HalalBooking launches new partnership with Expedia

Tue Jul 14, 2020: As lockdown starts to lift and destinations begin to open up to tourism, HalalBooking is ready to fulfil the needs of halal-conscious travellers worldwide. 

HalalBooking has tried to anticipate some of the possible changes to its customers’ travel requirements. “Something we expect to see in the short-term is that our customers may well choose to travel closer to home,” said Enver Cebi, Chief Operating Officer. “It has, therefore, been a priority for us to focus on increasing the amount of accommodation available within our biggest European source markets such as the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and Turkey. Newly launched destinations such as the Cote d’Azur, Scottish Highlands, Lake Constance, Bosnia Herzegovina, Andalusia or the Turkish Black Sea region will be attractive alternative holiday destinations for our customers this year.” 

New partnership launched with Expedia
For the launch of its new partnership with Expedia HalalBooking has developed technologies which allow the mass launch of properties worldwide on its platform. This bespoke technology augments Expedia’s standard content with HalalBooking’s halal-friendliness data offering unique information to its customers. This enables HalalBooking to focus fully on checking and configuring the all-important halal-friendliness data, so its halal-conscious customers know which features meet their requirements for halal food, alcohol-free areas and beach pool and spa facilities, offering privacy for women. 

CEO, Elnur Seyidli explained: “We are very excited to be working with Expedia in this way. This partnership has allowed us to expand our offering hugely in a very short space of time, without compromising the quality of the granular data which we are able to provide to our customers.”

Thousands more hotels in new destinations
The Expedia partnership has tripled the number of hotels and villas available on HalalBooking.com to over 4400, with new properties being added every day. These include villas and small hotels, which the company believes may prove popular with those seeking to maintain a higher degree of social distancing for their families on holiday. 

New flexible payment options
HalalBooking has increased the number of properties offering ‘free cancellation’ rates, to offer increased flexibility to its customers. It also now offers a brand-new payment option - ‘Book now, Pay later’, which especially during times of uncertainty allows customers to book with confidence and lock in the price and room, but pay closer to the time of travel.

Rewarding loyalty
HalalBooking has more than 120,000 HB Loyalty Club Members. The company recognises that it may be more difficult for them to earn the required level of status points to retain their current status or reach a higher status level this year, and has gifted them bonus status points to reward their loyalty.

Focusing on customer service
For customers who could not travel due to travel restrictions, HalalBooking offered a number of alternative options, including a change of dates or Cash Points refund with bonus points. Ufuk Seçgin, Chief Marketing Officer, said: “Due to our strong relationships with our partner hotels, we were able to negotiate excellent deals for our customers. Many agreed to change their travel dates to benefit from one of these lucrative deals. At the same time, we also refunded thousands of our customers. Our customer relations team has worked non-stop since the beginning of the pandemic in March, answering tens of thousands of calls and emails and supporting our customers during this difficult period. We can see now that customers are repaying us with their trust and bookings are resuming." 

Resorts are COVID-certified and have reopened
The Turkish authorities introduced a new COVID-19 certificate for resorts to maintain the highest levels of hygiene. Many of HalalBooking's top halal-friendly beach resorts in Turkey have now reopened and hotels are certified against more than 100 measures by Bureau Veritas. Ufuk Seçgin, Chief Marketing Officer said: "Our first customers returned from their holidays last week and provided excellent reviews.” 

Elnur Seyidli, CEO of HalalBooking said: “We believe that with the array of measures we have put in place, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) from HSBC Bank, we are now in the best position to recover and are confident that we will bounce back stronger than before once the travel sector resumes expanding into new geographic markets.”

Copyright Press Releases 2020