GuestCentric secures $4M funding

A software-as-as-a-service business focused on providing independent hotels with tools to get supplier direct bookings has nailed $4m of funding after a 100% take-up from its trial customers. US-based GuestCentric has offices and a sales team in the UK and Portugal. Chief executive Pedro Colaco told Travolution that there were up to 125,000 hotels in…

A software-as-as-a-service business focused on providing independent hotels with tools to get supplier direct bookings has nailed $4m of funding after a 100% take-up from its trial customers.

US-based GuestCentric has offices and a sales team in the UK and Portugal.

Chief executive Pedro Colaco told Travolution that there were up to 125,000 hotels in Europe which fitted its target market of independent hotels with between 40 and 240 rooms.

“There is a big structural shift in the market which we are benefitting from,” he said.

“We can improve the online presence of hotels which already have a good online presence, and we can show late adopter hotels that they don’t need Expedia, booking or venere.”

Guestcentric tools range from basic web design and booking engines to managing PPC and SEO. Colaco added that Guestcentric was repositioning the traditional reservation management systems as part of a hotel’s CRM and marketing channel.

The product was launched in 2008, with the big sales push starting this year. Colaco said that there had been a 100% take-up from hotels which had opted for a free trail. “This validation from our hotel customers impressed the new investors,” he said.

The business is over two years old. All the initial seed capital investors have remained on board and have been joined by new investors InovCapital and Turismo Capital.

Both venture capital funds are based in Portugal.