Smith Travel Research Branches Out to Europe, Asia
(Hendersonville, TN, April 25, 2008) – Hendersonville based Smith Travel Research, a leader in hotel industry research, is going global after acquiring two London research companies.
Smith bought Deloitte's HotelBenchmark and The Bench in London. Terms were not disclosed.
The acquisitions will let Smith expand its research worldwide, especially to Europe and Asia where many national hotel brands want to expand. The areas have fewer chains and less competition.
Smith Travel will combine clients and research data from the London companies and streamline them into its main system in Hendersonville.
"This is a purely client-driven decision," says Jan Freitag, vice president of global development at Smith Travel.
"Our major clients, Starwood, Hilton, Marriott, came to us and said, 'We are going global," Freitag says. "Our growth strategy is outside North America. In order for us to get an understanding of how we're doing competitively and attract funding sources internationally, we need the same stats that you provide in North America."
The new Smith Travel Research will become STR Global.
It was founded in 1985 by Randy Smith, who is the company's CEO.
The company has also acquired Boulder, Colo.-based RRC Associates Inc, which focuses on consumer-based data - a product STR hasn't offered before.
"We thought if we could take that objective occupancy rate, rev par [numbers] and combine it with consumer-based travel data like 'here's why we came' and 'we think the price is good,' then we can improve the power of the data," says Bobby Bowers, senior vice president of operations at Smith Travel.
Collecting data from hotels in Europe will be more difficult than in the U.S. because there are fewer chains, so researchers have to track down data from lots of independents.
The company is considering adding a building to its Hendersonville space and has hired about eight employees in the last six months.
It employs about 100 locally and another 30 in London.
The expansion will increase the number of STR staff by about 50 percent, Bowers estimates.
An economic downturn is generally good for research firms such as STR, Bowers says.
Companies want more information during downturns to give to investors and analysts.
"If times are real bad or real good, people want to get an idea of what's going on," Bowers says.
STR projects its revenue will be up or, at worst, flat for the year because the company will have to absorb the cost of operating in London.
Nashville Business Journal - by Jenny Burns Nashville Business Journal
jburns@bizjournals.com | 615-846-4276
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