logo-loader

Zoomaway Travel doubles client base in last six months

Last updated: 19:07 28 Mar 2017 BST, First published: 10:07 28 Mar 2017 BST

GolfSilhouette
New clients include an operating company with 30 golf courses in their portfolio, and a PGA tour event

ZoomAway Travel Inc (CVE:ZMA) says it's more than doubled the number of clients since October last year when it listed in Toronto, as it updated investors on Tuesday on progress.

The group's Nevada subsidiary, Zoomaway Inc revealed its client base and digital footprint have more than doubled since then and it has reached several milestones.

Among these is that the firm has expanded into several key locations, including Las Vegas, Northern California's coastal regions and in the Pacific Northwest.

This increase in the company's digital footprint has led to direct revenues and sales opportunities while opening up new lead channels that were not available to the company in 2016, it said.

In addition, Zoomaway has doubled its client base in both its white label and RMS (records management systems) products.

The firm's new clients include one of the world's largest ski corporations, a publicly traded group of nine hotel casinos in Las Vegas, an operating company with 30 golf courses in their portfolio, and a PGA tour event.

Sean Schaeffer, chief executive, said today: "This substantial increase in our embedded booking tools has more than quadrupled traffic to our points of sale.

"We spent most of 2016 building for capacity and we're seeing that our turnaround time for our deliverables has generally averaged 2.5 days. I'd call that a win and time well spent on infrastructure."

Notable recent activity..

It's already been a busy 2017 for the group.

Earlier this month, its wholly-owned Nevada subsidiary, Zoomaway Inc, has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Zero8 Studios Inc to pursue the joint marketing and sales of white-label free-to-play mobile games.

"The Zero8 Studios white-label free-to-play mobile games platform, and its on-property kiosk program, is a great fit with ZoomAway's focus on software products..,"Schaeffer had said.

Also this month it told investors it was hoping to make inroads into the emerging US cannabis hospitality and tourism industry and is researching the sector.

It comes as the recreational use of marijuana has been legalised in several states, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Zoomaway feels that the adoption of cannabis hospitality and tourism by lodging, activities and transportation is soon to be on its way.

A work in progress..

ZoomAway Travel Inc may only have listed on the TSX Venture Exchange last October, but the company has been a work in progress for almost 20 years.

Founder Schaeffer first came up with the idea of packaging hotel rooms with leisure activities in the 1990s.  Fast-forward to today and the solution is digital, with ZoomAway enabling travellers to bundle rooms with activities such as golf and skiing directly through partner hotel websites that use its White Label platform.

By bundling a room with leisure activities, guests save both money and time.

Instead of searching the Internet or calling around to book tee times, travellers can make easier choices and reserve right on the White Label hotel partner’s website.

Additionally, once a guest has chosen a hotel room and activities, they pay for everything in one transaction. Hotels find that they receive additional traffic from guests who want to stay at partner properties due to access to activities and the ability to tailor a package that perfectly suits their needs

Schaeffer targets gross margins for the White Label platform of between 17% and 24%. As an example, a hotel room in Reno might earn ZoomAway US$16.80 (assuming a 20% margin) while in San Francisco, using a 20% margin, ZoomAway would earn US$60 per night.

ZoomAway shares added 3.45% in Toronto to stand at $0.15 each.