The homeworking giant on Wednesday (3 January) confirmed it had completed a deal for Planisto, the second major acquisition in its 30-year history following that of Holidaysplease last March.
Besides acquiring the technology that powers the tool, which will be integrated into Travel Counsellors’ Phenix system, the Planisto team will also become part of the Travel Counsellors team.
"They will bring their shared entrepreneurial skills and values to enhance the company’s senior technology talent with a focus on driving future booking journey and platform development," said Travel Counsellors.
While Travel Counsellors declined to disclose the sum paid for Planisto, news of the deal follows the announcement at its conference in November that it would be investing £15 million in technology over the coming year," with a particular emphasis on tailor-made itinerary software".
Travel Counsellors said the acquisition would accelerate its tech development roadmap and help it build on its existing plans by bringing "market-leading functionality" to its TCs.
Steve Byrne, Travel Counsellors chief executive, said Planisto had been on the firm’s radar for some time, along with its "hugely talented" development team.
"This acquisition perfectly aligns with our vision and passion of building a community of the very best travel entrepreneurs who provide the human touch empowered by state-of-the-art technology," said Byrne.
"In addition to strengthening our proprietary tech and talent, the deal will further accelerate our current development roadmap for our digital, personal platform Phenix and enhance the end-customer booking experience.
"The acquisition supports our growth strategy as we accelerate towards being a £1 billion transaction value platform in the very near future. We are committed to invest in our scalable technology and operating model, and we continue to look forward to the future with excitement and confidence.”
