Rocket Internet AG, under its holding firm the Asia Pacific Internet Group, has announced the official launch of its hotel-booking platform, Jovago, in Pakistan.
Jovago was initially launched in Africa in 2010, where it quickly grew in scale and acceptability. The model will now be replicated in Pakistan.
Jovago, operational in Pakistan for quite some time now, said that it aims to expand the tourism industry in Pakistan by catering to an existing gap whereby there is no single platform for consumers to browse and compare hotels across the country.
The platform, accessible at www.jovago.com, already has in excess of 600 hotels across more than 60 cities, with several hundred more expected online very soon.
Jovago offers zero booking fees, and customers do not have to confirm their stay with a credit card, having the flexibility to pay at the hotel itself.
The website lists each hotel in painstaking detail, and is replete with bold colors, vivid graphics and vibrant illustrations, giving it a pleasing aesthetic appeal and an innovative and gripping user interface.
Hotel descriptions are accompanied with hi-res images of the property, previous user reviews, nearby attractions and driving directions. After selecting their hotel and dates of stay, each user will get a confirmation phone call and email informing them of their booking. Listings on deck are for the cheapest available room along with the most expensive one, thus catering to individual budgets.
Planned future expansions include a complete synergy of services whereby customers can book flights, hotels, cars and other services all under the Jovago platform.
Commenting on the launch, Nadine Malik CEO Jovago Pakistan said: “The Jovago team is excited to be introducing this innovative platform to Pakistan as we feel there is real potential in the tourism industry and we wish to facilitate travelers, both domestic and international.”
Great step towards shifting everything online. This should have been done by us not foreigners! There is a lot of thing we could do to improve our country. By simply shifting it to online.