Global hospitality cloud-based technology company, Cendyn, has acquired Knowland, the US-based leader in data-as-a-service (DaaS) intelligence on meetings and events.
The strategic acquisition presents an opportunity to enhance sales prospecting by yielding greater bookings in the meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) space.
Knowland’s platform includes extensive market intelligence data on meetings and events gathered from more than 7,500 hotels across the US and select international markets.
Knowland’s products connect hoteliers with market insights to drive more revenue, accelerate sales, and optimise processes to achieve group sales goals.
Alongside Cendyn’s current investors, earlier this year Cendyn welcomed Austin-based Haveli Investments to its private equity portfolio.
With their focus on high-quality technology companies, the backing by Haveli Investments along with Accel-KKR puts Cendyn on a strong path to deliver innovation for the hospitality industry.
The pairing of Knowland’s meeting and event data with Cendyn’s Sales CRM, Proposals, and Grouprev platforms highlights the opportunity this acquisition brings to their customers, empowering them to find and drive group bookings with a complete and single solution.
“To effectively sell group business, hoteliers need immediate access to data, and Knowland’s event intelligence platform is undoubtedly the market leader in this area,” said Cendyn CEO Jack Blaha.
“It’s the perfect fit with our commitment to helping hoteliers ‘Find, Book, and Grow’ their business. With Haveli Investments’ dedication and expertise in technology joining our expansion, we’re poised to deliver a bright future for Cendyn’s customers,”
Knowland CEO Jeff Bzdawka said: “This exciting new era furthers our commitment to improving the working lives of hotel sales teams and helps shift the needle towards a proactive sales approach to group business.”
According to the US Travel Association, after a slow recovery, business travel is expected to regain 95% of its 2019 peak this year.
The acquisition provides Cendyn with the opportunity to equip its customers with a combined event intelligence and B2B prospecting solution, simplifying and automating the sales process to ease the management and success of sales outreach.
