GUEST POST : FATIMA NAQVI - HEAD OF PR -JOVAGO
Pakistan is a developing country, and there is a lot of room for growth. To encourage
young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses, I will share my own personal
anecdote of working at Jovago.com, a startup formed in May 2014 to improve the
tourism industry of Pakistan.
When Jovago.com was formed, the concept of booking hotels online (in Pakistan) was
not common. The average Pakistani has access to the internet, but doesn’t trust it.
There were a lot of reservations and questions raised regarding online payments, how
Jovago.com could be trusted with credit card information, if the hotel is actually
legitimate and so on. Instead of feeling overwhelmed with these problems, our team
decided to tackle each problem one by one, and to go ahead with the business strategy
before boggling down with the issues.
First and foremost, we needed to add hotels and guest houses to our online database.
To do so, we had to visit our potential clients and educate them about Jovago. A sales
team was formed, who went out and visited different hotels and guest houses located all
over Pakistan and personally educated them about what we do. Once they learned
about us, and our services (which they didn’t have to pay for), they instantly agreed to
sign up with us. This process is still ongoing as there are so many hotels and guest
houses in Pakistan, and so many different cities that our portfolio on our website is
constantly being updated. Currently we have successfully uploaded 1600 hotels and
guest houses spread across 150 cities of Pakistan – more places than any travel agent
can offer you and in all locations, rural and urban.
Secondly, because we were new we faced issues regarding credibility. How do we
convince users that we are a credible source and they should book through us? For
this, we needed to encourage people to use our website and give reviews for future
customers. The task to change consumer’s mindsets from replacing travel agents with
an online agent was definitely a struggle. However, thanks to our motivated team, we
made this possible. When we made our first booking, there was a celebration in our
office, and it further encouraged us that we had the right business model so could not
give up right now. Slowly, as more and more people learned about us, the number of
bookings done through our website also increased. To further add credibility to our
website, we encouraged all customers to write reviews (positive or negative – we
upload them all!), and also sent our teams out to take real life pictures of the places on
our website (Jovago doesn’t believe in Photoshop). Furthermore, our teams would
personally fill out forms when visiting these places to add to our website – we have a
standardized ‘facilities and amenities’ form which is an accurate representation of our
portfolio, so what you see is what you get.
Still a startup we are constantly looking to grow and evolve. Yes, selling the business
idea and generating leads is still a challenge but that goes hand in hand with every
startup. What matters is the team we have is extremely dedicated, and strongly believes
in Jovago’s business idea. We are not only trying to reinvent the tourism industry in
Pakistan, but are also trying to provide a platform for small hotel and guesthouse
owners to showcase their businesses, which will help improve the overall economy of
Pakistan, as more tourism means more money entering our market. Jovago.com wants
to make travel possible for all, and therefore on our website we have places starting
from PKR 250 per night to PKR 250,000 per night. By providing people with so many
options, we hope to encourage them to travel because if done right travel is affordable.
The reason I chose to share my personal experience with Jovago.com is to show to
readers that anything is possible. As I learned at TieCon, when businesses are not
seeing growth they usually give up but they shouldn’t! It takes years to start making
profit and constant efforts. Yes, it is definitely a risk and is scary, but if you have the
right team, and strongly do believe in your business idea, the chances of success are
very high.
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