By HTN Staff - 2.19.2021
Hotel technology solution provider Cendyn has acquired NextGuest, a New York and Munich-based CRM and digital marketing competitor also serving the hospitality industry. The formal rival companies (NextGuest often came up against Cendyn in competitive situations) will reportedly combine under the Cendyn brand to become what a Cendyn press statement describes as “the largest scalable CRM and digital marketing provider in the hospitality industry.”
The merger expands Cendyn’s global reach with the goal of helping hoteliers “drive demand and revenue performance by optimizing every touchpoint of the guest journey through data intelligence and automation.”
With office headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida and offices around the globe in Thailand, and Japan, Cendyn serves hotel customers in 143 countries with data-driven, personalized communications. marries the power of data with brand discovery to uncover unique strategies that apply to everything from website design, content marketing, CRM, and more, helping the world’s top hotel brands maximize ROI as they acquire, convert, and retain guests throughout the travel planning journey.
The deal was backed by financial backers of the two companies. Silicon Valley-based private equity firm Accel-KKR, which in 2019 became a majority owner of Cendyn and continues to hold a controlling interest in the company, reportedly played a significant role in orchestrating the acquisition. On the NextGuest side, the deal was supported by New York-based private equity firm PPC. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
The addition of NextGuest’s platform capabilities and relationships should go a long way toward enabling Cendyn to deliver on a global scale. The common history of the two companies in driving innovation and a shared mission to cultivate more in-depth, profitable guest relationships using data from every touchpoint in the guest journey should spell success in the long term. Hotel brands served by the new company include Jumeirah Resorts, Hyatt, Marriott, Minor Hotels, IHG, Hilton, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, Onyx Hospitality Group, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts, and Event Hospitality & Entertainment.
Cendyn will continue to be led by President and CEO Tim Sullivan and the senior leadership Team will gain Paolo Torchio from NextGuest, who joins as Chief Strategy Officer. Paolo brings a wealth of experience in the industry, including previous leadership roles at Sabre, Two Roads Hospitality, and Hyatt. He will lead the integration of our businesses and product portfolio strategy. Other additions to the Leadership Team at Cendyn include Dieter Dirnberger as the Managing Director of EMEA and Toshi Rogers, leading the global account team.
Cendyn has been actively partnering (including travel solution provider DerbySoft and an integration rollout with Ireland-based hotel booking engine and digital marketing provider Avvio) and innovating during the pandemic. In November, for example, it announced the release of its next-generation customer data platform (CDP), called Starling. The platform is designed “to unite, transform, cleanse, and enrich millions of data points from all of a hotel’s technology solutions, giving management the ability to take control of their data and keep guests at the heart of what they do.”
Starling integrates hotel systems, so they communicate with each other simultaneously, creating “limitless possibilities” to activate the data and provide personalization at every touchpoint of the guest’s journey. Building on Cendyn‘s extensive library of existing data integrations, Starling’s open APIs are flexible and agile, allowing hoteliers to connect any data source into the platform.
In November 2019, Cendyn announced that it had acquired The Rainmaker Group, a leading provider of hospitality revenue management solutions and services. With the completion of that acquisition, Cendyn also became a leading solution provider in the hotel revenue management space, along with heavy hitters like Infor, IDeaS and Duetto, providing next-generation, AI-powered solutions designed to optimize room rates and maximize guest’s spend across the entire property.