Articles tagged “mergers and acquisitions”

Travel acquisitions have been humming along this year and we've seen several deals that will have a lasting impact on consumer behavior. Marriott-Starwood dominated headlines for months although Expedia and Priceline largely have been largely inactive in mergers and acquisitions so far in 2016. We still have a few months left, though.

For about $27 million and change, this deal, for 1,000 hotel properties, was definitely a steal for Red Lion.

That didn't take too long now, did it? In all seriousness, however, this mega-merger was certainly a long one in the making, filled with plenty of twists and turns. Now, we hope, comes the even more interesting part in the next chapter of the story.

The one thing about mergers and acquisitions that isn't usually discussed? Bringing different company cultures together. That'll be key to the success of Marriott's acquisition of Starwood, and Marriott's Global Chief Human Resources Officer David Rodriguez knows it.

Airbnb certainly didn't acquire Trip4real for its user base, which is small, but the move highlights Airbnb's intent to enhance the experiences of guests by giving them opportunity to hook up with local guides especially as hosts get more corporate. In addition, Barcelona authorities have taken a tough stance against Airbnb and having local ties through acquisition could engender a degree of goodwill.

CEO Fabio Cannavale has spent the last few years snapping up companies across Europe and as the company looks to supplement its online travel agency model with a media/advertising business, expect to see more deals in the near future.

Is any hotel merger or acquisition ever simple, or swift? In this case, most definitely not. Given the board members’ often contentious history with each other and the company’s direction, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether this new offer from “Bidder V” will prove to be superior than the offer from Sam Nazarian’s SBE.

Red Lion has been making some bold moves as of late, including its arguably controversial partnership with Expedia. As the company scales up with this acquisition, it'll be interesting to see how Red Lion expands or deepens its partnership with other online travel agencies.

Six years after brashly boasting about how it would disrupt travel search, Hipmunk, which had to compete against larger players with more ample war chests, is exiting into the business travel portfolio of Concur. Hipmunk's turn toward business travel may make it more of a business-to-business play than its current consumer incarnation. As Concur's TripIt example shows, it remains to be seen how innovative Hipmunk can be given larger corporate priorities within SAP/Concur.

Recent reports alleging that Marriott has "buyer's remorse" about the deal, while scintillating, don't seem very logical when you think of all the effort both Marriott and Starwood have put into making this deal a reality.