HotelRunner and Visa Partner Globally to Power Embedded and Autonomous Finance in Travel

Uniting the strength of Visa’s trusted infrastructure with HotelRunner’s deep presence in hospitality, this strategic preferred partnership sets the foundation for a new era of embedded finance in travel. By bringing Visa’s products directly into HotelRunner’s platform, this collaboration will enable seamless, secure, and scalable cross-border payments and settlements for thousands of travel businesses worldwide.

HotelRunner, a leading travel and hospitality technology platform, and Visa, a global leader in digital payments, have announced a global strategic preferred partnership to empower businesses of all sizes across the travel and hospitality industry. The collaboration brings together Visa’s trusted global infrastructure and secure cross-border payments capabilities with HotelRunner’s deep presence and extensive reach in hospitality technology. Solving the “last-mile” challenge in tourism and democratizing financial access for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets, HotelRunner is collaborating with Visa to provide robust technology infrastructure and B2B connectivity that enables accommodation providers, from boutique hotels in Morocco to guesthouses in Bali, to get paid quickly and securely across borders.

By uniting their strengths, the two companies aim to accelerate economic growth across the global travel and hospitality ecosystem while delivering seamless, secure, and scalable financial solutions. This partnership sets the foundation for a new era of embedded finance with a specific focus on independent hotels by providing access to global payment rails.

“Travel runs on trust, and trust depends on secure, reliable infrastructure,” said Ali Beklen, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner. “By combining HotelRunner’s global hospitality network with Visa’s unmatched expertise, we are building the autonomous financial infrastructure of travel. This is not only about payments; it is about building the financial rails that will power the next decade of global tourism. We are reshaping the future of cross-border travel commerce, making it safer, smarter, and more inclusive for businesses worldwide.”

On this partnership, Arden Agopyan, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner, said, “HotelRunner has spent more than a decade building the digital backbone of hospitality. For too long, small and independent accommodations and travel agencies have been excluded from global financial flows and the payments economy. Together with Visa, we’re changing that. We’re combining our reach and reliable platform with one of the world’s most trusted networks to create a new standard for autonomous, secure, seamless, and scalable travel payments.”

“Our collaboration with HotelRunner demonstrates how together we can drive innovation across the B2B travel ecosystem. By combining Visa’s trusted global payments network with HotelRunner’s hospitality platform, we’re enabling travel businesses to connect, transact, and grow more seamlessly and securely. Together, we’re helping to unlock new opportunities, and strengthen the global travel ecosystem” Tania Platt, Global Head of B2B Travel, Visa.

Operating globally, this collaboration will bring Visa and HotelRunner together with key travel companies in Europe, APAC, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond. This partnership is set to deliver innovative embedded and autonomous finance services supporting millions of travel businesses worldwide.

Contact Information
Suheyla van Taarling
Director of Marketing & Growth
suheyla@hotelrunner.com.

SOURCE: HotelRunner

HotelRunner Acquires Bookingate, Expanding its B2B Powerhouse for the Travel Industry

With the inclusion of Bookingate, a platform that enables travel service providers to access and distribute hotel inventory and third-party services, HotelRunner becomes the all-in-one solution for the entire travel industry. This unique proposition positions HotelRunner as a comprehensive platform that solves distribution, direct, and offline sales challenges for travel agencies, DMCs, and tour operators, connecting them seamlessly with various suppliers.

Advancing the Travel Industry with HotelRunner Connect

By bringing Bookingate under its umbrella, HotelRunner amplifies the scope and functionality of HotelRunner Connect, its long-established platform serving global travel companies, including travel agencies, metasearch platforms, and payment systems. This move enhances the current service offering while broadening the role of HotelRunner Connect as an end-to-end solution for the entire travel ecosystem.

Arden Agopyan, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner, remarked, “Bookingate is a game-changing addition that aligns perfectly with our vision of creating a bigger travel economy. With this acquisition, we are enhancing our platform’s capabilities to deliver the industry’s most advanced travel management solution, unlocking unprecedented growth opportunities for our large network of travel industry members.”

Ali Beklen, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner, added, “We are thrilled to welcome Bookingate into the HotelRunner platform, becoming an all-encompassing travel platform for travel agencies, hotels, buyers, and suppliers. With the acquisition of this promising startup and its innovative technology, we are expanding our platform and creating a new ecosystem by uniting fragmented B2B players in the global travel market.”

Unleashing Multi-Faceted Capabilities

The acquisition of Bookingate strengthens HotelRunner’s position as the top player in travel tech, expanding its solution stack for all players in the travel value chain, and unlocking capabilities that empower travel companies in a competitive market:

Advanced Hotel Contracting: Travel agencies and 3rd party service providers will directly access and distribute real-time inventory. HotelRunner streamlines the entire distribution process and empowers travel providers to expand their reach.

A Robust Connectivity Bridge: Acting as a bridge between hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, transfer, and car rental services, the enhanced platform enables dynamic packaging, offering a more complete solution for sourcing and distribution.

Transforming Static Agencies: Just as HotelRunner set out more than a decade ago with the vision of moving hotels from offline to online, it is now preparing to transform offline travel agencies into online, dynamic, and digital powerhouses.

Building an Ecosystem of Innovation

Marking its fourth acquisition, HotelRunner remains at the forefront of industry innovation by strategically scouting innovative early-stage companies like Bookingate. HotelRunner’s commitment to finding or building forward-thinking products ensures that it remains a trusted partner for travel agencies, hotels, buyers, and suppliers worldwide.

Contact Information:
Suheyla van Taarling
Director of Marketing & Growth
suheyla@hotelrunner.com
00905314010303

SOURCE: HotelRunner

HotelRunner Joins MarketHub Europe by HBX Group as Platinum Sponsor

HotelRunner, the leading hospitality and travel technologies platform, will attend MarketHub Europe by HBX Group as the Platinum Sponsor. This year’s event will take place to explore “New Frontiers” in the travel industry and beyond from June 25 to 28, 2024, in Istanbul, where HotelRunner has been the undisputed market leader for over a decade.

MarketHub Europe by HBX Group has been a pivotal event in the travel and hospitality industry for over 8 years, consistently bringing together top industry players from around the globe. Since its inception in Seville in 2013, MarketHub has grown to attract 350 participants annually, including 180 key client partners from 15 source markets.

HotelRunner‘s participation as a Platinum Sponsor highlights its commitment to fostering innovation and connectivity within the travel and hospitality industries. Attendees of the event will have the opportunity to engage with key members of the HotelRunner Team and discover the latest developments in the industry while learning how to grow your business at their dedicated stand. The attendees also include HotelRunner’s strategic partners, thus HotelRunner will take the opportunity to connect and catch up with them. The HotelRunner Team will also join the coffee break sessions to engage in conversations actively.

HotelRunner will use this prominent event as a platform to discuss its comprehensive end-to-end technology platform and how it unlocks the power of connectivity within the industry. With a network encompassing thousands of hotels and hundreds of travel agencies, HotelRunner’s solutions are designed to enhance connectivity and drive growth for its partners worldwide.

HotelRunner Founder and Managing Partner Ali Beklen will speak on the first day of the event at the panel “What are the evolving traveler trends? And how do you keep up?”. The discussion will explore various guest perspectives, highlighting data on shifting booking behaviors, emerging trends, and key demographic insights. The panel aims to uncover what travelers are currently seeking and how the industry can adapt to meet these evolving demands.

MarketHub Europe is renowned for its ability to gather the best and brightest in the industry, creating a vibrant platform for networking, knowledge sharing, and business development. HotelRunner’s extensive experience and leadership in the market position them perfectly to contribute valuable insights and drive forward the conversations on technology and connectivity in the industry.

Contact Information
Suheyla van Taarling
Director of Marketing & Growth
suheyla@hotelrunner.com
00905314010303

SOURCE: HotelRunner

HotelRunner Acquires PayPad in a Strategic Move Into On-Premise Sales Operations

  • HotelRunner, the leading hospitality and travel technology provider, proudly announces its acquisition of PayPad, a high-end point-of-sale system, and revamps it as HotelRunner POS, cementing its position as an industry-leading all-in-one technology platform.

Founded in 2016, PayPad is a cloud-based, smart sales system designed exclusively for restaurants, hotels, and retail stores. PayPad expanded into the global market with a client base in the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, and Türkiye. This strategic acquisition marks a significant milestone in HotelRunner’s mission to offer a comprehensive, all-in-one solution with a specific focus on the hotels’ on-premise sales and payments.

HotelRunner Acquires PayPad in a Strategic Move into On-Premise Sales Operations

With its new and advanced identity, HotelRunner POS presents an effortless and effective way to run food and beverage operations, offering accommodation businesses a fresh avenue to enhance their revenue streams. Fully integrated with HotelRunner PMS, HotelRunner POS allows accommodations to manage their on-premise sales and payment operations with ease. Hoteliers can accept payments in multiple methods, analyze every aspect of their business, and take AI-driven, intelligent, and automated actions resulting in enhanced productivity and increased profitability. This development represents a momentous shift for HotelRunner as it delves into on-premise sales operations for the first time, highlighting its sales-first approach in the hospitality and travel technology landscape.

In January 2023, the company closed a successful Series A round and stated that the funds would be used to continue to build a solid global presence, grow the team, and invest heavily in delivering cutting-edge technology. Standing behind its commitment, over the past year, HotelRunner has achieved remarkable product launches, including Insights, Autopilot, and Review Center, all of which have been instrumental in advancing toward its goal of providing a holistic platform powered by innovative technology. This milestone marks the third acquisition in HotelRunner’s ongoing acquisition spree aimed at consolidating the industry under its roof while proudly extending its offerings to serve the diverse needs of its partners.

Arden Agopyan, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner, said, “Our strategic acquisition of PayPad and the birth of HotelRunner POS aren’t merely about enhancing our product offerings; it’s a bold leap toward our vision of building a bigger travel economy. As we welcome HotelRunner POS into our expansive ecosystem as a foundational part, we solidify our presence in the payments and sales verticals in travel and hospitality. We’re proud to shape the path toward industry consolidation and usher in a transformative era, reinforcing our brand’s legacy.”

Ali Beklen, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner, added, “With PayPad seamlessly integrated into the HotelRunner’s unique market-network, we’re spearheading a technology revolution that forms the cornerstone of a unified digital travel ecosystem. Beyond elevating the guest experience and optimizing operational efficiency for accommodations, this strategic move underscores the power of frictionless all-in-one platforms as the key to success. This acquisition unlocks a new untapped opportunity and sets a path to delivering unrivaled value and pioneering innovation for our partners.”

Veysel Berk, the Founder of PayPad, also shared his thoughts on the acquisition: “HotelRunner is democratizing the use of technology for every player in the global ecosystem. As both teams share the same values, culture, and product principles, we are thrilled to join forces with HotelRunner and become part of its broad vision. PayPad, revamped as HotelRunner POS, will play a pivotal role in adding exponential value to properties worldwide, ushering in a new era of advanced sales solutions in travel and hospitality.”

HotelRunner POS will be gradually rolled out worldwide to offer the best experience to all accommodation businesses, starting with existing HotelRunner partners. For more information, you can visit here.

About HotelRunner
HotelRunner is a data-driven SaaS-enabled unified sales, operations, and distribution management platform and B2B network for accommodations, travel agencies, and payment providers. HotelRunner has thousands of accommodation and travel agency partners globally. HotelRunner is a Booking.com Premier Connectivity Partner and Best Overall Performing Partner, Expedia Preferred Connectivity Partner, Airbnb Software Partner, Agoda Innovative Supplier, Oracle, Hotelbeds, trivago, and Google Hotel Ads strategic partner.

For more about HotelRunner, visit the website.

Media relations contact: media@hotelrunner.com

Contact Information
Suheyla van Taarling
Head of Brand
suheyla@hotelrunner.com
00905314010303

HotelRunner Introduces AI-Powered Review Center for Enhanced Reputation Management in the Travel and Hospitality Industry

HotelRunner, the leading travel and hospitality technologies platform, has launched HotelRunner Review Center, an innovative solution that will fundamentally change the way properties manage their online reputation and form the building blocks of technological transformation fueled by artificial intelligence.

HotelRunner Review Center HotelRunner Introduces AI-Powered Review Center for Enhanced Reputation Management in the Travel and Hospitality Industry

In the highly competitive world of hospitality, reputation management is more critical than ever. Guests rely heavily on reviews when making decisions and hold the power to drive a property’s successful reputation and exponential revenue growth.

As a company that draws its strength from its agility, HotelRunner proudly delivers an innovative solution to its partners and the industry after extensive research and development by observing the latest trends and anticipating the future that will be shaped around them.

HotelRunner Review Center is an advanced product that centralizes guest reviews, empowering properties to take control of their online reputation from a single user-friendly dashboard.

Thanks to HotelRunner’s strategic partnerships and certified integrations with Booking.com, Expedia, and Airbnb, Review Center allows properties to view and reply to all their reviews in one place. The AI technology generates unique and personalized replies to guest reviews within seconds. This ensures that each review receives timely and tailored responses, leading to improved guest satisfaction, and a steady revenue stream. The product also helps overcome language barriers effortlessly with built-in Google Translate functionality, translating guest reviews into more than 133 languages instantly, and facilitating effective communication. Another great benefit is saving hoteliers valuable time and effort. They can save their favorite replies for future use, easily fine-tune the replies, and deliver customized messages to each guest. Last but not least, the Review Center provides comprehensive performance tracking. Since the product gathers all reviews in one dashboard, it offers properties a HotelRunner score across various categories, allowing properties to identify areas for improvement, monitor progress over time, and continuously enhance their service offerings.

Yigit Can Bacakoglu, Director of Engineering at HotelRunner, said, “The introduction of HotelRunner Review Center marks a pivotal moment in the fiercely competitive hospitality industry. Through its integrated AI assistance, properties can streamline the consolidation of their reviews, address guest feedback, and elevate guest satisfaction and loyalty. We take great pride in spearheading the deployment of this cutting-edge technology and will continue to enrich our platform with homegrown AI-based products.”

Cihan Coskuntuncel, Director of Supply at HotelRunner, added, “Effective reputation management is the key to a lucrative sales strategy. We are delighted to unveil the HotelRunner Review Center, an AI-driven solution that empowers hoteliers to seize control over their online reputation. Equipped with advanced features and multilingual translation capabilities, Review Center ensures properties can promptly respond to reviews, enhance their online reputation, and never miss another reservation.”

HotelRunner Review Center is now available to properties worldwide to take advantage of AI-powered reputation management. Click here to get detailed information about the HotelRunner Review Center.

Contact Information
Suheyla van Taarling
Head of Brand
suheyla@hotelrunner.com
00905314010303

HotelRunner Introduces ‘Elite’: An Exclusive Path to Efficiency and Profitability

HotelRunner, the leading hospitality and travel technologies platform, has launched HotelRunner Elite, an exclusive service designed to add exponential value to independent and chain hotels, helping them overcome the challenges of strategic positioning and yield management.

HotelRunner Introduces ‘Elite’

In a highly competitive landscape, HotelRunner Elite is designed to help accommodation businesses thrive by offering data-driven, innovative, state-of-the-art technology solutions, and dedicated consulting. Analyzing demand, tracking competitors, and charting a roadmap for efficient yield management, Elite allows hospitality professionals to realize a property’s true potential and makes sure they are always winning.

In line with its trailblazing persona, the company shifted gears to develop more data-driven and AI-powered platforms like the recently announced Insights and Autopilot. Today, on top of HotelRunner’s end-to-end stellar technology, Elite leverages a suite of additional products, including but not limited to Rate Intelligence, Autopilot, and Insights. All these products and the platform feed on HotelRunner’s immense data and evolve with the help of AI and machine learning.

What makes these benefits truly valuable is encapsulated in three concise yet powerful words: profitability, efficiency, and exclusivity. Members of HotelRunner Elite reap the benefits of cutting-edge technology infrastructure, coupled with the expertise of dedicated revenue managers and hospitality experts who scrutinize vast amounts of data to provide actionable insights and strategic guidance. This exclusive offering provides an unparalleled experience within a select community consisting of a group of best-in-class hospitality professionals.

“At HotelRunner, we’re dedicated to providing innovative solutions that drive growth for the hospitality industry,” said Arden Agopyan, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner. “HotelRunner Elite is a true reflection of our commitment to providing the best service possible by pushing the boundaries. With a suite of data-driven platforms and privileged consultancy, Elite offers a unique value to independent and chain hotels, helping them automate their operations, enhance profitability, and beat the competition. We’re excited to see the incredible results it delivers.”

“HotelRunner has always been a leader in hospitality and travel technologies. Each of the products and features we have recently developed is part of a much larger vision and HotelRunner Elite is an extension of it,” said Ali Beklen, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner. “With this launch, we’re taking our offerings to the next level as part of our commitment to creating a bigger travel economy. Elite is designed to help accommodation businesses with large revenue volumes with a tailor-made solution, unlike any other. We’re confident it will be a game-changer for our partners.”

As in the past decade, HotelRunner is committed to providing maximum value to its partners. The new service is tailored to the unique requirements of the industry, addressing the definitive demands of large and enterprise hotels. With a singular offering, Elite delivers optimal results with a combination of a powerful technology platform, AI, and human touch.

HotelRunner Elite has been in the closed beta program for almost a year and has already been increasing profitability and efficiency of its members. For more information about HotelRunner Elite, visit https://hotelrunner.com/elite

Contact Information
Suheyla van Taarling
Head of Brand
suheyla@hotelrunner.com
00905314010303

SOURCE: HotelRunner

HotelRunner Launches ‘Autopilot’, Ushering in a New Era of Data-Driven Smart Automations in Travel and Hospitality

HotelRunner, the leading accommodation and travel technologies platform, launches Autopilot at ITB Berlin 2023. Having garnered great attention with its innovative business intelligence platform ‘Insights’ which was unveiled last year, and getting the new year off to a running start with recent funding news, HotelRunner introduces its AI-driven, intuitive, and smart platform to automate the sales, distribution, and operations of the accommodations.

HotelRunner Autopilot – HotelRunner launches ‘Autopilot’ ushering in a new era of data-driven smart automations in travel and hospitality.

Setting out with the goal of automating all daily operations of a hospitality business, from marketing activities to pricing strategies, HotelRunner introduces Autopilot. The new platform leverages the reservations volume processed in HotelRunner which is more than 3 million in the past year alone.

Accommodation businesses can effortlessly implement sophisticated sales and pricing strategies by transferring all their daily operations and industry expertise to the Autopilot platform as a set of rules and automations.

As the driving force behind the industry with its superior technology, HotelRunner stays ahead of the curve in meeting the future needs of all the stakeholders in the travel and accommodation industries. The Autopilot platform, born from years of research and development and industry experience, has been designed in a way that accommodations can interact with the entire tourism ecosystem. Not only it enables a property to automate its operations, but also evolves to encompass the collective knowledge of all industry players contributing to a property’s success. Thus, HotelRunner leads the creation of a first-of-its-kind automation marketplace. With this innovative platform, HotelRunner maps out the future of tourism technologies.

“The Autopilot platform is a crucial component of our comprehensive vision to serve and advance the travel and hospitality industries. We began the era of data-driven decision-making in hospitality with the launch of the Insights platform in November last year. With the Autopilot, we firmly build upon this vision, cracking the doors of a new era where software serves people, rather than the other way around,” says Ali Beklen, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner.

“With our innovative Autopilot technology, we challenge conventional wisdom in hotel management and offer a fresh perspective to the industry. By leaving manual processes behind, we offer our partners effortless efficiency and strive to increase their profitability. Driven by AI and evolving constantly, the Autopilot is just the starting point of the revolution we aim to ignite in the travel and hospitality industries. We are setting a new standard for industry players to do business and interact with each other,” adds Arden Agopyan, Founder and Managing Partner of HotelRunner.

The Autopilot platform allows properties to:
– Automate pricing and availability by seasons, holidays, and weekends.
– Monitor reservation activity in real-time and take action according to the demand.
– Benefit from AI-based recommendations and alerts to maximize their profits.
– Minimize the workload with automations that work fully integrated with their PMS and channel manager.

HotelRunner Autopilot has been in the closed beta program for one year, and has already been contributing to the increasing revenues of the properties using the platform. Click here to get detailed information about the HotelRunner Autopilot platform and to start using it. https://hotelrunner.com/en/features/autopilot/

Contact Information
Suheyla van Taarling
Head of Brand
suheyla@hotelrunner.com

SOURCE: HotelRunner