Skift Take
This is filled with so many people from the same team that it appears there's a very specific problem Marriott has that it wasn't able to solve in-house.
A hotel booking startup, Imagine If, says it raised $3 million in seed funding from former Marriott executives, among others.
The funding announcement by the Washington, D.C.-based startup coincides with the launch of its second hotel product, StayFaster.com, which is geared toward streamling the booking process with features such as one-click cancellation for the frequent business traveler.
Imagine If says it raised the $3 million seed round from Chris Zoladz, who formerly led a team at Marriott tasked with privacy protection; former Marriott CIO Carl Wilson, and Scott Bedbury, formerly chief marketing officer at Starbucks. A spokesperson says Imagine If is “in the midst” of a Series A round.
Imagine If founder and CEO John Hart, formerly an IT project manager at Marriott, says the company, which also offers a hotel-booking app, StayAtHand, is in line for $1 million in convertible debt from crowd-funding platform Veteran Crowd.
Ask Skift Is the AI Chatbot for the Travel Industry
Go deeper into the business of travel with Skift’s new AI chatbot.
Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch
Photo credit: Imagine If has launched a hotel-booking site, StayFaster, and an app (shown above), StayAtHand. Imagine If