By Vanessa Obioha
Established amid the COVID-19 pandemic, online booking and payment platform HotelMoney has simplified things for hotel businesses. It was in 2002 when its founder, Nweke Okechukwu, had the opportunity to fill the gap in online invoices and bookings in the sector.
“When I entered the hotel area around 2002, banks in Nigeria were looking to collect their payment deeds online. My boss, at the time, told me to make sure I rebuilt the hotel’s online page so that other people could easily make invoices. That’s when I spotted a massive gap in the checkout area and the online booking area. That’s when I started my business to fill that void,” he said.
In 2020, he and his partner controlled the relationship with Google and created HotelMoney for couples’ hotels to get reservations without problems.
For Okechukwu, online booking is easier and much more convenient for the end user.
“Imagine you want to stay in a hotel in a country you’ve never visited before. If you want to make physical reservations, you may want to locate someone in that country, beg them, or pay them to go to the hotel and ebook. , and then ask yourself how to pay. But on the Internet you have the room, you see the photos, ebook and you pay. If there are any adjustments or problems, the hotel will give you feedback even before you leave your home country. That’s what HotelMoney is all about.
He added that “online is the simplest way to succeed in a wide audience. This is the most productive way to grow a business on a global scale. There is an explosive opportunity when starting an online business. “
Okechukwu believes there is hope of expanding penetration into his business. But this, he said, will be through an improvement in Nigeria’s judicial system.
“One very smart thing that has happened in this country is the BVN formula. You can no longer take money away from anyone and run away easily. If someone gives you back the money and doesn’t give it to you, there are so many ways, formulas, and processes to succeed in them unless you leave that country with another passport. But as the formula of justice continues and the ease of doing business in Nigeria continues to increase, online business will continue to grow.
Okechukwu’s vision is to take HotelMoney on a global scale. So far, it has hotel partners in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Mauritius and Seychelles, to name a few.
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