Africa’s leading hospitality brand Transcorp Hotels Plc. has announced the launch of Aura, a new digital platform through which people can book accommodation, restaurants, and experiences.

The new brand, Transcorp’s first in the alternative accommodation segment, is part of the company’s asset-light model, leveraging technology to deliver true hospitality, exciting experiences, and drive shareholder value.

“It’s a new dawn in the hospitality industry! I am thrilled to introduce you to Aura by Transcorp, the digital platform we are using to connect people to quality accommodation, great food, and awesome experiences,” Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Hotels Plc., Dupe Olusola said.

“For more than 30 years, Transcorp Hotels Plc has been at the forefront of creating a superior guest experience at our locations. Today, our commitment to innovation has offered us an opportunity to extend this beyond the hotel premises,” Olusola added.

The launch of Aura by Transcorp is one of the most significant developments in the company’s history as it seeks to transform the travel and tourism industry in Africa by focusing on three important components of travel, whether for leisure or business — where you stay, what you eat and how you spend your time. With its people-driven hospitality model, Aura is set to revolutionise travel and help remind Africans of our deep history of hospitality.

Speaking on the launch of Aura, Obong Idiong, Chief Executive Officer at Africa Prudential Plc, Aura’s technology partners, expressed his excitement. “Finding the right accommodation when you travel can be incredibly complex. Options available for the right prices are often limited, and travellers sometimes end up with accommodation that taints the travel experience. Transcorp Hotels Plc has been able to fix that with Aura and we are proud to be associated with them.”

“To ensure topnotch user experience, we built a solution to drive digital transformation through the adoption of shared living spaces for the Aura business. With an advanced search algorithm powered by artificial intelligence, Aura determines the relevance of locations taking into consideration, the customers’ preferences and requirements to meet them at the point of their needs,” Idiong added.

Priscilla Adeboye, a travel enthusiast and early adopter of Aura, said the global pandemic has pushed international travel down her list. “But I still want to be able to take some time off work or spend a weekend away from home with the family. I have found incredible homes on Aura that meet my need for space and privacy.”

Working with thousands of partners across Nigeria and different cities in Africa, Transcorp Hotels Plc. is building the continent’s largest platform for people-driven hospitality. While travellers enjoy the right selections at the best prices on Aura, hosts can also earn a lot of money by receiving guests in their unoccupied homes and sharing the local culture with them.

For travellers who would rather stay in hotels, Aura also has a great selection of some of the best hotels in every city.

With the launch of Aura, Transcorp Hotels Plc. has further cemented its leadership in the hospitality industry and reinforced its commitment to innovation and superior guest experience across different demographics.

Guests and hosts can sign up at aura.transcorphotels.com to start booking or hosting. The service is currently available in Nigeria only, but the company said plans are already in place to expand to major cities in Africa.

Transcorp Hotels Plc is one of Africa’s leading hospitality companies, committed to redefining service standards across the continent while remaining truly and authentically African.

www.transcorphotels.com

Aura by Transcorp

Aura is Africa’s best platform for connecting travellers with great accommodation, good food, and memorable experiences. The platform is also an avenue for people with unoccupied homes, hotels, restaurants, or different skill sets that may interest others can earn an income by becoming hosts.

Asharami Synergy Kenya, a Sahara Group Oil Marketing Company, has reiterated its commitment to working with all stakeholders to transform Kenya’s downstream sector for sustainable growth and regional competitiveness.

Debola Adesanya, Country Manager, Asharami Synergy, said the company would leverage its affiliation with its parent company, Sahara Group to join forces with relevant stakeholders in the energy sector to enhance capacity building, access to clean energy and sustainable development in Kenya. Sahara Group is a leading energy conglomerate with operations in over 40 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

“Asharami Synergy’s operations in Kenya will be boosted by outcomes expected from the expansion drive by Sahara Group with a strong focus on investment in technology, artificial intelligence, and human capital transformation in global markets. We expect to take full advantage of our affiliation with Sahara to enhance the energy value chain and more importantly, also seek collaboration with the stakeholders in the various regulatory bodies, private sector and the good people of Kenya towards promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Kenya,” Adesanya said.

Adesanya said Asharami Synergy had over the past 24 months supplied 701,000,000 litres of petroleum products to Kenya representing total investment of $346,908,023 in the East African nation. The products include Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Automotive Gasoline Oil (AGO).

“The energy sector where Asharami Synergy operates is an integral part of Kenya’s economy and helps to shore up capacity for further growth of the nation’s agricultural engine room to yield more globally sought-after cash crops such as tea, fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables and coffee. We are committed to enhancing access to clean and top-quality petroleum products through our operations in Kenya,” he stated.

The Oxford Business Group reports that Kenya stands out on the African continent as a major economy that has grown over the past several decades and attracted foreign investment independent of any resource production. Downstream, domestic energy consumption is dominated by the traditional use of biomass. For the future, however, Kenya aims to increase access to modern energy as demand grows. Total petroleum consumption is expected to triple from 4.5m tonnes as of 2015 to 12m tonnes by 2030.

Only recently, Asharami Synergy’s parent company, Sahara Group flagged off activities to mark its 25th anniversary all through 2021. Executive Director, Sahara Group, Temitope Shonubi said the energy conglomerate’s impressive growth trajectory since 1996 had been “phenomenal”, leading to its expansion across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Shonubi said sustainable economic, social, and governance models have driven the achievement of annual revenues in excess of $10 billion, with over 4,000 employees and operations in over 40 countries,” said Shonubi said.