Montréal-based AI-for-hospitality startup Pricepoint announced a $6.6-million CAD seed round to bring its platform to more hotels and accommodation providers.
The news: Pricepoint announced $6.6 million in equity funding from an all-Québec cap table on Tuesday, led by Brightspark Ventures with participation from Boreal Ventures and AQC Capital. Brightspark managing partner Sophie Forest and Boreal managing partner JD Saint-Martin (formerly an executive at Lightspeed Commerce) will both join Pricepoint’s board.
The startup, which helps hospitality providers optimize booking prices, said that the funding will go toward product development, expanding integrations, and doubling its 35-person team.
“The results speak for themselves, and hotel operators notice.”
Sophie Forest
From the source: “Most revenue management tools give you a recommendation and wait for someone to act on it. Pricepoint actually executes, adjusting pricing in real time based on each property’s own data,” Forest wrote in a LinkedIn post. “The results speak for themselves, and hotel operators notice.”
Following the thread: AI is working its way across the travel industry, from Hopper’s AI travel agent to Stay22’s booming travel content monetization business. According to Fortune, hotels that use AI chatbots achieve 20 to 35 percent higher conversion rates for direct booking inquiries compared to web forms with no chatbot.
Final thought: Pricepoint said its AI-native focus will set it apart from legacy platforms that many hotels and hostels rely on. While some hospitality technology platforms have recently repositioned themselves as “AI-powered,” Pricepoint says it’s truly AI-native because it built its platform around AI “since day one.”
Boreal Ventures managing partner David Charbonneau told BetaKit that property management systems are “modernizing quickly,” pointing to companies such as Mews and Cloudbeds as examples. Speculating that the category for independent hotels will be defined in the coming years, Charbonneau added, “we believe Pricepoint is well positioned to win it.”
Feature image courtesy Louis Hansel via Unsplash.