Business travel barometer: Hotels
20 April 2022
Responsible purchasing: systemic levers for CSR
15 June 2022M&A operations continue in Business Travel, confirming the quick recovery of the sector: after the takeover of Comtravo by Tripactions and of Click Travel by Travelperk, it is the turn of CDS Groupe, the French business hotel marketplace for take over the “Travel” activity of Rydoo, formerly Sodexo Travel, held since September 2021 by the Marlin Equity fund.
The acquisition of Rydoo Travel by CDS Groupe is perfectly in line with our strategy: The acceleration of the company's growth by strengthening its French leadership and technological consolidation. The complementarity in terms of positioning and customer portfolio will allow the new group to weigh 500 million euros in potential business volume, and to make it the de facto European leader in hotel reservation solutions in the field of business travel. . We are excited to welcome the entire Rydoo Travel team. The group will now have 150 employees, including around 60 developers. Their in-depth knowledge of the IT services sector are all assets that will accelerate the growth of the CDS Groupe offer. The Travel department of CDS Groupe will be led by Pierre Mesnage. We will capitalize by investing in all the solutions developed by Rydoo Travel, both the Self Booking Tool and the Hotel Booking Tool, in order to enable strategic partner agencies to be able to offer innovative solutions in the face of new international competition. We will thus be the only independent French and agnostic player with the ability to provide all the essential tools to current TMCs to serve their Corporate and Public Sector customers.
Sébastien Marchon, CEO of Rydoo, explains: “Since its creation in 2017, the growth of Rydoo Travel has been very rapid. Covid has obviously slowed down our development, but since September (2021), the recovery has been intense. Thanks to the many accounts gained over the past 2 years, our weekly turnover is now significantly higher than that of the pre-covid period (+92% last week). Despite this success (which validates our strategy centered on the user experience), we have decided to withdraw from Rydoo Travel and sell this activity to CDS. This operation responds to a double desire: That of accelerating our development on the Expense business line, which is already experiencing very strong growth but whose potential is even greater. We therefore want to devote 100% of our investments and energy to it. Then, that of allowing Rydoo Travel to reach a “critical size” more quickly than by simple organic growth in an industry where volume is a “game changer”. The merger with CDS thus gives birth to a European leader in hotel reservation solutions. We are delighted. »
Created in 2001, CDS Groupe has gradually established itself as a leader in the business hotel market. The start of 2022 has seen strong growth compared to pre-crisis volumes, confirming good commercial momentum as well as a strong recovery in the sector.
This acquisition project accelerates the deployment of this strategy aimed at strengthening its leadership on the French market and contributing to its international deployment.
“I am delighted to join the CDS Groupe teams. My desire is to continue to strengthen commercial relations with partners and in particular with the strategic agencies Havas Voyages, FCM, VoyagExpert as well as our historical customers such as CNRS, ENGIE and Deloitte” declares Pierre Mesnage, VP Sales & Operation of Rydoo Travel.
The “Expense management” business unit, renamed Rydoo, remains under the control of its majority shareholder, Marlin Equity.
The two pure players will focus on their respective areas of expertise and will continue to serve customers together on the Travel & Expense part thanks to a strategic and commercial partnership.
About CDS Group
Created in 2001 by its current CEO, Ziad Minkara, CDS Groupe is an HBT (Hotel Booking Tool) publisher of a platform dedicated to booking overnight stays for a clientele made up of corporates and travel agencies specializing in business travel. business. The company offers its customers an integrated solution allowing the reservation of hotels, with access to more than one and a half million accommodations throughout the world, and also offering payment, invoicing and reporting solutions. personalized. Intended to control hotel expenses for each company by respecting the accommodation policy, the CDS solution simplifies the management of all flows related to hotel reservations.
