Yanolja has partnered with HotelOnline, Africa's leading hospitality revenue partner.
The strategic alliance aims to digitize Africa's hospitality industry, particularly benefiting small and medium-sized hotels.
Founded in 2014, HotelOnline provides e-commerce and digital marketing solutions to more than 5,000 accommodations in 22 African countries, managing rates, reservations, AI-driven dynamic pricing, and distribution to online marketing channels.
Through this collaboration, HotelOnline's customers will access a broader range of hotel and restaurant management solutions from eZee Technosys, a cloud-based PMS provider and a subsidiary of Yanolja.
Since its inception in 2004, Yanolja has grown its business through mergers and acquisitions, expanding into B2C and B2B markets.
The acquisition of eZee Technosys in 2019 allowed the company to focus on the potential of cloud-based hospitality PMS, with the software now used by 22,000 accommodations worldwide.
By comparison, Oracle's leading PMS software, Opera, serves 35,000 accommodations but has a strong background in on-premises environments.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of small and medium-sized hotels as the demand for touchless services has increased.
Yanolja CEO Jong Yoon Kim announced that 1,000 hotels have signed up for eZee Technosys' PMS SaaS service in response to this trend.
Yanolja's total revenue reached KRW 300 billion (US$250 million) in 2019, maintaining a high annual growth rate of more than 70% over the past five years.
Excluding subsidiaries, Yanolja's revenue was KRW 151.4 billion (US$130 million), and EBITDA was KRW 15.8 billion (US$13 million), indicating a successful turnaround.
In addition, Yanolja, including DailyHotel, became South Korea's largest online travel agency with recurring revenues of USD 501.7 million, up 4% year-on-year.
As one of South Korea's unicorn startups, Yanolja is currently valued at $1 billion.
This collaboration with HotelOnline is expected to strengthen its position in the global market and contribute to the digitalization of the African hospitality industry.
