Sabre Acquires Techsembly as Hospitality Sector Seeks Digital Help

Travel software firm Sabre has acquired Techsembley to boost its hospitality eCommerce offerings.

The deal, announced Wednesday (July 5), comes as hotels and restaurants are increasingly turning to digital solutions to deal with staffing shortages.

Techsembly, based in London, offers hotels an automated eCommerce solution that lets them manage multiple online property stores, products, and logistics from a single platform. It also assists hotels with the sale and fulfillment of gift cards.

“This acquisition accelerates our product roadmap and enables us to offer the most robust and effective suite of integrated retailing solutions designed to meet the challenges of modern hoteliers,” said Scott Wilson, president of Sabre Hospitality.

“Techsembly’s marketplace and gift card capabilities transform our existing retailing system to offer an unlimited number of product types at various stages of the guest journey.”

Techsembly Co-founder and CEO Amy Read said, “Joining Sabre will allow us to expand and offer game-changing technology and increase our reach to more customers around the world.”

The acquisition — no dollar amount was provided — is happening at a moment when the hospitality sector is exploring new technologies to make up for a dearth of staff, using automated services to augment human employees, if not replace them.

As noted here in May, the U.S. Travel Association estimates the leisure and hospitality sector to be understaffed by 2 million openings, and technology could substantially lessen the impact of these vacancies by automating crucial roles.

“Some potential use cases for hotel automation include self-service kiosks and apps for customers to check in and out of their rooms, while chatbots can help with customer requests in lieu of front desk staff,” PYMNTS wrote. “Back-end functionalities lend themselves even better to automation, with digital tools replacing document scanning, faxing and financial reporting.”

Some hotels have even begun using mobile robots that can deliver room service directly to guests’ doors. Yet those automated workers may not be entirely welcome, as research shows just 41% of consumers say they appreciate having robots clean restaurant dining areas.

PYMNTS reported in April that the payments FinTech Nuvei had integrated its platform with Sabre to — as the companies said in a news release — let Sabre offer its partners a “superior customer payments experience,” and help them maximize card payment approval rates, increase revenue growth, and “reduce customers lost due to false declines.”