After acquiring Australia/New Zealand-based Lido Group this month, hotel solutions company HRS has acquired Berlin-based startup Conichi. HRS had been a lead investor in the company since 2015. HRS will integrate the hotel payment company's technology into the HRS payment product platform, and all Conichi employees, including founders Maximilian Waldmann and Frederic Haitz, will join HRS. Co-founder Maximilian Waldmann will be COO of the payment
unit, and Frederic Haitz will be chief product officer.
"Payment has long been one of our most important strategic
pillars," said HRS CEO Tobias Ragge. "The new structure ensures the
agility of the division while emphasizing the importance of payment solutions
as managed travel evolves. An innovative and reliable payment process achieves
23 percent higher acceptance of the travel program by travelers."
All current Conichi clients already are HRS clients.
"Our primary turf was Europe and the U.S. … but going forward, customers
can utilize services within the bigger HRS value chain," Waldmann said.
"It gives us the opportunity to take our services to the global
level." New customers, however, will have to be HRS clients to access the
Conichi services. In addition, HRS retired the Conichi brand and its services now
fall under YourSmartHotel.com.
Nicole Mantow, who joined HRS in June, heads the payment unit and reports
directly to Ragge. Before joining HRS, she was managing director for Germany at
EVO Payments. Prior to that role, Mantow led strategy, marketing and sales for
Germany, Austria and Switzerland for payment service provider Concardis.
BTN updated this story at 6:35 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 23, 2019, to reflect
comments from Conichi co-founder Maximilian Waldmann.