Frustrated by a lack of integrated travel tools, veteran hospitality consultant and society friend Iqbal Jumabhoy is launching BlackBook to solve frequently encountered travel pain points
If you’ve been ignored by third-party travel websites, felt stressed over what to do on a holiday and frustrated by the inability to redeem anything on hotel loyalty programmes, Iqbal Jumabhoy has heard your cry.
The CEO of BlackBook is launching the integrated travel management platform in early 2020, with possibly the largest inventory of over 1.82 million hotels online. It aims to give travellers access to intuitive travel planning tools and a rewards conversion programme where perks such as hotel stays, dining credits and cash rebates can be earned.
Iqbal was the CEO of the Rendezvous Hospitality Group for two years before leading SilverNeedle Hospitality (now called The Next Hospitality Group) as its Managing Director and Group CEO. At both companies, he’d read every feedback email, where he noticed three common traveller angst: Third-party travel websites that were slow in responding to customer complaints after a booking was made; deciding what to see and do during a holiday; and loyalty programmes where one has to stay for many nights before qualifying for a free stay.
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