Cendyn, a global hospitality cloud-based technology company, has acquired Knowland, a provider of 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, according to Cendyn.

Knowland’s platform includes market intelligence data on meetings and events gathered from more 7,500 hotels across the U.S. and a select handful of international markets.

Alongside Cendyn’s current investors, earlier this year the company welcomed Austin-based Haveli Investments to its private equity portfolio. 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,” said Jack Blaha, CEO, Cendyn. “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.”

Jeff Bzdawka, CEO, Knowland, said, “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. 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 U.S. 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/executive chair, 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.”

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