Muslim Search Engine LagiSatu.com Launched

Award-winning LagiSatu.com is the world’s first-ever Metasearch engine for Muslim travellers who can now evaluate travel services and facilities based on Muslim needs. “LagiSatu” means one more.

Launched in April 2013, it is also the first hotel search engine developed in Malaysia. It taps into the emerging global trend for halal travel, a concept that bagged the Start-Up of the Year award at the WebInTravel Awards in Indonesia.

A report presented at ITB Berlin (Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin), the world’s largest tourism trade fair, estimated that the Muslim travel market is worth US$126 billion (RM383 billion) globally.

Pegging on this burgeoning halal tourism sector, LagiSatu’s approach is based on a halal stars rating system called HalalStars. Travellers can search for hotels and evaluate their accommodation options based on the amenities and services provided at the destination, specifically for practising Muslims.

The various star-rated religious considerations include room amenities (praying mat, Qiblah direction, ablution facilities and Quran), hotel facilities (including the availability of the list of mosques) and food (halal restaurants, pre-order halal food and halal room service).

LagiSatu.com co-founder Faeez Fadhlillah says, “With a total of 240 million Muslims living in Southeast Asia, we have recognised that there is a strong demand for the concept of halal travel.

We have incorporated HalalStars with LagiSatu and believe this will ultimately set us apart from other Metasearch engines and travel comparison websites.” The other co-founder of LagiSatu.com is Juergen Gallistl, an Austrian. The partners work at Sonnenbaum, which owns the brand WE! Come with offices in Cyberjaya.

Travellers logging on to www.lagisatu.com to search for their next hotel can compare their options using HalalStars. Doing so lets them find the best hotel deals online with a single click. It compares prices on more than a quarter of a million hotels in over 180 countries worldwide. Information is now available in four languages — Malay, English, Indonesian and Chinese.

Partners include some of the biggest accommodation and travel portals such as LateRooms.com, Agoda, eBookers, Expedia and Hotelclub. When planning a trip, users can also check out their destination before they check in using the engine’s suggested reading.

It provides details such as how much savings can be made, the distance from the hotel to the nearest city centre, and a list of local amenities and attractions. References and user ratings are imported from TripAdvisor and HolidayCheck.

Faeez Fadhlillah adds, “LagiSatu.com removes the hassle of sifting through endless hotel websites and finding the best rooms for the lowest prices. It completely removes the hassle of comparing multiple websites manually and provides inbound and outbound travellers with the best hotel rates at a single click.”