WESTON, FL, July 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monaker Group (NASDAQ: MKGI) , a travel and technology company focused on the alternative lodging rental (ALR) market, has issued the public release of its next-generation Monaker Booking Engine (MBE) and advanced Application Protocol Interface (API).
The API has been initially delivered to 12 of its contracted travel distributors, with many more to follow. The initial group includes major travel agencies and hotel consolidators, a tour provider and a major airline, with all located in the UK, U.S. or Middle East. Some have indicated their integration could be completed in 2-3 weeks, while others are estimating 4-6 weeks.
Monaker’s highly-flexible booking engine creates a unique B2B solution for travel companies wanting to access vacation rental properties for display and instantaneous booking alongside their website offerings for air travel, car rentals and tour packages.
The new version was redesigned from the ground up to meet the special demands of the company’s contracted travel distributors. This includes providing access to Monaker’s global ALR inventory with the added capability of dynamic pricing. This functionality provides more accurate pricing given the myriad of variables involved in booking an ALR, from market conditions and currency exchanges rates, to availability and demand. The API also incorporates more scalable architecture that is deployed in a cloud environment, with the booking engine based on Open Travel standards.
“This official launch of our next-generation MBE and API and its delivery to our travel partners represents one of the most important milestones in our company history,” said Monaker CEO Bill Kerby. “Through our initial contracts with travel consolidators and specialists, our ALR inventory will now be accessible to hundreds of travel companies in the tour, cruise, hotel and airline sectors, as well as over a hundred thousand travel agents in North America and Europe.”
“With this new release, we have provided an enterprise-level platform for our partners to access our vast inventory of properties,” added Kerby. “We expect this to ramp up into a constant and growing revenue stream from ALR transactions over the coming months. We will also continue to bring on new contracted property managers to help us grow the number of instantly-bookable properties on the platform.”
During the development process, Monaker collaborated closely with travel companies from various segments of the industry, sharing the working architecture of the new API to ensure capability. This has led to the creation of API elements that now also support faster and more efficient integrations. The API is universal in design, allowing compatibility with all booking systems. It is also more flexible, with the ability to activate or deactivate certain features to best match the needs of individual travel distributors.
Monaker expects to benefit from the growing demand for ALR and the growth in digital travel sales. The global ALR industry is expected to grow at a 7% compound annual growth rate to $194 billion in 2021, according to Technavio, making it one of the fastest growing sectors in the travel industry. Meanwhile, worldwide digital travel sales are anticipated to climb at a 9.7% compounded annual growth rate to top $817 billion by 2020, says eMarketer.
About Monaker Group
Monaker Group, Inc. is a technology-driven travel company focused on delivering innovation to the alternative lodging rental (ALR) market. The Monaker Booking Engine (MBE) contracted more than one million instantly bookable vacation rental homes, villas, chalets, apartments, condos, resort residences, and castles. MBE offers travel distributors and agencies an industry first: a customizable, instant-booking platform for alternative lodging.
The company’s NextTrip.BIZ offers customizable business travel booking and management solution for small and medium-sized businesses. Business owners and employees can search for and securely access exclusive discounted pricing across air, hotel/ALR, car, and other ancillary travel services. NextTrip.BIZ can be configured to a company’s particular travel policies, with bookings recorded for easy corporate expense tracking and reporting. Visit www.NextTrip.BIZ to sign up for a free trial.
For more about Monaker Group, visit www.monakergroup.com .
Important Cautions Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning the plans and expectations of Monaker. These statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are out of our control. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the expectations of future growth may not be realized. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and Monaker undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by the “Risk Factors” and other cautionary statements included in Monaker’s annual, quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including, but not limited to, the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended February 28, 2018, which has been filed with the SEC and is available at www.sec.gov .
Company Contact: Monaker Group, Inc. Richard Marshall Director of Corporate Development Tel (954) 888-9779 rmarshall@monakergroup.com MKGI Investor Relations & Media Contacts: CMA Ronald Both or Grant Stude Tel (949) 432-7557 Email: MKGI@cma.team Chesapeake Group Tel (410) 825-3930 Email: info@chesapeakegp.com
