U.K.-based travel technology firm Snowfall is acquiring online booking tool Psngr1, with plans to merge it with its own technology and, in turn, boost its presence in North America, Snowfall CEO Stefan Cars told BTN.
The acquisition, first reported last Thursday by The Company Dime, is in the late stages, with an official announcement coming soon, Cars said. Snowfall already has been building up its own online booking product and launched its Junction travel platform in late 2021. Cars said his team was "very impressed" with the Psngr1 tool, which was the People's Choice winner at BTN's Innovate conference in 2021 but more recently had run into a funding shortfall issue that led it to notify travel management company partners that it was pausing activity.
Cars said Snowfall plans to retain most of the Psngr1 team as the company works to "leverage the joint platforms."
Psngr1 has been "very good on focusing on [graphical user interface] and user experience for corporate buyers, and that's something that will leapfrog our own development," according to Cars. He also praised its TripBoards functionality that lets groups collaborate and track costs of itineraries.
Snowfall, meanwhile, will be able to bring "a vast majority more of content" into the tool along with its own features focusing on passenger experience, Cars said. Snowfall has connected directly with several airports, for example, to give travelers access to fast-track experiences.
"We've focused a lot on the travel experience, with companion features during travel like automatic boarding passes and check-in," Cars said. "We can put that on top of the Psngr1 tool, making the whole end-to-end experience."
Cars said it is too early in the process to give a timeline on integration and decisions about branding are still in the works.
Snowfall already has a global presence with more than 10 global offices, including in the U.S. The Psngr1 acquisition "obviously does deepen our U.S. focus a bit" as it will in Canada, with much of Psngr1's team based in Montreal, he said.