Wayn (Where Are You Now), the social network for jet-setters, is partnering with Booking.com — one of the world’s main booking accommodations sites and member of Priceline Group. The deal will enable the social network to offer an accommodation search service to more than 22.7 million of its members.
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According to Jerome Touze, the co-founder of Wayn, “Providing a hotel search option to Wayn members is a logical step for us. We focus on the top of the travel funnel by providing ideas on where to go next. It makes sense to now complete the user journey with a booking service.”
With the deal, Wayn now has access to over half a million properties, as well as its users’ reviews around the globe, which can be viewed on this dedicated portal. Wayn currently generates over 15 000 travel opinions and tips daily and boasts 10 million visitors monthly.
Read more: WAYN: how a social startup is cashing in on its jet-setting community
“The move also supports Wayn’s aim to improve the customer experience with other innovative trip-planning services currently under development and which will provide unique incentives for our users to book a hotel via our platform directly,” explains Touze.
As noted in the media release, the site received investment from Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) in 2012 and was originally backed by the likes of Brent Hoberman, former founder and CEO of lastminute.com, David Soskin and Hugo Burge from Cheapflights.co.uk, as well as Andrew Critchlow and Andy Phillips from Active Hotels.
Bryan Batista, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Booking.com, said that this deal coincides with the company’s vision of providing a wide variety of accommodation options for all kinds of travelers:
The goal of Booking.com is to help leisure and business travelers, whatever their budgets, easily discover, book, and enjoy the world’s best places to stay. We are excited to work together with Wayn and see accommodation reservations grow rapidly in a very short time via their website. We are committed to offering the best travel experience for our customers globally.
