Spanish travel technology firm Amadeus has agreed to purchase hotel technology company TravelClick for $1.52 billion. By acquiring U.S.-based TravelClick from private equity investment firm Thomas Bravo, Amadeus will expand its presence in the hospitality sector. Amadeus operates global travel booking systems and offers check-in services for airlines. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The agreement is the biggest strategic move Amadeus has made on the hospitality tech front—pitting it against Sabre Hospitality, Oracle Hospitality and other players in the hotel reservation system arena.
New York-based TravelClick has more than 25,000 customers in 176 cities. Its cloud-based services assist mid-chain and independent hotels with central-reservation systems and guest-management solutions, as well as business intelligence and media solutions. The company had revenue of $373 million in 2017, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the same year of $86 million.
Amadeus said the addition of TravelClick’s products to its portfolio will "create a hospitality IT leader providing a broad range of innovative technology to hotels and chains of all sizes across the globe."
"The combination of our two portfolios will allow us to provide that to hotels of all shapes and sizes across the world,” Amadeus President and CEO Luis Maroto said in a statement.
Amadeus' customers include airlines, hotels, travel agencies and travel buyers but two of its largest customers are InterContinental Hotels Group and Premier Inn. In July, Amadeus said that it has migrated more than half of IHG’s properties to its new guest reservation system and that its work for Premier Inn would shift into high gear next year.
“This is a huge step forward for Amadeus in hospitality,” Francisco Perez-Lozao, SVP of strategic growth businesses at Amadeus, said in a statement. “While we have already made strong progress with the large chains, TravelClick gives us access to the mid-chain and independent hotel segment that makes up almost three-quarters of the market. We can now serve the entire industry with a very broad portfolio of solutions and we are looking for significant growth in the years ahead.”