Lagisatu, which started life three years as a metasearch for Muslim-friendly hotels using MuslimStars rating, has relaunched as Tripfez.
At ITB Berlin, co-founders, Malaysia-based Faeez Fadhlillah and Juergen Gallistl, introduced Tripfez which goes beyond metasearch to become a marketplace for hotels, tours and services that meet the specific needs of Muslim travellers.
Said Faeez, “We started Lagisatu as a meta search for Muslim-friendly hotels it was the right positioning at the time because it differentiated us from other meta searches.
“Then we saw the full potential of the Muslim travel market and realised we could be more than that, given the expertise we¹d built up in the market, and that we could expand into reviews and experiences.
“So on the advice of our coaches and mentors, we decided to broaden our scope but stay focused in our domain of expertise. Hence we relaunched as Tripfez and we want to be like the TripAdvisor/Viator for Muslim travellers.”
Faeez Fadhlillah & Juergen Gallistl (holding fez): “We want Tripfez to be like the TripAdvisor/Viator for Muslim travellers.” (Image credit: Tripfez)
“Tripfez” plays on the word “fez”, a Turkish felt headdress with a tassel worn that symbolises a modern approach to Muslim headwear. “The same concept taken by us to have a modern approach to Muslim friendly tours while maintaining the traditional elements,” said CEO Faeez.
Tripfez now offers Muslim-friendly hotels, tours and services. It allows the trade to register their tours (which have to meet specific criteria) and then manage allocations, inventory and pricing in a dynamic and user-friendly environment.
An e-commerce feature that will allow consumers to buy direct from Tripfez will be introduced at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai from April 25-28. The additional of e-commerce would make Tripfez the “first company to bring Muslim friendly tours and activities live online with live availability and live confirmation to purchases,” said Faeez.
Tripez is tapping a global market.
“Tripfez is a virtual shop window showcasing halal-friendly travel solutions to a captive but under-served audience of 108 million Muslim travellers representing at least 10% of the travel economy, and are increasingly making travel purchasing decisions based on their religious beliefs.”
Faeez declined to reveal the number of agents and operators who have registered with Tripfez, but said the response has been “great” so far.
Tripfez currently features more than 200,000 halal-friendly hotels globally, with 10,000 that are certified by Salam Standard. Launched by Faeez, the standard is a new hotel reference system for Muslim travellers and a tool for hotels to promote their properties to the Muslim travel market.
Future plans will see the inclusion of travel guides within the portal with destination travel related information to further enhance the travel experience.
On being named by Forbes as one of the “daring entrepreneurs and game changers” in the prestigious “Forbes Asia 30 under 30”, Faeez said, “Being recognised on the cover (of Forbes) as ‘a young entrepreneur that is shaping and revolutionising the future of e-commerce’ is a testament and recognition of the Muslim travel industry that we are working hard to promote. I feel very humbled to be part of long list of exceptional people who received this honour before me.”
