By RTN Staff - 11.12.2021
Hotel technology solution providers Cendyn, an innovator in CRM, sales, and revenue strategy for the hospitality industry, and Pegasus, a provider of hotel booking, revenue and distribution solutions as well as digital marketing services, have entered into a merger agreement. Combining into a single company, the new entity will provide hoteliers with a platform to maximize their direct-booking channel and enhance the guest experience across touchpoints.
“With many hoteliers struggling with resources and profitability, this merger offers a lifeline for those looking to build on topline revenue through their direct channels,” stated a joint press release announcing the merger.
This merger follows the 2019 merger of Cendyn and Rainmaker, a provider of hotel revenue management solutions. With the acquisition, Cendyn 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. The merger of Cendyn and NextGuest, a New York and Munich-based hotel CRM and digital marketing solution provider, was completed in February of this year.
In 2019, Pegasus merged with Travel Tripper, bringing the two companies’ industry-leading solutions into one platform and enhancing service and support across its global customer base. With more than 30 years of experience in global distribution, Pegasus reportedly serves hotels across 120 countries from eight offices worldwide in New York, Scottsdale, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Hyderabad.
The financial details of the merger were not disclosed. Neither was the name under which the combined companies will operate (although Cendyn, which arguably has greater name recognition, may be the most likely candidate). The transaction is anticipated to close before the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions.
At the heart of this merger lies Cendyn’s Customer Data Platform, Starling, and Pegasus’s CRS, which, combined, provides hoteliers access to a true system of record for profiles and rates for every guest. Leveraging the alignment of these key data points puts hoteliers at the forefront of personalization to enhance the direct-booking experience.
Last month, Cendyn unveiled its next-generation loyalty solution, dubbed eLoyalty. Purpose-built for hotels, the solution supports multiple program types, including number of stays, number of nights, member recognition, birthdays, and “surprise and delight moments.” eLoyalty is designed to provide hoteliers with a scalable loyalty solution that is fully configurable regardless of the type of hotel or brand.
Cendyn is best known for its Hospitality Cloud, which offers a complete set of software services for the industry, aligning marketing, sales, and revenue teams to optimize their strategies and drive performance and loyalty across their business units. With office headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, and offices around the globe in Germany, Singapore, Thailand, and Japan, Cendyn reportedly serves customers in 143 countries. In 2019, Cendyn secured an investment from private equity firm Accel-KKR, which holds a controlling interest in the company, to help expand its marketing and sales solutions and grow its customer base.
According to the latest press statement, the merger of Cendyn and Pegasus will provide hoteliers with a platform to maximize the direct-booking channel, enhancing their direct-booking channel and enhance the guest experience “across every touchpoint.”
“We’re incredibly excited about this combination with Pegasus. As our industry recovers from the pandemic, the merging of these companies brings scale and stability to our customers, offering hoteliers a vertically integrated technology platform that enables them to deliver on a broad range of hospitality needs,” said Tim Sullivan, CEO and President at Cendyn, in a statement. “A seamless integration between these solutions solidifies our commitment to personalizing and optimizing the guest journey as well as empowering hoteliers to maximize their direct booking channel.”
“At Pegasus, we strived to empower hoteliers to provide their guests with the best direct booking channel experience, while ensuring comprehensive distribution of inventory. The combination of Cendyn and Pegasus takes this to the next level enabling unprecedented personalization of the guest experience, not just during the search and book phase but throughout the customer lifecycle too,” said Gautam Lulla, CEO at Pegasus. “Above all else, we’ll see longer-lasting and more profitable relationships between hoteliers and their guests.”
