Skyscanner Buys Social-Review Site Twizoo in Escalating Content Drive

Skyscanner has bought small London user-generated-content aggregator, Twizoo, as it ramps up to improve the reviews and recommendations functionality on its site.

Twizoo has raised $2.2 million (£1.65 million) in four funding rounds, according to Crunchbase.

Content is becoming increasingly important for price-comparison sites like Skyscanner, which is owned by China's Ctrip. Last year, Skyscanner introduced ratings for airlines to help customers judge an airline using more than just the quoted price. And just last week, Ctrip bought Trip.com, which generates in-destination reviews. Skyscanner will use both the Trip.com and Twizoo reviews.

Bryan Dove, Skyscanner's chief technology officer, said: “Skyscanner aims to serve all traveler needs, from inspiration through to planning and booking. Twizoo’s technology surfaces customer opinions from social media, providing real value to traveler decision- making. We’re delighted to have the highly talented Twizoo team join us.”

Madeline Parra, co-founder and CEO of Twizoo said: “Skyscanner is built by travelers, for travelers. Their emphasis on authenticity and transparency reflect Twizoo’s own values. Travel is inherently social and we’re excited to work with the Skyscanner team to integrate our technology into their world-class travel search products, giving travelers invaluable insight through user-generated content shared on social media.”

Twizoo’s team of six have already been incorporated into Skyscanner’s London office.