Mark Essien, founder of Hotels.ng, opens up in this Digits feature, about his background, his company, his passion for technology which he channeled into redefining the Nigerian hotel booking process by providing a large selection of hotels online across the country; the journey to the present and his plans for the future.

It is estimated that Nigerians travelling within Nigeria spend at least $2 billion, or about N320 billion, every year on hotel accommodation. Hotel.ng targets this growing market and currently process over 400 bookings daily, Vanguard reported.

“Hotels.ng is a company that was founded in 2012 that allows anybody to book hotels in Nigeria online. before Hotels.ng there were only about 100 hotels that could be booked online. Right now, one year later, we have over 5,000 hotels that can be booked online through our website. so all the hotels that do not have big brand names are now visible and available to be booked online. In that aspect therefore we have quite significantly changed the nature of the hospitality industry in Nigeria,” Essien said in a video interview with Digits.