French corporate travel group S4BT, owner of hotel booking and payments platform CDS Groupe, has acquired hotel technology specialist HotelHub’s parent company, Travel Centric Technology, as part of plans to expand its footprint globally.
London-based HotelHub, which provides hotel booking and distribution solutions to TMCs, works with companies such as Flight Centre Travel Group and Booking.com, as well as being integrated with SAP Concur’s Hotel Connector. Financial terms of Travel Centric Technology’s acquisition by S4BT have not been disclosed.
S4BT – Solutions for Business Travel was created last year as a parent company for CDS, alongside online booking tool Goelett, Germany’s Corporate Rates Club (CRC), Travel Media Solution (TMS), enterprise resource planning specialist SIAP, travel finance platform Trevium, and Methodica, which offers services for TMCs and corporates.
The company said that the HotelHub deal extends its footprint into the UK and “reinforces” its reach with large international TMCs. S4BT added that the acquistion of HotelHub meant it would now process more than $5 billion in hotel bookings per year.
Ziad Minkara, founder and group CEO of S4BT, said: “Our ambition is clear: to build the most integrated and technologically advanced business travel platform. The acquisition of HotelHub is a decisive step in that direction.
“It takes S4BT into a new league, strengthens our position and establishes a solid presence in the UK. This is not an endpoint, but a foundation on which we will continue to invest, integrate and execute.”
In a statement, S4BT added that acquiring HotelHub would allow it to “deliver a fully integrated corporate hotel offering to all TMCs”, which would be a “powerful” alternative to traditional vertically integrated hotel platforms.
Combining the two companies would also enhance their engineering capacity, with 50 per cent of staff working on technology and product development.
Jay Virdee, CEO of HotelHub, said: “Joining S4BT allows HotelHub to accelerate its mission at a new scale. By combining our distribution technology with S4BT’s operational expertise and financial capabilities, we can deliver greater value to TMCs and their corporate clients across the globe.”
S4BT said it planned to integrate HotelHub’s hotel technology with its booking platforms, payment products and electronic invoicing systems to offer enhanced services to TMCs and corporates.