Tech Firms Make Deals, Enter Partnerships

NATIONAL REPORT—Acquisitions and partnerships are happenings in the hospitality technology sector, including Cvent’s acquisition of two companies. Here’s a look:

Cvent Acquires DoubleDutch and Wedding Spot

Cvent, a meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, has acquired DoubleDutch, mobile event app provider. The acquisition of DoubleDutch highlights Cvent’s investment in the mobile technology space and will complement and grow the company’s signature mobile event app and onsite solution capabilities.

Mobile event apps are an integral part of the attendee experience, facilitating and capturing engagement that leads to higher event ROI and attendee satisfaction. By acquiring DoubleDutch, Cvent is expanding its commitment to the critically important onsite experience.

In addition, Cvent has acquired Wedding Spot, a wedding venue sourcing platform.

More than 12,000 special event venues and hotels utilize Wedding Spot to attract wedding business to their properties. Cvent acquired Wedding Spot to bring additional group business opportunities to the more than 260,000 hotels and venues that currently utilize the Cvent Supplier Network, further accelerating Cvent’s product roadmap and global growth in the hospitality sector, according to the company.

Founded in 2013 in San Francisco, CA, Wedding Spot offers venues across the U.S. direct access to couples looking for their wedding venue. Within the Wedding Spot platform, couples can quickly source and compare their preferred locale.

The Cvent Hospitality Cloud offers group marketing, sales and operations solutions to help venues connect with buyers, attract and win more group business and deliver great event experiences. By acquiring Wedding Spot, Cvent now offers an additional channel for special event venues and hotels to attract wedding business.

Broadband Hospitality Acquires Allin Interactive

Broadband Hospitality (BBH) and Allin Interactive have completed a transaction to merge the companies into a single-source for innovative communications technology solutions.

The company now offers hotels, resorts, cruise lines, senior living communities, student housing and multiple dwelling units (MDU) a total, unified technology solution including infrastructure, television content and interactive customer-facing services delivered and supported by a preferred provider with more than 50 years of combined hospitality technology experience.

As a result of this transaction, nearly 1,000 customers representing approximately 245,000 rooms/units will be served by the merged company, operating under the Broadband Hospitality brand. This includes properties throughout Latin America, which expands the BBH footprint internationally. Operations of the Allin Ft. Lauderdale, FL office and BBH Youngstown, OH headquarters will remain intact under existing executive leadership, with a newly established united mission. Current customers of Broadband Hospitality and Allin Interactive will continue to receive their same services without interruption and will have access to a broader scope of services that can be bundled, managed and billed from a single source.

SkyTouch and OpenKey Interface Partner

SkyTouch Technology, a 100% cloud-based operations platform, has connected its platform with OpenKey, the industry standard for universal mobile key in hotels.

The integration, powered by the SkyTouch/Connect integration platform, enables properties to use the mobile keyless entry and the SkyTouch Hotel Operations Platform together through the popular OpenKey app, which is available on both iOS and Android devices. Hoteliers can use the integration to help gain a competitive advantage by delivering on guest expectations by managing their stay with the latest hotel technology.

This new solution allows hotels to automatically email guests their mobile key information and a link to download the app. Within a matter of seconds, the guest can check-in via their smartphone and proceed to access their room with the tap of a button. Hoteliers can easily personalize the mobile key configuration by allowing access to VIP areas, meeting rooms, parking and more, depending on the individual.

Broadvine Teams Up with Data Plus

Broadvine has completed an extensive integration with the Data Plus Accounting platform. This partnership will allow Data Plus customers to extend their accounting platform with Broadvine’s reporting and forecasting capabilities.

Broadvine’s application provides accurate, reliable budgets and forecasts, real-time reporting data and labor insights. By consolidating PMS, accounting and forecast data, Data Plus customers will now have central access to property and portfolio performance data, enabling faster decisions to optimize profitability.