Business travel startup Hotel Engine reels in $140M at $2.1B valuation

Resort Engine Inc., the operator of a lodge reserving platform for enterprise vacationers, immediately announced that it has closed a $140 million Collection C funding spherical.

Non-public fairness agency Permira led the funding at a $2.1 billion valuation. That’s up from the $1.3 billion Resort Engine was value following its earlier elevate in November 2021. The startup says that it has spent solely $20 million of its enterprise funding to attain the $800 million valuation bump.

Denver-based Resort Engine operates a cloud service that firms can use to e-book lodging for workers embarking on enterprise journeys. It offers entry to rooms at 750,000 lodges by means of a search bar that may filter outcomes by property kind, facilities and different standards. It’s doable to e-book lodging for particular person vacationers, teams or occasions.

Resort Engine differentiates its platform from the numerous different enterprise journey instruments on the market by providing a number of monetary incentives to prospects. Corporations don’t have to purchase memberships or signal minimal spending commitments. Moreover, Resort Engine offers the power to cancel and shorten journeys with out incurring monetary penalties.

The corporate additionally presents extra typical incentives. Purchases are value factors within the royalty applications of each Resort Engine and the hospitality firms that listing their properties in its platform. Moreover, the software program maker offers reductions that it says can scale back the price of a lodge keep by as much as 60% in some circumstances. 

“They’ve found out how one can present the advantages of managed journey with out the downsides corresponding to contracts, minimal spend necessities and further help charges, and so they’ve additionally created a enterprise that appeals to each vacationers and suppliers like lodges, airways and automotive rental firms,” mentioned Permira principal Alex Melamud.

Alongside its cost-cutting options, Resort Engine offers instruments for rushing up the executive work concerned in enterprise journeys. One software permits firms to consolidate a number of lodge payments right into a single bill to simplify accounting. There’s additionally a characteristic for managing incidental deposits, that are used to cowl lodge bills not included in normal room expenses. 

Resort Engine says that its platform is utilized by greater than 40,000 prospects together with PepsiCo Inc., Complete Meals Market Inc. and different main manufacturers. These firms depend on the software program to plan enterprise journeys for about 700,000 staff. Resort Engine says that bookings on its platform are on observe to exceed 10 million room nights this yr.

Alongside its flagship journey platform, the software program maker offers a free enterprise administration utility for lodge operators. A hospitality firm can use the latter product to bid on group journey contracts and run advertising and marketing campaigns. There are additionally options for associated duties corresponding to evaluating a lodge’s efficiency with rivals. 

Resort Engine disclosed every now and then of immediately’s funding milestone that its annual income development fee exceeds 70%, off an undisclosed base. Furthermore, the corporate is worthwhile. 

To keep up its enterprise momentum, Resort Engine plans to broaden its platform with options for reserving flights and rental vehicles. The brand new capabilities are set to roll subsequent month. At the side of the replace, Resort Engine will grow to be merely Engine as a part of a rebrand meant to mirror that its focus is increasing past lodge bookings.

Picture: Hotel Engine