Social media check-in and loyalty service Topguest has been acquired by ezRez Software, which counts major loyalty programs among its clients.
Topguest, which launched in June 2010 and was backed by lead investor Founders Fund, recently unveiled in beta a white label product for loyalty programs which would crunch data from consumers' social networking activities to enable partners to better target offers to travelers. Topguest had raised $2 million in funding.
With the acquisition, TopGuest.com will remain intact and its B2B loyalty platform will continue to be marketed under its current brand, ezRez says, adding that all Topguest employees will be joining ezRez. Both companies are based in San Francisco.
Topguest enables members to check-in using Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram and Twitter and to earn loyalty bonuses from programs, including UnitedMileagePlus, Continental OnePass, IHG Priority Club and Hilton HHonors.
EzRez says the acquisition of Topguest complements its own loyalty program product suite.
The two companies are different, but there was some overlap and they found themselves at times competing for the same accounts.
But, ezRez believes its stronger with Topguest in the fold.
"Loyalty points can be earned through Topguest’s social engagement tools and ezRez’s existing travel booking platform for airlines, hotels and online travel agencies," ezRez says. "Points can then be redeemed for travel via ezRez’s loyalty travel platform, or merchandise via ezRez’s new digital wallet product that allows points to pay for merchandise and services across the Internet."
Daniel Farrar, ezRez CEO, says Topguest's social media solutions "provides the missing piece in our product suite relative to where travel is going."
EzRez was interested in Topguest because it enables consumers to earn and redeem points through social media using mobile devices and its white label product supplements exRez's exisiting solutions, Farrar says.
The quality of Topguest's founding team of five also was alluring, he adds.
“We created Topguest to help travel companies tap into the social behavior of consumers, while enabling these consumers to earn more rewards and receive offers relevant to them,” says Geoff Lewis, CEO and co-founder of Topguest. “The team at ezRez shares our philosophy that loyalty programs can and should go beyond their traditional models and we’re excited about joining forces to make a long-term impact on the industry while also bringing tangible benefits to consumers.”
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.