Amadeus invests in hospitality AI firm hivr.ai

Hotels can automate meeting and group sales across distribution channels

GDS and travel technology specialist, Amadeus, has announced a minority investment in hivr.ai through its strategic funding programme Amadeus Ventures.

hivr.ai, a scale-up headquartered in Germany with teams across Europe, consolidates and automates meeting and group sales across the fragmented distribution landscape, including hotel websites, email, phone, and third-party venue finders. 

The technology was founded by four former Expedia managers which enables hotels to streamline processes, shorten sales cycles, and significantly increase revenue from meetings and groups. 

By leveraging hivr.ai’s AI-led solutions, hotels can automate manual workload and significantly accelerate the bidding process for meetings and groups. 

This enhances the meeting planner experience, and hotels’ chances of converting the business. 

Felix Undeutsch, chief executive officer of hivr.ai, said: "Our innovative, AI-led solutions empower convention sales teams to transform their workflows. In an era of understaffed reservation offices, hivr.ai automates time-consuming and manual back-office tasks. 

"This includes data entry, complex availability checks, and repetitive follow-up emails and calls through our voice AI technology. 

"Now convention sales teams can focus on what truly matters: crafting unique experiences for their meeting customers, rather than being weighed down by low-value administrative tasks."

In addition to its investment, Amadeus is exploring commercial collaboration opportunities for the technology, bringing it to a hospitality-wide customer base. 

hivr.ai will develop an interface with Delphi, Amadeus' industry-leading sales and catering solution, and will complement Amadeus' MeetingBroker product. This integration will provide hoteliers with expanded channels, new connectivity options, and AI-powered automation capabilities.

Suzanna Chiu, head of Amadeus Ventures, added: “Through Amadeus Ventures we closely monitor trends across the hospitality ecosystem, with a focus on the rapidly evolving AI space. 

"hivr.ai provides hoteliers with a practical use for this developing technology, offering solutions which can be seamlessly integrated into existing operations. 

"The investment fits with our wider mission of bringing innovative solutions to our customers and improve their operational efficiency.”

The terms of the transaction remain undisclosed.