Published in Daily Nation (print edition) 2025-07-01
From modest beginnings to a pan-African hospitality tech powerhouse.
BY MARGARET MAINA
Long before short-term rentals dotted every corner of the nation and “Airbnb” became a household name in Kenya, two Norwegian college friends, Håvar Bauck and Endre Opdal, found themselves reunited, not in Oslo, but in a quiet neighbourhood near Nairobi’s airport.
What began as a few casual conversations between neighbours would soon spark a digital revolution in African hospitality.
The duo, driven by a shared passion for travel and innovation, quickly saw both the challenges and the untapped opportunities within the region’s hospitality sector.
Frequent late-night discussions gave rise to a bold ambition on how to revolutionise how hotels in Africa operate and connect with travellers.
They identified a glaring gap in the market for affordable, online-bookable stays near Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Despite the airport’s role as a major regional hub, nearby accommodation options were scarce, mostly high-end hotels that were expensive and often difficult to reach due to Nairobi’s infamous traffic.
“With limited resources, we leased and furnished five modest apartments in Syokimau, just minutes from the airport. Branded as the ‘Nairobi Airport Hotel,’ we listed the units on Booking.com and Expedia,” says Bauck, adding that they targeted transit passengers and short-stay travellers and offered free airport transfers, a novel idea at the time.
Their project would grow into HotelOnline, a pan-African tech company and leading digital revenue partner for the hospitality industry, helping thousands of hotels and restaurants across the continent modernise, thrive, and connect with a growing digital audience.
The company empowers properties across the continent to harness technology, compete in a rapidly digitising travel market, and has played a key role in ushering in Kenya’s short-stay, online-first accommodation era.
“We were pioneers,” he recalls. “Back then, the only hotels online in Nairobi were the big international five-star brands. Our apartments filled an entirely new niche, and the response was instant.”
That instinct proved right. By 2014, their modest operation had become the most-booked property in Nairobi on Booking.com, surpassing legacy names. It was clear validation that digital distribution and smart marketing could unlock massive potential in Africa’s underserved hospitality sector.
At the time, the entire industry was still largely offline. While international chains had an online presence, thousands of smaller, independent hotels across Kenya remained virtually invisible in the digital space.
In 2013, only 12 hotels in Nairobi were on Booking.com, we became number 13. Expedia had even fewer. Most local hotels still relied on taxi drivers and walk-ins. Yet smartphone and internet use were rising fast. The gap was obvious. To us, it screamed opportunity,” he says.
They realised the real potential was not just in putting hotels online, but in making them perform better by optimising pricing, boosting visibility, and managing bookings more efficiently. It was a massive win-win, more choice for travellers and better revenue for hotel owners.
“When our airport apartments took off, we asked ourselves, why stop here? We didn’t need to own more properties to grow. We had a winning formula with digital marketing, booking optimisation and 24/7 customer support,” he explains.
They shifted from thinking like property managers to building a scalable tech venture focused on digital revenue growth across Africa’s hospitality industry.
Their initial venture, self-funded with Sh3 million, quickly gained traction.
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