Articles tagged “mergers and acquisitions”

Vacasa, Evolve, and other startups have stormed the U.S. vacation rental market by offering tech-savvy property management services. The business model is now about to sweep Europe, too.

Accor as a takeover target? Stranger things have happened. (Anbang, anyone?) No matter what transpires in hospitality going forward, though, it's clear that consolidation is here to stay.

Automated bag-drop technology may be widespread at major airports, but the rest of the world still has to add the equipment needed for passengers to scan their own bags. Amadeus aims to help sell those machines now that it has bought ICM. Amadeus is positioning itself to compete assertively with airline-owned SITA for airport tech sales.

The name Leela is held in the same esteem as India's other legacy hotel brands such as Taj and Oberoi. Will it ever be the same again under Canada's Brookfield, an asset manager rather than a brand manager?

BWH Hotel Group? That's Best Western's new corporate identity, the first change in decades and one that is designed to build its new image as a chain that can offer everything from mid-market to luxury.

Investor 777 Partners has bought tech company Air Black Box, while online agency Kiwi has taken a stake in reservation system AeroCRS. These deals hint at a growing interest among airlines to use tech to build marketing alliances that differ from traditional codeshares. The true winner may be smaller airports, which stand to gain traffic.

On the surface, HotelTonight got a lowish deal from Airbnb. But with roughly half in stock, the price tag could look very upbeat if Airbnb's stock soars in an initial public offering.

Will Airbnb stick to its boutique and independent-only stance on hotels? It could put it at a serious disadvantage when it comes to competitors like Booking or Expedia in the long run. But if Airbnb winds up offering a wider swath of hotels, it could boost its brand even further. Either way, it's guaranteed to be interesting. We'll get the popcorn ready.

The combined Certify and Chrome River still pales in scope when compared to global behemoth SAP Concur. The approach of offering a variety of different services instead of a single platform, though, has potential in a fragmented global market for expense software services.

Expedia is an opportunistic company, and mergers and acquisitions are part of its DNA. The company has been quiet on this front for the past three years. It is sort of due to make another big splash.