding Headout, a digital platform that sought to give travellers unique, curated and high quality experiences. Today, Varun Khona and his team are busy working on adding new features and services to their platform as travel has changed post Covid. “We are now present in about 30 countries,” says Varun who got together with Vikramjit Singh and Suren Sultania in 2013 to set up their travel startup.

“It all started when I went to Paris a few years back to visit my friend. I thought he would know all the places and show me around since he lived but eventually realised that he didn’t and I had to do my own Googling and research to see what I wanted,” he explains adding that’s when he and his friend hit upon the idea for the travel start-up and in a few weeks had quit their jobs to get this going.

In this conversation with Varun, he explains what changes they are doing at Headout to still give people great experiences including making possible contactless ones due to the coronavirus pandemic. While it requires much more work and extensive collaboration between vendors and the platform, Varun is clear that safety of their customers comes first.

Varun asserts that people will start travelling like before in due course of time and perhaps even more so but with new processes in place. Group tours are likely to dwindle while more solo travellers and groups of friends take to travelling like never before. More processes are likely to move online so that travellers reduce as much physical contact as possible – this means that travel experience providers need to rework their strategies and introduce new features to ensure that they stay in game and are still relevant.

Given that travel has changed with time, with people now seeking more adventure and local experiences rather than just tourist spots to head out, Headout has been trying to up the ante as far as these go.

Watch the video to find out what features Headout is launching soon and what the future of travel is likely to be.