Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has declared that a digital platform will revive Nigeria’s hospitality industry and provide a major avenue for other small businesses in the value chain to grow especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Osinbajo, who made this disclosure Thursday night in Abuja as guest of honour at the official launch of Aura by Transcorp Hotels PLC, stressed that a digital innovation like Aura is a welcome idea.

The number two citizen said:

Yes, there are a number of digital hospitality platforms already, but I think the unique offering here is that Transcorp, possibly Nigeria’s foremost luxury hotel, is putting its huge reputation behind the service of helping customers choose the best accommodation restaurants, and experience tours available in Nigeria. The advantages of this service are varied.

First, the customer can rely on the experience and judgment of world class personnel at Transcorp in choosing hotels and restaurants.

Second, Transcorp helps to build other smaller hospitality businesses, and even those simply offering their apartments simply as short-let apartments, by recommending their accommodation to potential guests.

A Transcorp recommendation is more or less an accreditation that the accommodation or other hospitality service meets the high standards for which Transcorp is known. This is great all around and will help revive the hospitality industry, especially since the downturn in the aftermath of COVID-19.

The vice-president added that he found the app easy to navigate, with a copious offering of hotels, short-let apartments and experience tours.

According to him,

They lure you into it by showing you a photo of an incredibly mouth-watering meal, and I saw a few that almost convinced me to break my fast early. So, there was an amazing looking Chicken Cheese Pizza from Barnyard lounge in Asaba, some irresistible chicken meal – a five-star chicken – from Platino in Lagos, and some ‘carry go suya’ spice prawns at 355 here in Abuja. So, from the photo of the meal that takes you to the restaurant itself, you have booking options, dine-in, pick up or delivery.

I think the feature many especially property owners will find most fascinating is the host feature; as this enables you to put up your own property. And there are terms and conditions you need to meet for your property to be accepted. Same for whatever other entertainment facility you may wish to put out there for letting.

The vice-president commended the Transcorp team, including Mr. Elumelu; Group CEO of Transcorp, Mrs. Owen Omogiafo; and CEO of Transcorp Hotels, Mrs. Dupe Olusola, for designing such digital platform, especially at this time.

This is an excellent innovation, a service that leverages smoothly on technology and one that will be a tremendous boost to the hospitality industry as a whole. And because I have checked it out myself, I can say that my Aura experience has been quite good,

he stressed.

In her remarks, Mrs. Olusola said:

Aura is a digital hospitality platform that gives the opportunity to all our stakeholders and guests to actually be able to book accommodation and experiences just at their fingertips.

Aura is an opportunity for us to diversify our economy, an opportunity to create jobs and employment, and to develop domestic tourism and leisure travel.

In what was an immersive experience, the event featured Nigerian cuisine, video presentations and live performances by leading artists and celebrities including Tiwa Savage.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.