Turneo, a promising travel tech start-up focused on experiential hospitality, announced a few days ago the successful close of a €2 million seed funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Underline Ventures. This funding marks a significant milestone for Turneo as it gears up to expand its reach into new markets and enhance its product offerings. The company, founded in 2022, aims to empower hotels to deliver memorable in-destination activities to their guests, while streamlining the management of these offerings through a single platform.
Turneo’s platform enables hotels to showcase and manage a wide range of experiences, from in-house services to local excursions. Guests can easily browse and book activities or transfers directly through the hotel’s website or app, enhancing convenience while boosting hotel revenue. Hotels, on the other hand, gain access to tools for creating new experiences, partnering with local providers, and reviewing valuable data and guest feedback.
“Travellers increasingly book activities before they even set foot in their hotel,” said Fran Kauzlaric, Turneo’s co-founder. “With Turneo, hotels can elevate their guests’ experiences by making these activities visible and easily bookable, leading to happier guests, increased revenue, and reduced operational burdens.”
The company has seen promising results from the 2024 summer season in Europe. Data shows that guests who booked activities through Turneo gave hotels 8% higher ratings on review sites, and over two-thirds of these bookings were made online. As the global experiences and hotel activities market is projected to reach $463 billion by 2030, Turneo estimates that $172 billion of that will be generated by hotels. This substantial market opportunity is one of the reasons behind Bessemer Venture Partners’ confidence in the start-up.
“We’re thrilled to have such strong support from Bessemer Venture Partners and Underline Ventures,” said Turneo’s CEO and co-founder Matija Marijan. “This investment validates our vision and will help us scale operations, improve our technology, and forge key partnerships to enable more hotels to offer exceptional activities to their guests.”
Bessemer Venture Partners, a global leader in early-stage venture capital, has backed major names like Shopify, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Aditya Nidmarti, an investor at Bessemer and newly appointed Turneo board director, highlighted how the company is perfectly positioned to tap into the growing trend of experiences driving guest satisfaction and revenue in the hospitality sector.
“Hotels can no longer rely on room sales alone. Travellers are seeking unique, memorable experiences, and Turneo allows hotels to effortlessly create and monetise these opportunities,” Nidmarti said.
Alex Ferrara, partner at Bessemer and a key player in Shopify’s early success, echoed this sentiment, calling Turneo a potential game-changer for the hospitality industry. “Turneo is uniquely positioned to transform how people experience travel and how hotels elevate the destinations they operate in. Their focus on destination management is exactly what the industry needs right now.”
With this fresh capital, Turneo plans to expand its global footprint, introduce new features to its AI-driven platform, and form strategic partnerships with leading hoteliers. The company, recognized as one of the “Hot 25 Travel Start-Ups” for 2024 by PhocusWire, is setting the stage to revolutionise experiential travel, ensuring that hotels can offer not just a room, but an unforgettable journey.
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