Interesting deal completed here between Travelzoo and UK/Romania-based software development firm Lateral which will include its CEO seconded for three years.
Lateral was appointed the travel deals giant's technology provider this week, a deal which also sees licensing of the company's TravelConnect travel services platform.
As part of the partnership, Lateral founder and CEO Ciprian Morar will serve as vice president of innovation for Travelzoo, reporting directly to CEO Chris Loughlin.
Day-to-day leadership of Lateral will continue under new people within the company for the duration of the deal.
Lateral's work will mainly be a combination of product development and technology, with a focus on some of the company's new strategic projects such as Local Deals (launched in August last year and more recently in the UK).
The announcement comes follows six months of collaboration on a number of "technical innovations", Loughlin says, leading to a more permanent arrangement combining Morar's position and use of Lateral's tech services.
Lateral is behind the Explorra project and has worked with the likes of BlackTomato, Virgin Holidays and LexisNexis.