New York–Hotel operations platform ALICE has secured $26 million in Series B funding from online travel giant, Expedia, Inc. The completed investment makes Expedia a majority shareholder in ALICE and deepens the commercial cooperation between the two companies that was originally established with an equity investment in 2015. This round brings ALICE’s total funding to $39 million. This funding will allow ALICE to build out its development, product, sales, and customer success teams to help the company to reach its goal of being one of the hotel industry’s leading operating platforms.
“It is time for the internet to expand beyond revolutionizing how our hotel partners market and distribute their products into how they service and interact with their guests,” says Cyril Ranque, president of lodging partner services at Expedia. “ALICE is developing smart mobile and cloud technology to fundamentally improve the hotelier and guest experience at scale. That’s a revolution worth investing in.”
Justin Effron, CEO of ALICE, adds, “Our mission is to give hoteliers the ability to provide the best guest service and experience they can around the clock, and this latest round is a testament to the hard work of everyone involved. With this additional capital, we’ll be better equipped to help hoteliers reach their goals of improved guest service.”
ALICE formed in 2013 and has built a relationship with Expedia since then. Earlier this year, ALICE launched its Guest Profile, which gives hoteliers a view into the guest experience across every aspect of their hotel stay, including check-in, requests for amenities and services, and any interaction with the concierge, Guest Text Messaging, which facilitates text messaging between hotels and guests without requiring an app download, as well as Logbooks, which can be used by hoteliers to track any physical item belonging to or loaned to a guest, including packages and lost & found. Additionally, the company launched a Preventative Maintenance tool and an open-API, and is plans to release Checklists, a tool to improve task management and SMS automation, which automates responses via text to common guest questions.
In the last six months, ALICE grew its customer base nearly 200 percent. Recent clients signed to the platform include Two Roads Hospitality, Dream Hotel Group, SIXTY Hotels, NYLO Hotels, and Leading Hotels of the World.
