Agreement enables Groupon to work with more hotels and expands instant booking
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) today announced a partnership with DerbySoft––a leading connector of travel suppliers and distributors––that paves the way for Groupon’s travel business, Groupon Getaways, to work with more of the world’s leading hotel brands and expands the ability across its platform to instantly access room availability, view nightly rates and directly book reservations. For DerbySoft, the agreement gives their supply partners access to Groupon’s 29 million customers in North America––helping them to better achieve their goals, drive sales and increase revenue growth.
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“Partnering with DerbySoft furthers our goal of making experiential travel more accessible and bookable for consumers,” said Louisa Balach, North America general manager of Groupon Getaways. “They have a strong reputation throughout the industry and this partnership will make it even easier for top hotels and resorts to work with us –– providing greater choice and a more seamless booking experience for our customers.”
Booking is a key part of Groupon’s voucherless initiative aimed at improving the redemption experience, providing always-on availability, giving consumers more reasons to buy and opening up the Groupon marketplace to a broader range of suppliers. Groupon increased bookable inventory 12 percent year over year* and booked tens of millions of travelers, diners, concert goers, spa visitors and more in 2018.
DerbySoft has partnerships with all the top 10 global hotel groups, the leading third-party central reservation systems and hundreds of regional hotel chains. On the demand side, DerbySoft is connected to all the major online travel agencies, metasearch engines, wholesalers and tour operators from around the world.
“We’re very excited to partner with Groupon and provide our partners with even greater inventory distribution through their ecommerce marketplace,” said Duane Overgaard, VP and GM of Connectivity for DerbySoft. “Groupon is a well-respected brand, and we look forward to helping them connect more travelers to their favorite destinations across our supplier network as well as potentially expanding into tours, activities and ticketing.”
Groupon currently features 40,000 hotels and resorts in the U.S. and around the world through its Groupon Getaways North America marketplace with Orlando, Las Vegas, New York City, Niagara Falls and Myrtle Beach as some of the top-selling destinations.
Groupon had nearly $560 million in global travel billings in 2018.
The Groupon and DerbySoft integration is expected to launch before the end of the year.
*2018 vs. 2017
Note on Forward-Looking Statements
The statements contained in this release that refer to plans and expectations for the next quarter, the full year or the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy and plans and our objectives for future operations. The words "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "continue" and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward looking statements largely on current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risk related to volatility in our operating results; execution
of our business and marketing strategies; retaining existing customers and adding new customers; challenges arising from our international operations, including fluctuations in currency exchange rates, legal and regulatory developments and any potential adverse impact from the United Kingdom's likely exit from the European Union; retaining and adding high quality merchants; our voucherless offerings; cybersecurity breaches; reliance on cloud-based computing platforms; competing successfully in our industry; changes to merchant payment terms; providing a strong mobile experience for our customers; maintaining our information technology infrastructure; delivery and routing of our emails; claims related to product and service offerings; managing inventory and order fulfillment risks; litigation; managing refund risks; retaining and attracting members of our executive team; completing and realizing the anticipated benefits from acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and strategic investments; lack of control over minority investments; tax liabilities; tax legislation; compliance with domestic and foreign laws and regulations, including the CARD Act, GDPR and regulation of the Internet and e-commerce; classification of our independent contractors; protecting our intellectual property; maintaining a strong brand; customer and merchant fraud; payment-related risks; our ability to raise capital if necessary and our outstanding indebtedness, including refinancing our credit facility; global economic uncertainty; our common stock, including volatility in our stock price; our convertible senior notes; and our ability to realize the anticipated benefits from the hedge and warrant transactions. For additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties, we urge you to refer to the factors included under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained by visiting the company's Investor Relations web site at investor.groupon.com or the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Groupon's actual results could
differ materially from those predicted or implied and reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although Groupon believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Moreover, neither Groupon nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements reflect our expectations as of September 24, 2019. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations.
About DerbySoft
DerbySoft enables travel companies to work together through technology and innovation. As the leading provider of high-performance hotel distribution, DerbySoft connects distributors and suppliers through the Connectivity Suite by offering streamlined connectivity at both the CRS and PMS levels. DerbySoft also provides solutions for suppliers through the Digital Marketing Suite, which uses machine learning and rich data to drive high-performing digital marketing campaigns, and the Content Suite, a platform for collecting, managing and distributing quality hotel content to drive higher booking conversions.
With six offices around the globe and over 300 employees in over 11 countries, DerbySoft continues to grow and develop the next generation of online hotel distribution infrastructure. Derbysoft.com
About Groupon
Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) is building the daily habit in local commerce, offering a vast mobile and online marketplace where people discover and save on amazing things to do, see, eat and buy. By enabling real-time commerce across local businesses, travel destinations, consumer products and live events, shoppers can find the best a city has to offer.
Groupon is redefining how small businesses attract and retain customers by providing them with customizable and scalable marketing tools and services to profitably grow their businesses.
To download Groupon's top-rated mobile apps, visit www.groupon.com/mobile. To search for great deals or subscribe to Groupon emails, visit www.groupon.com. To learn more about the company’s merchant solutions and how to work with Groupon, visit www.groupon.com/merchant.
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190925005549/en/
Media Contacts:
Groupon
Nick Halliwell
312.999.3812
nhalliwell@groupon.com
DerbySoft
Caroline B. Terry
469.480.7985
caroline.terry@derbysoft.net
Source: Groupon