Hotels.ng: Difference between revisions
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== Staff == |
== Staff == |
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Hotels.ng employs 49 locally-working staff in its Yaba office and outsources and crowdsources its data collection to freelance workers. |
Hotels.ng employs 49 locally-working staff in its [[Yabacon_Valley|Yaba office]] and outsources and crowdsources its data collection to freelance workers. |
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=== Sections === |
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Hotels.ng has five main sections, responsible for various aspects of the company's continuity: |
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# Bookings department, |
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# Marketing department |
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# Development team |
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# Sales department |
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# Operations |
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== Expansion Projections == |
== Expansion Projections == |
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Revision as of 14:25, 17 June 2015
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Hotels.ng is a Nigerian online hotels booking agency which was launched in 2013. The platform was founded by Mark Essien[1] and claims to list over 7,000 hotels from 21 regions in Nigeria.[2]
 | |
| Founder | Mark Essien |
|---|---|
| Type | Online travel/hotels booking agency |
| Headquarters | Lagos, Nigeria |
| Website | Hotels.ng |
History
In 2012, while Mark Essien was studying for his MSc. in Computer Science at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, he developed an interest in the Nigerian technology space. His analysis showed that for an emerging market like Nigeria, a travel/tourism startup would work the quickest. Studying South American and Asian models of already-established hotels booking agencies[3], Mark tentatively created a hotels listing platform (which was what Hotels.ng was, initially.) He purchased a domain name and a list of hotels and put them up on the website.
This domain recorded enough traffic numbers to convince Mark to return to Nigeria from Germany. In Calabar, he continued to list more hotels. He partnered with a friend and they started taking photographs of hotels and signing agreements with as many hotels in Calabar as they could find.[4]
As soon as they had enough hotels listed, bookings were enabled on Hotels.ng. Mark says that users began making reservations from the first day bookings were enabled.[5]
Seed Fund
Shortly after the launch of Hotels.ng, Mark published a few press articles that caught the attention of Iroko TV's founder, Jason Njoku. At the time, he (Jason) was beginning a startup fund (Spark.ng) and looking for good internet businesses to invest in[6].
After negotiations, Spark.ng made a first investment of $75,000 in Hotels.ng which prompted Mark to move to Lagos to setup the platform there. A few months after the initial investment, the Spark fund made another investment of $150,000.[7] This fund enabled Hotels.ng to continue to grow its customer base and expand its hotel listings.
Startup Fund
On May 26 2015, Hotels.ng received a $1.2 million startup funding[8] from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's Omidyar Network and from EchoVC Pan-African fund[9]. This funding is expected to be used to expand hotels.ng across Africa, starting with Ghana.
The funding follows from the announcement of a profitable 2014 in Hotels.ng, where the platform was said to have ostensibly made $40,000 in monthly revenue in the last half of the year.[10]
Staff
Hotels.ng employs 49 locally-working staff in its Yaba office and outsources and crowdsources its data collection to freelance workers.
Expansion Projections
Hotels.ng has announced plans to cover 90% of the Nigerian market and 50% of the African market within three years.
External Links
References
- ^ Essien, Mark. "Mark Essien | Founder at Hotels.ng". LinkedIn.com. LinkedIn. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- ^ Nsehe, Mfonobong. "Nigeria's Hotels.ng Raises $1.2 Million". Forbes.com. Forbes. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- ^ Naija, Bella. "BN Making It!: Meet Innovative Geeky Entrepreneur, Mark Essien – The Brain Behind Hotels.ng". BellaNaija.com. Bella Naija. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- ^ Live, ThisDay (June 26, 2014). "Mark Essien: I Was the Night Watchman Taking Care of a Paralysed Guy in Germany". ThisDay Newspaper. ThisDay. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- ^ Crunch, Tech. "Nigeria's Hotels.ng Grabs $1.2M To Expand Listings Across Africa". TechCrunch.com. TechCrunch. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- ^ Nigeria, Scoop. "SPARK launch gains global recognition". Scoop.ng. IDENTICAL. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- ^ Jackson, Tom. "Hotels.ng hits 6,000 listings milestone". Disrupt-Africa.com. Disrupt Africa. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- ^ Editor, Omidyar. "Omidyar Network Bets on Nigeria's Growing Travel and Tourism Sector with Investment in Hotels.ng". Omidyar.com. Omidyar Network. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
{{cite web}}:|last1=has generic name (help) - ^ Editors, Tekedia. "EchoVC Made Their First Public Bet In Nigeria – Coinvested In Hotels.ng". Tekedia.com. Tekedia. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
{{cite web}}:|last1=has generic name (help) - ^ Oluwafemi, Bankole. "Hurrah For Traction - The Mark Essien Edition". TechCabal.com. TechCabal. Retrieved 17 June 2015.