Lighthouse Acquires HQ Revenue in Strategic Talent Acquisition

Lighthouse, the travel technology startup formerly known as OTA Insight, has acquired Berlin-based HQ Revenue. This deal marks another step in Lighthouse’s strategy of expanding through talent and technology acquisition rather than solely accumulating customer lists.

Lighthouse, known for helping hotels and short-term rentals analyze their market demand, rates, and positioning, has purchased HQ Revenue, a decade-old company that has raised a modest amount of venture funding. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition.

The key purpose of this acquisition is to align with Lighthouse’s strategy of growing its talent pool rather than just acquiring customer lists. As CEO Sean Fitzpatrick stated, “We recognize there’s a lot of really great teams with really great technology that we can essentially bring together to help accelerate our own R&D.”

This acquisition will also help Lighthouse strengthen its presence in the DACH (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) region, as HQ Revenue has been historically strong in that market.

Lighthouse is a startup that collects data on the performance of hotels and short-term rentals, and then feeds that data into revenue management and marketing automation systems. It also offers business intelligence tools for property and portfolio performance. Last year, the company added solutions for professional short-term rental operators.

The acquisition of HQ Revenue is part of Lighthouse’s broader strategy of using generative AI to enhance its offerings. As Kurien Jacob, a partner at Highgate Technology Ventures (an investor in Lighthouse), noted, “A company that uses the best of GenAI for a simple, un-hyped thing is Lighthouse, which offers Smart Summaries, which is the same damned report that the revenue managers used to do [in Excel] only now it’s run by AI.”

Overall, the acquisition of HQ Revenue aligns with Lighthouse’s goal of expanding its talent and technology capabilities to better serve its growing customer base in the hotel and short-term rental sectors.

HQ’s Key Strengths:

HQ Revenue’s key strengths lie in its ability to provide hoteliers with high-quality, real-time data on market conditions, competitors’ pricing, and operational performance. Some of the notable features and capabilities of HQ Revenue’s technology include:

• Cloud-based software that processes and visualizes accurate real-time data on the market, competition, and operations
• Supplies customers with information about online distribution channels, competitors’ room prices, events, holidays, weather forecasts, and reviews
• Offers customization and filtering options to analyze market and competition data most relevant to a hotel’s revenue strategy
• Enables hotel owners to strategically adjust room rates based on real-time market data and competitor pricing
  Provides a comprehensive overview of room rates compared to competitors for an extended period (up to 365 days)

HQ Revenue was developed by hoteliers for hoteliers, with a focus on empowering hospitality businesses to make informed commercial decisions and generate more revenue. The company’s technology is designed to reduce data complexity and deliver actionable insights to its customers