Cendyn's Merger With Data Rival Is Latest Private Equity Rollup in Hotel Tech
Skift Take
Accel-KKR, a private equity firm based in Silicon Valley, supported Cendyn's merger with arch-rival NextGuest. Investors are betting that hotels will spend more heavily on data-based tools to gain an edge once the sector's recession ends.
Cendyn has acquired NextGuest, its long-time rival. The combined company, using the Cendyn name, claims to be the largest provider based in North America that provides customer relationship management and digital marketing tools to hotels worldwide.
Accel-KKR supported the deal. The private equity firm based in Silicon Valley became a majority owner of Cendyn, based in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2019.
NextGuest itself was a roll-up formed in 2017 by New York-based private equity firm PPC, which merged Hebs Digital with Serenata.
The companies represent data plays.
"As a hotelier, if you know your guest, and you can have data on the guest available and pushed to the front lines of the business at every touchpoint that you interact with the guest, you're going to beat the competition as we come out of this crisis," said Cendyn president and CEO Tim Sullivan.
Cendyn and NextGuest together serve hotel brands that include Jumeirah Resorts, Hyatt, Marriott, Minor Hotels, IHG, Hilton, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, and Virgin Hotels.
Pause and Effect
Cendyn's Sullivan dismissed the notion that this new merger looks like a distress flare from NextGuest. Cendyn had talked about a possible merger with NextGuest four years ago and the
