HotelQuickly acquires last-minute hotel service Tonight, enters Japan

Photo credit: HotelQuickly.

Last-minute hotel booking app HotelQuickly now has one more market to play in – and it’s the one big destination that was missing from its service until now. The company announced today it’s entering Japan by acquiring fellow hotel booking service Tonight. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Japan is HotelQuickly’s 16th market.

Through this acquisition, Japan becomes HotelQuickly’s 16th market. It’s the first new one for the Hong Kong-based startup since it entered South Korea about a year ago. The company also operates in Australia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

“Member feedback drives much of what we do at HotelQuickly, and our members told us Japan was one of the top three countries they want to visit this year,” says HotelQuickly co-founder and COO Christian Mischler in a statement. “Recently relaxed visa requirements, as well as more affordable flights between Tokyo and our current markets are making spontaneous travel to Japan easier than ever.”

As part of the move, HotelQuickly’s app will be translated into Japanese. “We’ve already opened deals at hotels in selected Japanese destinations, and will soon make our regional, last-minute hotel offers available to our Japanese members,” adds Christian.

It’s not clear yet if Tonight’s app will be discontinued and the service rolled into HotelQuickly’s app. “We will listen to the needs and want of the Japanese market and then decide accordingly in the upcoming period,” HotelQuickly co-founder and CEO Tomas Laboutka tells Tech in Asia.

Photo credit: HotelQuickly.

Reunited

This is not just a random encounter between strangers down a dark alley one night. Tonight was started by Japanese mobile gaming and internet services company Gree. At around the same time, Gree led HotelQuickly’s series A round worth US$4.5 million.

Back then, Gree intended for Tonight to operate in Japan, while HotelQuickly did its thing in Southeast Asia. Christian said HotelQuickly would collaborate with the Japanese company on building the Tonight app for the Japanese market.

The deal seems to be another chapter in HotelQuickly and Gree’s continuing relationship.

“I think we’re going to have quite an intense collaboration, not just on a staff level but also on a management level,” he told Tech in Asia at the time. A few months later, Tomas took a seat in Tonight’s board.

Through his position, Tomas says he saw fast growth and the market’s potential. “The fact that we were further [ahead] lead us to the conclusion that we can capitalize on the opportunity if we get even closer, and take over the execution on the opportunity,” he adds.