Shiji Group buys IcePortal to manage digital hotel content

Hospitality technology firm, Shiji Group, has recently acquired a small firm that helps hoteliers manage the digital imagery of their properties and display showcase them on distribution partners platforms, like online travel agencies. Based out of Hollywood, Florida, IcePortal offers its services to the managers of vacation rentals.

A year ago, Shiji Group, the Beijing-based parent company, stepped up its global expansion after receiving a $486 million investment from Alibaba, giving the e-commerce giant a 13 percent stake. More than 60,000 hotels use the services of Shiji’s 20 foreign subsidiaries.

IcePortal sells imagery management services to 54,000 hotels worldwide via enterprise software solutions mainly to about 60 large companies, such as Wyndham, Accor, Choice, Hyatt, Hilton, and WorldHotels.

The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal. IcePortal hadn’t raised external funding. Shiji said it would integrate IcePortal’s media content distribution function into its platform but didn’t elaborate.

IcePortal’s visual content services are similar to better-marketed Leonardo, a company acquired last November by Jonas Software, a Toronto-based holding company for software providers across multiple verticals that recently decided to go big in travel. Shiji had looked closely into acquiring Leonardo instead, but eventually backed away, said a source familiar with Leonardo.

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