Nor 1, a data driven company in Silicon Valley that provides upsell solutions for hospitality industry raised $9 Million in Series B funding by Concur. This funding will be utilised for continued growth through product innovation and market expansion. Nor 1 has various products like eStandby Upgrade, PRiME, eReach, FrontDesk Upsell. As part of this investment, Concur will use Nor1′s eStandby Upgrade solution to offer hotel upsell offers to their business travel customers.

Nor1′s eStandby Upgrade is unlike any upsell solution available to hoteliers today. Nor1’s patented revenue maximising process is designed to complement a hotel’s existing rate strategy and get more revenue from every guest with relevant and targeted upsell offers that build upon the ADR of already confirmed bookings – without affecting occupancy.

Revenues generated are outside of their PMS/CRS. Nor1 calls them Virtual Room Types. These are High floor rooms, rooms with views – Sunset, Runway, Mountain or Ocean, Cabana Rentals, early check-in etc; Hotels can now place an actual value on the features and amenities that guests are eager to experience.

eStandby Upgrade offers are designed to motivate guests to pay for more than they have already agreed to and or have already paid for on top of their existing reservations. In fact, 50% of eStandby Upgrade offers ask guests to increase their spend by 20% or more on top of their confirmed booking.

John Torrey, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy for Concur said,

“Concur’s vision for The Perfect Trip is built on creating a travel ecosystem that dynamically responds to the needs of business travelers, the companies that they work for and the suppliers that serve them. Entrepreneurs like Nor1 are developing the next set of innovations that will ultimately deliver an even better travel experience to our users. Through the power of the Concur T&E Cloud, we’re bringing the best of these innovations together to revolutionize business travel and deliver greater value to corporate clients, suppliers and travelers alike.”

Concur has earlier invested in buuteeq, Cleartrip, Evature, Room 77, TaxiMagic and Yapta.

This new addition of Nor1 directly adds power to Concur in terms of upsell capabilities, and might be a potential integration solution for its other companies in its kitty. We shouldn’t be surprised if eStandby solution is integrated to hotels that are offered in Cleartrip. Technically, this is possible. OTA upsells are going to take a spin. Interesting future ahead.

Author: Karthick Prabu