Freiburg, Germany-based hospitality meeting technology specialist hivr.ai has announced the appointment of Cyril Ranque (pictured) as the new chairman of its board of directors. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the travel and technology sectors, having previously served in the C-suite at Expedia Group and as board member for multiple organisations including eLong, Inc; lastminute.com, Ritz Paris, and Bakuun Holdings.
Earlier in his career, he was VP of marketing and distribution at Louvre Hotels in Paris and he also co-founded Educastream.com, an online education startup.
“Having worked with Cyril for several years, I’m thrilled to have his expertise at hivr.ai. He brings extensive experience of the travel industry, building B2B products based on industry needs and leveraging cutting edge technology,” said Felix Undeutsch, CEO and co-founder of hivr.ai.
hivr.ai offers a suite of products designed to automate meeting and group business for hotels. This includes comprehensive channel management across all major meeting platforms, such as Cvent, VenueDirectory, and meetago, along with a powerful automation engine for pricing and task management.
Recently, the company announced the launch of ‘Mandy’, the industry’s first AI phone agent tailored for meetings with Radisson Hotel Group signing on as the inaugural adopter of the technology.
“After two decades of deep involvement with hotels worldwide, I’ve seen the immense potential for automation in the meetings and groups sector which is worth an estimated $400bn in revenue. I’m delighted to collaborate with Felix and the team as we guide the board through this next phase of our growth journey,” said Ranque.
Founded in 2020 by four former Expedia Group alumni, hivr.ai recently closed a funding round including strategic investment from Amadeus.
