Paris – 4 October 2017 –
AccorHotels has today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Gekko, a major player in the business travel hotel reservation segment. This transaction is in line with the strategy aimed at strengthening AccorHotels’ leadership across the entire customer experience by enhancing the range of services offered to business travellers, the Group’s key customer segment.
Thanks to its expertise and cutting-edge technology, Gekko offers search and reservation solutions via an interface connected to more than 500,000 hotels worldwide, ranging from budget to luxury. Its turnkey management tools allow business travellers to manage their online payments, offering them the option of tracking and optimizing their costs. Gekko today serves more than 300 corporate customers and 14,000 travel agencies through its subsidiaries: HCorpo (key accounts), Teldar Travel (leisure travel agencies), Teldar Travel Biz (SME-focused travel agencies), Miles Attack (loyalty program) and Infinite Hotel (wholesaler serving independent French hotels).
Gekko operates in France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal, and has been posting very strong year-on-year growth for many years. Founded in 2010, Gekko is managed by Olivier Delouis and Stéphane de Laforcade. They introduced HLD, a European investment fund, as their reference shareholder in 2015.
The transaction, which values Gekko at €100 million, will have an accretive effect on AccorHotels’ financial performance from 2018.
Stephane de Laforcade and Olivier Delouis will remain at the head of Gekko and will continue to run the group independently.