Indonesia-owned Northcliff acquires a US start-up RoomToday

Arif Gunawan Sulistiyono

Northcliff Capital Pte Ltd with its local partner Simasindo, now controls 100 percent of shares in RoomToday, a Washington-based company engaged in online 'last minute' hotel booking.

Northcliff chief executive officer (CEO) Erry Sulistio said the tech venture is a strong asset portfolio for the company as Indonesia's hospitality sector has been growing and attractive for investors.

“Indonesia's economy is the largest in Southeast Asia, and we expect over 12 million foreign tourists. Local tourists are not even accounted for which is huge on its own," he said, adding that tech company is has a great potential in the next five years.

After the acquisition, the Singapore-based firm will launch the android d IOS-based application RoomToday in Indonesia this year, providing more than 4,000 hotels to middle class travelers in its first year of operations. It will expand to Southeast Asia in 2018.

Northcliff's chief financial officer (CFO) Fernando Castillo III said RoomToday will tap into Indonesia's large middle class market and initially in 12 major cities in Indonesia.

“RoomToday has been building relationships with hotels and establishing synergies for our payment systems that are easily accessible with a payment gateway other than credit cards. This is very important for our customers for a greater ease of doing business.  These are two strategic aspects of our venture," he adds. (ags)