Skyscanner snaps up social content group

Travel search giant Skyscanner will bolster its hotel offering after acquiring the London-based content business Twizoo.

Skyscanner CEO and co-founder Gareth Williams. Picture: Contributed

The Scots tech titan, which was bought by Chinese tourism group Ctrip last year, said it would make use of Twizoo’s social content integration to bolster hotel reviews and recommendations.

The six-strong Twizoo team, led by founders Madeline Parra and John Talbott, has been incorporated into Skyscanner’s existing workforce of more 900 and will be based at the travel search group’s London office.

Bryan Dove, chief technology officer at Skyscanner, said: “Twizoo’s technology surfaces customer opinions from social media, providing real value to traveller decision making. We’re delighted to have the highly talented Twizoo team join us.”

Parra, who is also the chief executive of Twizoo, added: “Travel is inherently social and we’re excited to work with the Skyscanner team to integrate our technology into their world-class travel search products, giving travellers invaluable insight through user generated content shared on social media.”

Last week, Skyscanner, which is led by chief executive and co-founder Gareth Williams, announced it would launch in-trip content through its parent company’s acquisition of Trip.com. The London-based team has trebled in the past 12 months and accounts for 120 employees.

Twizoo’s previous investors included EC1 Capital, Downing Ventures and Jensons EIS Fund.