Sarova Hotels, Resorts & Game Lodges launch M-Commerce Plan with Safaricom

Sarova Hotels, Resorts & Game Lodges will now offer guests the option of settling or paying their bills through the M-PESA service after signing an agreement with Safaricom today which was preceeded by a month long pilot project.

The M-PESA service will see clients settle their bills incurred through services and goods offered or to be offered.

This is a very big development to the local developers who would like to see many establishments embrace m-commerce. Clients would be able to even book holiday packages and services in advance from any location as long as they will be having money in their M-Pesa account.

J.S. Vohra, Sarova Hotels Group Managing Director termed the service as “both reliable and convenient”. He says this is a value addition program like the “Easy Pay Plan” which was announced in 2002. Sarova I think is the first hospitality establishment to embrace M-Commerce.

who may then redeem it for conventional cash at any M-PESA agent outlet.

To use the service, registered M-PESA customers will be required to select “Pay Bill” from the M-PESA menu; enter the Sarova Hotels business number for the hotel, resort or lodge, including the account number. The Pay Bill service, also known as C2B (Customer to Business), enables a registered M-PESA customer to pay or deposit money into an organization’s account.

Customers would need to include the information of the service they are consuming either:

•           F&B (and restaurant name if this is known). Example; F&B-Flame Tree Restaurant

•           Accommodation (and room number if this is known). Example; Accommodation – Rm 201

•           Conference and name of conference sponsor. Example; Conference-MoH Survey

•           Extras – example; Extras-flowers

The customer will then be required to enter the amount of money he/she wishes to pay for the service (between Kshs100 and KShs.35, 000) and then enter their M-PESA Personal Identification Number (PIN).  This transaction can be done twice a day meaning that any customer can pay a maximum of Ksh. 70,000 on any day to a Sarova Hotel, resort or lodge.

For all terms and conditions clients may reach the customer service care centre on 2767000 or log on to www.sarovahotels.com/m-commerce<http://www.sarovahotels.com/m-commerce.