Yanolja plans integration of its online booking with M&A

Yanolja's latest business move was the acquisition of property management system provider, eZee Technosys which the unicorn startup will use to lower costs and enhance its online travel booking UI, according to Co-CEO Kim Jong-Yoon, who spoke at the Upbit Developer Conference 2019 in August.

Although the internet has existed for decades, it has been only recently that hotel distribution channels were brought to the internet, comprising PMS providers that keep availability and rates of hotel rooms in check and online travel agencies that distribute products to end-users.

So far, however, PMS providers, OTAs and hotels have felt “disconnected” leading to inefficiencies in the online booking system, Kim said during the developer-centric event in Incheon.

“It costs more human effort to connect the dots,” said Kim, who is in charge of the booking app unicorn’s online business and corporate strategy.

Behind Yanolja’s acquisition of Indian PMS provider eZee Technosys, is its aim to minimize the spending in the digital transformation.

“Many hotels want to go online with their booking channels, but found they spent more than they earned if they actually did,” he said.

Once the sales channels get integrated, Yanolja would be able to reduce spending, he claimed, adding the first step to do so is to bring the world’s second-largest PMS operation under control.

In the meantime, the integrated channels’ use of guest database, encrypted through technologies like blockchain, would boost efficiency in the online distribution strategy, he added.

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