Cendyn acquires Knowland and announces private equity partner Haveli Investments
Integrated hospitality solutions leader dives deeper into group sales, meetings, and events in its latest acquisition supported by its investors, including Haveli Investments
Austin, Texas, USA – 1 October 2024: Cendyn, a global hospitality cloud-based technology company, has acquired Knowland, the US-based leader in data-as-a-service intelligence on meetings and events for hospitality. The strategic acquisition presents an opportunity to enhance sales prospecting by yielding greater bookings in the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and events) space.
Knowland’s platform includes extensive market intelligence data on meetings and events gathered from over 7,500 hotels across the USA and a select handful of international markets. Knowland’s products connect hoteliers with market insights to drive more revenue, accelerate the sales cycle, and optimize 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. Its sales intelligence complements our Sales CRM, helping hoteliers find their target audience. Then, using our Proposals and Grouprev platforms, hoteliers can complete the booking process. 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,” said Jack Blaha, CEO at Cendyn.
“Salespeople thrive on information, and over the past 20 years, Knowland has provided them with essential data to help target new business efforts and hone in on genuine leads,” said Jeff Bzdawka, CEO at Knowland. “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 in 2024. 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.
“We are excited to partner with Cendyn, its leadership team, and all of its shareholders, including Accel-KKR to capitalize on the growth opportunities that lie ahead,” said Ian Loring, Senior Managing Director and Executive Chair at Haveli Investments. “We believe Cendyn’s broad portfolio of hospitality solutions uniquely positions it to help continue capturing market share, expanding into new markets, and driving value for its customers.”
Discover more about Cendyn’s range of products and services at cendyn.com
For requests and further information contact:
Megan McIntyre – +44 (0)7981 930 304 – megan@haynesmarcoms.agency
Ryan Haynes – +44 (0)7919 510 051 – ryan@haynesmarcoms.agency
About Cendyn
Cendyn is a global hospitality cloud-based technology company that enables hotels to drive revenue, maximize profitability, and create deeper connections with guests through its integrated solutions. Serving hoteliers for nearly 30 years, Cendyn drives commercial success for hotels through its Find, Book, Grow promise: find the right guests; drive them to book direct, and grow loyalty and revenue across the spectrum of digital guest interactions. Cendyn has over 32,000 customers worldwide in more than 150 countries. The company supports its growing customer base from locations across the globe, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Bangkok, and India. To find out more, visit cendyn.com
About Knowland
Celebrating its 20th year in 2024, Knowland is the world’s leading provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality. With the industry’s largest historical database of actualized events, thousands of customers trust Knowland to sell group smarter and maximize their revenue. Knowland operates globally and is headquartered just outside Washington, DC. To find out more, visit www.knowland.com
About Haveli
Haveli Investments is an Austin-based private equity firm that seeks to invest in the highest quality companies in the technology sector through control, minority or structured equity and debt investments with a focus on software, data, gaming, and adjacent industries. The firm seeks to partner with innovative companies, entrepreneurs, and management teams throughout a company’s life cycle. Haveli’s experienced team of investors and diverse industry experts will provide operational and strategic support, enabling portfolio companies to focus on driving innovation and increasing growth, scale, and operating margins. Underscoring Haveli’s investments is an unwavering focus on DEI and sustainability. For more information, please visit www.haveliinvestments.com, or follow Haveli on LinkedIn, @Haveli Investments.
