I had the pleasure to be introduced to Siteminder in Australia, in its early days, and it was just as good of a product as it is today. Siteminder started in “Oz” on the basis that channel managers at the time (cough cough Rate Tiger cough cough) were clumsy and buggy and just not meeting expectations. And many of their customers will vow they did create a better product.
Siteminder started with smaller properties, including hostels, BnB’s and Botique hotels in Australia. The XML specs for hostels weren’t that different from the ladder, so it really only took a few tweaks on their side and their booking button to pull it off. The hostel industry in Oz embraced it with open arms. Even today, they hold over 40% of the market.
Indeed, the hostel industry (they call it the BackPacker industry) played a big part of the revenue streams that allowed Siteminder to blossom and become more attractive to the hotels. Currently they are becoming a huge payer in the hotel SaaS sector. They opened offices in London and Dallas, took a 30 M venture capital injection and are taking the market by storm. It is only a manner of time before they get acquired up. So here is a list of who the best acquisition candidates are:
Sabre:
Sabre just sold off Travelocity to Expedia, and if that clears, they will have the capital to do something creative. Siteminder basically offers an alternative to the GDS, and as more companies embrace channel managers over GDS, Sarbre looses revenue. Acquiring Siteminder could strengthen their hold on the market. It might be more than just a coincidence that Siteminder chose their US headquarters to be in Dallas, home of Sabre.
Oracle:
Oracle acquired Micros for a large sum and could be looking to expand more on the services it offers to hotels. Micros’s hotel PMS system has been deepening their partnership and integration with Siteminder over the years. Acquiring Siteminder could lead to a more solid product for them to offer, to compete with Sabre’s Synxis and other out of the box SaaS solution brands.
Travelport:
Like Sabre, Travelport uses GDS with their Roommaster and WorldSpan product, and the world is moving away from GDS. Revenue managers will emphasize bookings on other channels to cut back on their GDS fees if possible. Siteminder would strengthen their protect and marketshare in the industry.
Priceline:
Priceline has been adding more SaaS companies to their team over time, such as Buuteeq and Hotels Ninjas. This way, as more guests move towards direct bookings, Priceline still generates revenue. Also, having these products helps the property distribute on Pricelines channels (Booking.com, Agoda, Priceline). Finally, Priceline could be looking to have some type of low budget PMS capabilities and a channel manager would be extremely helpful to completing the solutions. Siteminder would be the perfect company for them to complete their hotel services model.
