travel net solutions

Blue Star Acquires Majority Stake in TravelNet Solutions

Blue Star Innovation Partners has acquired a majority stake in TravelNet Solutions (TNS), one of the largest software providers in the vacation rental industry. TNS’s platform includes Track Hospitality Software , Atlas Digital Commerce , and resortsandlodges.com .  

Operating out of the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters at The Star in Frisco, Texas, Blue Star Innovation Partners (Blue Star) is an investment capital fund run by serial entrepreneurs and experts in innovation and disruption who co-manage and invest alongside Jerry Jones’s family.

The entire TNS leadership is staying on, and the company intends to add multiple positions to its team, including a chief product officer and additional support management and personnel to better serve its customers. Bailey emphasized the need to train support teams that are fluent in workflows and how they differ across regions.

The investment will also be used for M&A to acquire “other solutions that compliment our current products and services.”

Bailey predicts TNS will be a “unicorn” in this decade (valued over $1 billion). He added that he believes the short-term rental industry has the potential to see several B2B SaaS platforms reach that milestone over the next ten years.

According to inside sources, there was an enormous amount of interest from potential private equity investors in TNS and its growth in the industry over recent years and revenue at TRACK alone topping $20 million. 

Ryan and his brother Charles founded the company 20 years ago, adding, I’m more passionate than ever before about out industry. We’re going to stay hungry, stay humble, and keep straight on our vision.”

According to Ryan Bailey, “We consolidated the cap table significantly.”

For example, VTrips , which acquired a stake in TNS through its purchase of Southern Resorts , cashed out of its position with this investment. “As a result of this transaction, Vtrips is no longer a shareholder of TNS,” said Steve Milo, CEO VTrips. “However, we remain a very happy customer and are truly excited by their partnership with Blue Star and the resources they can provide to TNS.”

TNS sent the following message to its clients earlier today:

Dear Valued Customers,

I want to share exciting news about the next chapter in the evolution of TravelNet Solutions. Blue Star Innovation Partners, a Texas-based investment firm, is making a significant investment that will help us develop products and services faster, hire more staff, and pursue our market goals more aggressively.

My brother Charles and I started TravelNet Solutions 20+ years ago intent on helping resorts and independent lodging companies simply capture bookings via the internet. From our humble beginnings to today, we have always been fortunate to have amazing people, clients and partners who do extraordinary work. 

So what does this mean for you and other customers who have placed their confidence in us?

It’s all good news. I remain as CEO and the rest of my leadership team remains in place. The same people who currently answer your questions, troubleshoot problems, and facilitate communication will still be there. The integration partners that give our platform its flexibility will hold fast. 

There are no organizational shake-ups or service disruptions on the horizon. Our mission is the same as it has always been: Transforming how hospitality works. Of course, you will see some differences over time. Most importantly, this investment helps us better serve you with things like faster product development and more responsive support. 

We are thrilled to share this announcement with you, but the real purpose of this letter is to say thank you. Some of you have been with us since we were the scrappy new kid on the block, while others are relatively new to the TNS family. Your faith and trust has made us into a successful company, and I thank you for believing in us. The best is yet to come.

Warm regards, Ryan Bailey, CEO

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TravelNet Solutions confirms Rented acquisition

• Paul Stevens
• November 17, 2022
• acquisition , Andrew McConnell , Rented , revenue management , Ryan Bailey , TravelNet Solutions

US: Minnesota-based vacation rental property management solution provider TravelNet Solutions has made its first major acquisition since securing investment earlier this year by buying revenue management partner Rented for undisclosed terms.

In July, TravelNet Solutions received funding , believed to be at least $200 million, from Blue Star Innovation Partners, a fund affiliated with the owner of American football team Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones. The investment capital fund bought a majority stake in the company, whose platform includes Track Hospitality Software, Atlas Digital Commerce and resortsandlodges.com in its offering.

Meanwhile, Rented, which was founded ten years ago, had raised around $2 million in a previous seed round. Its founder and CEO, Andrew McConnell, will stay on beyond the acquisition to aid product development.

In a message to customers, TravelNet Solutions CEO Ryan Bailey said that Rented’s Automated Rate Tool [Art] was a “powerful and flexible” pricing tool, adding that the technology would “enhance Track’s functionality and value while giving our Track customers unprecedented control and insights related to pricing”.

Speaking on the Good Morning Hospitality podcast with hosts Wil Slickers [Amplified Audio], Michael Goldin [Storied] and Brandy Canaley [Sextant Stays], Bailey said that TravelNet Solutions was looking to fill overall gaps to build a single platform through strategic mergers and acquisitions, particularly in pricing and revenue management as demand softens and supply grows post-Covid.

He also confirmed that July’s raise would help TravelNet Solutions build up its product and engineering teams and accelerate its bid to go public in the coming years, while appearing to suggest that acquisitions of competitors could be a possibility in the future.

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Insuraguest goes live with travelnet solutions new platform.

Enterprise Software Solutions for Leading Hotels, Resorts and Vacation Rental Managers

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 17, 2022 / InsuraGuest Technologies, Inc.® (TSXV:ISGI)(OTCQB:ISGIF) ("InsuraGuest" or the "Company"), through its wholly - owned U.S. hospitality subsidiary InsuraGuest®, announces it has gone live with TravelNet Solutions, makers of Track, an enterprise software solution for leading hotels, resorts, and vacation rental managers.

InsuraGuest supplemental insurance coverages, which include a primary no-fault medical coverage, theft of personal property, and property damage are now available for purchase by users of Track, including hotels, resorts, vacation rental managers.

Once the hotel, resort, or vacation rental manager chooses to use the InsuraGuest insurance product, the policy will be automatically embedded on every reservation night that comes through their system, and a nightly charge will be applied. As a result, the customer will use InsuraGuest as their primary coverage before making a claim on their current GL or homeowner/commercial tenant policy, within the policy limits.

About Travelnet Solutions

Celebrating its 21st year serving the hospitality industry, TravelNet Solutions, Inc. (TNS) provides integrated software and marketing solutions for the hospitality industry including the TRACK Property Management System, CRM, and call center software as well as a full suite of digital marketing services, booking engine, and high-converting websites. TNS is on a mission to transform how hospitality works. To learn more about how TNS can help you, please visit www.tnsinc.com .

About InsuraGuest Technologies Inc.

Harnessing the Power of Technology to Reinvent Insurance

InsuraGuest Technologies (TSX-V:ISGI) is an insurtech (insurance + technology) company that is disrupting the insurance landscape by utilizing its proprietary software platform to automatically embed its short-term rental insurance products to vacation rentals, hotel, and sports and events activities.

CA / LIC: 6001686

For more information, visit the company's website at: www.InsuraGuest.com

The information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations. There is no assurance that this new business product offering or other planned products will be successful. The insurance industry is intensely competitive, and the Company's competitors have significantly more resources than the Company. Acceptance by potential customers is difficult to predict, particularly in the case of new products and disruptive technologies. If the Company fails to achieve market acceptance, this will significantly impact its results and financial resources. Achieving market acceptance may require advertising budgets that exceed the Company's current resources and require the Company to seek additional debt or equity financing. There is no assurance that such financing will be available at reasonable prices or at all.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Company Contact:

InsuraGuest Technologies, Inc. Media Relations Adam Handelsman [email protected] +1 512 363 0594

TravelNet Solutions Vice President of Marketing Jeff Robertson [email protected] +1 541-390-1958

SOURCE: InsuraGuest Technologies Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/693411/InsuraGuest-Goes-Live-with-TravelNet-Solutions-New-Platform

TravelNet Solutions Adds Payment Processing to Property Management System

TravelNet Solutions  has unveiled enhancements and extensions to its flagship product for the short-term rental industry,  Track Property Management System .

These new features include Payments, Reviews Management and Distribution Engine tools, the Minnesota-based software solutions provider said in a Sunday (Oct. 22)  press release .

Track Payments, a new payment-processing solution, is set to launch in early 2024, according to the release. Currently, Track customers rely on third-party payment portals, leading to separate contracts and slow or confusing processes. With Track Payments integrated into the Track platform, users will have enhanced control and a centralized dashboard to monitor credit activity in real-time.

The Reviews Management feature streamlines the process of reading and responding to guest reviews, the release said. This feature aggregates all reviews into one user-friendly interface within the Track platform, eliminating the need for property managers to navigate different logins and interfaces across various channels.

The Distribution Engine, an add-on for Track that simplifies the distribution of rental listings across various channels, including Airbnb and Vrbo, consolidates listing management into a single dashboard, eliminating the need for multiple logins. Time-saving features such as bulk operations and access to a dedicated team of distribution experts will help property managers optimize their channel performance.

The company’s partnership with Texas-based investment firm Blue Star Innovation Partners has enabled TravelNet Solutions to accelerate product development, expand its workforce and pursue its market goals more aggressively.

TravelNet Solutions CEO and Co-Founder  Ryan Bailey said in the release: “In the end, it comes down to building a sales engine that can scale and drive more bookings.”

The latest additions to Track Property Management System join the company’s other integrated software and marketing solutions that are built to equip vacation rental companies with the necessary tools to thrive in the digital era, per the release.

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that automation can alleviate the  hospitality industry’ s labor shortages by augmenting or replacing key roles. Seventy percent of hotel operators plan to add, upgrade or change their property management systems in the coming year, according to “ Can Automation Solve Labor Shortages in the Hospitality Sector?,”  a PYMNTS and  LS Retail  collaboration.

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TravelNet Solutions, Short-Term Rental Software Provider, Lays Off 7% of Employees

Dennis Schaal , Skift

April 5th, 2024 at 5:19 PM EDT

There have been a ton of layoffs in various areas of the short-term rental industry over the last year. Facing headwinds, companies are trimming costs and trying to position themselves to new market conditions.

Dennis Schaal

TravelNet Solutions laid off around 15 employees Thursday, roughly 7.5% of its 200-member workforce, a decision the CEO said was about shifting resources toward engineering and its core property management business.

TravelNet Solutions’ Track property management system for short-term rentals is considered the leading provider to larger U.S. companies in the sector. It provides services for roughly 90,000 units, a former employee told Skift. It competes with solutions such as Escapia , owned by Expedia Group, and LiveRez by Inhabit.

In an interview Friday, CEO Ryan Bailey confirmed the layoff totals, but said the company is investing in engineering hires so the net workforce reduction would ultimately be around 3%.

The layoffs came in the company’s revenue management and digital management services segments. The company isn’t eliminating the software, but some of the personnel who manage services for clients.

TravelNet Is Focusing on Its Core Business

The layoffs came in the company’s revenue management and digital management services segments, both the former employee and Bailey confirmed. So the company isn’t eliminating that software, but fired some of the personnel who managed those services for clients.

“It’s a shift in the way we are shaping TravelNet going forward,” Bailey said. “We are taking those dollars and adding those dollars into more engineers so there will be three times the number of engineers.”

The layoffs mostly affected former employees of two companies that TravelNet acquired in the last few years, namely Rented in 2022 for revenue management, and Gueststream in 2020 for digital services, according to a former employee. The firings included several members of middle management.

Slack Channel Announcement

TravelNet informed employees on its Slack channel Thursday that there would be an all-hands meeting later in the day for all employees who didn’t have a meeting scheduled that morning informing them that were being laid off, the former employee said.

The ex-employee said the company was saying it wanted to remove a director layer to get closer to its customers. “I think that was largely an excuse,” the former employee said.

The former employee said TravelNet traditionally paid employees bonuses and incentives on a quarterly basis, but didn’t for the third quarter. The company did pay one for the fourth quarter, however.

TravelNet Seeks to Invest in Artificial Intelligence

CEO Bailey said the layoffs were part of the process to bring in new product leadership to scale the business. Managed digital services and revenue management were each low-single digit portions of the company’s overall revenue, he said.

Bailey said TravelNet will invest in artificial intelligence to help clients get more efficient and to do more with less.

The company is looking to invest in “what’s going to take you into the future so customers are ahead of their competition, he added.

The former employee and an executive at a well-known property management company claimed that TravelNet clients who relied on the company to manage their revenue management programs were rudderless on Thursday when managers got the ax.

“Companies that relied upon the Rented professional services group under contract woke up with no revenue manager today,” the property management executive said.

Bailey of TravelNet disputed that notion, saying other employees were filling that gap.

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Tags: ai , artificial intelligence , escapia , expedia , layoffs , liverez , online travel , online travel newsletter , pms , travel tech , travelnet solutions , vacation rentals , vrbo

Photo credit: A luxury vacation rental in Ashville, North Carolina. Source: TravelNet Solutions/YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf0l1fM_A44

Company Leadership

Dedicated and visionary professionals with an eye toward the future.

The TravelNet Solutions leadership team is a who’s who of industry professionals, many of whom have been with the company for a long time.

When you choose a technology partner, you’re not just making an investment in your own future. You’re putting your faith and confidence in the company’s leadership team. Do they have deep industry experience? Do you like where they’ve been and where they’re headed? What about stability?

Take a look for yourself and be assured that your trust in us is well-placed.

Ryan Bailey

In his role as CEO and Co-Founder of TravelNet Solutions, Ryan brings 20 years of experience in technology and a leader of innovative hospitality B2B companies. Under Ryan’s direction, the company has grown into an industry recognized leader in its market. Ryan directs and drives the overall vision and strategy for TravelNet, which is underpinned by his commitment and passion for building top-performing teams, creating a collaborative and innovative work environment, and focusing continuously on the needs of customers.

Paul Crist is a highly accomplished sales leader with a proven track record of success in SaaS software sales for over 25 years. He is known for his unwavering commitment to integrity, loyalty, and passion in achieving results. Throughout his career, Paul has consistently delivered top-line revenue growth and positive EBITDA in various industries and geographies.

Currently, Paul leads TravelNet’s Sales and Marketing teams, where he leverages his extensive experience to drive business growth and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Prior to joining TravelNet, Paul held senior sales leadership positions at several leading software companies, including Optimizely, PowerPlan, ABB, and Infor Global Solutions.

When not working, Paul enjoys spending time with his family and pursuing his interests, which include reading, golfing, tennis, and scuba diving. He holds a B.S. in Management & Marketing from the University of Minnesota and resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Beth Kelly is TravelNet’s GM of Payments. She’s an operations leader with a successful track record executing large, complex projects ranging from new product launches to team transformations. Prior to joining TNS, Beth worked at Storable, the leading technology provider to the self storage industry. At Storable, she led operations for new product launches, oversaw internal systems and project management. She spent 10 years at Google in roles ranging from sales to vendor management, including helping to launch Google Play. Most recently she led Product and Operations at a glass manufacturing business based in Austin, TX. She is focused on delivering on new technology solutions for TNS clients that improve operations and decrease complexity.

Ryan Schooler

Finance executive with consistent record driving organizational improvement through a focus on teamwork, exceptional customer service, and continually improving processes. Proven ability to develop and implement strategic initiatives that support growth and profitability in multiple industries from entrepreneurial organizations to global enterprises. Areas of expertise include:

Executive Leadership, Strategic Planning, Financial Modeling, Sales Operations, License Negotiation, Human Resources, KPI Reporting, Change Management, Data Mining, Audit & Compliance Management, Investor Relations, Financial Controls, and Transactions

Frankie Shannon

Frankie joined TravelNet Solutions as Chief Operating Officer in February, 2020. Prior to joining TravelNet Solutions, Frankie served as the Chief Revenue Officer for WR Hess/FACTOR, serving the wholesale and retail energy and refined petroleum industry. Frankie also has several years in senior leadership roles with iconic American retail brands such as Kohl’s, Crocs, and Sears where he led massive expansion in retail, services, and wholesale operations.

Frankie is a graduate of Concord University in Athens, West Virginia, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Frankie is also instrumental in consulting key leaders at other small and mid-sized and start-up companies with revenue, operations, and leadership strategy. Today, he actively serves on the board of advisors for two other software companies in the petroleum, field service, and HR space.

Frankie is proud to be a native of West Virginia – truly a “coal-miner’s son” having grown up in southern West Virginia getting his start in business with his family in and around coal mining. Frankie lives in the Minneapolis area and is an avid outdoors enthusiast spending his free time fly fishing, hiking, and kayaking.

Arvind Sharma

Arvind brings more than 20 years of enterprise software development experience to TravelNet Solutions; he spent the last decade focused on big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in the cloud-native environment. Arvind also brings vast amounts of Product and Engineering expertise, leadership skills, and team-building abilities with a deep technical understanding of the SaaS industry in multiple verticals. Arvind is responsible and accountable for executing the company’s Product and Technology vision including Compliance, Cybersecurity, DevOps and Corp IT operations.

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TravelNet Solutions - Rented

About the transaction

Rented, Inc. is a pricing optimization engine for short-term vacation rental professionals that delivers dynamic pricing models across multiple property management systems (PMS) and major booking channels. Rented is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Read more about the transaction

• TravelNet Solutions confirms Rented acquisition
• TravelNet Solutions Acquired Revenue Management Firm Rented

Transaction assisted by

Richard Holcomb

Martin Lowrie

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