Businessmodel of SiteMinder

Customer Segments

SiteMinder provides a range of software solutions to commercial operators in the travel and hospitality sectors. The Company’s clients can be organised into the following two categories:

• Travel, including travel agencies, online hotel booking portals, online flight aggregators, tour operators, and flight reservations companies; and
• Hospitality, including hotel chains, independent hotels, spas and resorts, casinos, and other hospitality operators. SiteMinder also serves a number of software providers that provide solutions within the travel and hospitality industries. SiteMinder names a number of its clients on its website, including major travel and hospitality businesses such as Hotel Tonight, Restel Hotel Group, Priceline, Jovago, Puri Resorts, and Compass Hospitality.

SiteMinder is based in Australia, but serves an international customer base spanning Asia Pacific, Europe, and Africa.

Value Propositions

SiteMinder provides value to its clients in the following ways:

• Its industry standing and track record, with the Company established as a leading provider of software solutions to the hospitality and travel industry, as demonstrated by its ability to secure business from a number of well-known hotel chains and travel businesses;
• The efficiency and functionality of its solutions, with the Company’s solutions providing extensive functionality and tools to clients, including booking engines, website creation tools, and market intelligence;
• Its international reach, with the Company serving an extensive customer base across its domestic market of Australia and New Zealand, as well as customers across Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa; and
• Its network of partners, with the Company collaborating closely with a broad network of partners that ensure that the Company’s solutions are developed and deployed efficiently, including a network of travel agencies around the world. ### Channels

SiteMinder operates a website at www.siteminder.com, through which it provides information on its products and solutions, its partners, its customers, and its operating locations. The Company’s website doubles as a sales portal, with customers able to register as a user and begin using software solutions for free or under a paid subscription. The Company also operates an online client portal, through which customers can access resources, tools, and products.

SiteMinder also makes sales through an in-house direct sales force, which is organised across the Company’s operating regions. The Company’s sales personnel operate out of the Company’s sales and administrative offices across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Americas, and Africa, including locations in Australia, the UK, the US, Thailand, and South Africa.

SiteMinder additionally makes sales through various channel and distribution partners. This includes distributors, resellers, sales agents, as well as systems integrators that assist in developing joint solutions.

Customer Relationships

SiteMinder offers many of its online solutions to customers on a self-service basis, with customers able to register for user accounts and access tools and resources through the Company’s website without interacting with members of the Company’s sales and service personnel. Customers can also access resources independently through the Company’s online client portal.

SIteMinder offers a more personalised service through its direct sales force, the members of which consult closely with customers in order to establish their individual needs and circumstances. Where possible, the Company will tailor and scale its solutions to appropriately to each individual client. SiteMinder seeks to maintain longstanding relationships with customers and to establish its solutions as an integral component of its clients’s systems.

SiteMinder offers ongoing support to clients, who can contact dedicated support personnel over the phone and online. The Company also offers a range of online resources that customers can access independently through the SiteMinder website, including articles, videos, and infographics.

Additionally, SiteMinder operates social networking accounts with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube, through which it is able to interact directly with clients and publish company updates.

Key Activities

SiteMinder is a provider of software solutions to commercial clients operating within the travel and hospitality industries. Its clients include travel agencies, online booking platforms, hotel chains, independent resorts and spas, and tour operators.

The Company offers a range of solutions, including Prophet, a real-time market intelligence tool for hotel pricing; Canvas, a website creator for hotels and resorts; and The Channel Manager, a cloud platform for online room inventory and rate management. SiteMinder is based in Australia, but serves an international client base across Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. It maintains an international office network, including offices in the UK, South Africa, the US, and Thailand.

Key Partners

SiteMinder works in close collaboration with a network of partner companies and organisations around the world that support its core operations. These partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:

• Supplier and Vendor Partners, including suppliers of services, equipment, technologies, and tools that are utilised across the Company’s operating units in support of its core development, deployment, and maintenance operations;
• Channel and Distribution Partners, including the Company’s network of resellers, wholesalers, distributors, and sales agents that assist in supporting and supplementing the capabilities of the Company’s in-house sales and marketing teams;
• Technology Partners. Including a range of technology companies, IT service providers, and systems integrators that assist in developing the Company’s solutions, integrating third party functionality, and developing joint solutions; and
• Strategic and Alliance Partners, including market leading companies across multiple industries with which the Company collaborates on various joint projects, including in branding, marketing, and development. SiteMinder lists a number of its partners on its website, including local and regional operators. This includes companies such as AOTGroup, CBS Travel Asia, IBC Hotels, Mitchell Corp, RateManager, and Duetto Edge RMS.

Key Resources

SiteMinder’s key resources are its proprietary technologies and intellectual properties, its products and platforms, its sales and distribution channels, its IT and communications infrastructure, its network of partners, and its personnel.

SiteMinder uses a number of proprietary technologies in the development and deployment of its solutions. The company, however, does not appear to protect these technologies through patent law. Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office and by IP Australia identified no patent applications filed in SiteMinder’s name (or under the name Online Ventures Pty limited).

SiteMinder additionally owns and or leases a portfolio of physical properties that comprise its international network of offices.

Cost Structure

SiteMinder incurs costs in relation to the development of its technologies and solutions, the development and maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the operation of its sales and distribution channels, the management of its partnerships, the procurement of services, the implementation of marketing and advertising campaigns, and the retention of its personnel.

Revenue Streams

SiteMinder generates revenue through the development and sale of software solutions designed to support the activities of companies operating in the travel and hospitality industries. The Company principally derives revenue under a subscription software-as-a-service model.

Pricing for the Company’s subscriptions varies with it’s the Booking Button product priced at $37 per month and it’s The Channel Manager product priced at $56 per month. SiteMinder additionally derives revenue under individual sales and service contracts in relation to its ancillary services.

SiteMinder remains a privately owned company, and as such it is not obliged to publish its financial results online. Research did not identify any recent reference to the Company’s recent revenue figures. Reports, however, suggest that the Company recorded annual revenue growth of around 50% in 2015.