Travelport buys hotel meta-search firm

Travel technology firm Travelport has bought Singapore-based search engine company, Sprice, for an undisclosed fee.

Sprice (www.sprice.com) operates an online distribution channel for a portfolio of 240,000 international hotels.

Travelport - owner of the Galileo and Worldspan travel agent booking systems (GDSs) - said the deal would significantly expand its hospitality offering through its GDSs.

Gordon Wilson, Travelport's chief executive, said Sprice would "fit in well" with Travelport's GDS business.

He said: "[It has] an established and vibrant inventory of hotel options and comparison tools that will significantly add to our existing hospitality portfolio.

"Along with these significant assets comes the intellectual capital of the Sprice team, a group of very bright and talented executives who we are pleased to have join our company."

Sprice's co-founder and chief executive, Jerome Thil, said: "Bringing together Sprice's meta search technology and Travelport's powerful GDS transaction processing capabilities creates great synergy and the potential for new development and innovation, charting an exciting new path forward for us." 

Sprice is headquartered in Singapore and has an office in Strasbourg, France. 

All 18 Sprice employees have been extended offers of employment at Travelport.  

The division will be managed under the recently announced Consumer and New Ventures group within Travelport.