Summarised the CEO's Speech and Preso from this mornings FY2024 AGM as I digest and internalise the information. The more I read about the Smart Platform Strategy, the clearer it is becoming.

I highlighted in bold italics, insights that either I had not picked up before or further crystallises the strategy, all positive!

Discl: Held IRL and in SM

SUMMARY

No new news, but more clarity on the Smart Platform Strategy, the components, progress and revenue impact

No change in guidance for FY2025 but 1QFY2025 looks to be tracking nicely on both subscriber additions, transaction product adoption and Smart Platform development progress

SiteMinder also expects to be underlying EBITDA profitable and underlying free cash flow positive in FY25

SMART PLATFORM STRATEGY

The centrepiece of our plan to build on our strong momentum is the Smart Platform strategy. Announced last year, the strategy is about making the strengths of our platform work better together so we can help our hotelier customers and partners generate more revenue.

The three pillars of the Smart Platform strategy work together to deliver more revenues for hoteliers and our partners.

The key initiatives of the strategy are focused on answering three questions:

Q1. SiteMinder has a large and valuable repository of data unrivalled in size, depth and geographical coverage. How do we make this data accessible and useful to our hoteliers? 

Q2. How do we translate that data into actionable recommendations across not just pricing but other commercial levers as well?

Q3. How do we help hoteliers execute those recommendations with minimal effort?

This is about creating a unified revenue management experience, something that doesn’t exist in the industry today but operators are crying out for.

SMART PLATFORM STRATEGY PROGRESS

The team has made great progress on delivering the Smart Platform strategy with all three pillars – Dynamic Revenue Plus, Channels Plus and the Smart Distribution Program – either in pilot or having commenced their launch.

Dynamic Revenue Plus

We were pleased to launch Dynamic Revenue Plus in Australia and New Zealand last month.

Dynamic Revenue Plus provides our hotelier customers with proprietary insights and execution tools to optimise key commercial decisions and drive more revenue. The launch has received very positive feedback from our hotelier customers and industry partners.

Dynamic Revenue Plus will level-up early next year with the integration of pricing recommendations from IDeaS ahead of its global launch in March 2025. IDeaS is the industry’s most trusted revenue management system, and we are pleased to have deepened our partnership with them.

This is very exciting but it is just the start of the journey for Dynamic Revenue Plus. 

Advanced capabilities are under development that will combine the latest in artificial intelligence with SiteMinder’s deep and comprehensive data assets, to deliver even greater revenue gains for our hotelier customers. I look forward to sharing more details of these capabilities in due course.

Channels Plus

Second pillar of our Smart Platform strategy and is focused on making it easier than ever for our hotelier customers to distribute their inventory. 

In less than five minutes, they can sell their inventory to 30 participating distribution partners. Achieving the same outcome without Channels Plus would take weeks, if not months, and is practically impossible for most hoteliers to sustain.

Today we have more than 1,000 hoteliers and 30 distribution partners signed up for Channels Plus.

We’ve received strong interest from our customers and have received strong support from some of the world’s leading booking platforms. 

From January 2025, Channels Plus will be a default inclusion for all new customers on the SiteMinder platform.

Smart Distribution Program

The third pillar of our Smart Platform strategy is the Smart Distribution Program. 

The Smart Distribution Program will drive unprecedented collaboration between our hotelier customers and distribution partners to deliver win-win-win outcomes through enhanced connectivity, optimised set-ups and technology investments. The program commenced during the September quarter just passed.

IMPACT ON REVENUE

For SiteMinder the Smart Platform strategy represents more than just incremental revenue. 

The strategy transforms our revenue model from one that is just hotelier-oriented and largely based on fixed fees, into one that touches other parts of the travel ecosystem and is increasingly focused on activity based fees. This will allow us to better participate in the success of our hotelier customers and partners.

The three pillars will meaningfully contribute to revenue at different times over the next few years.

The Smart Distribution Program will come first, and its contributions will be compounded by Channels Plus and Dynamic Revenue Plus. Together they will help us achieve our guidance for 30% organic annual growth in the medium-term.

TRADING UPDATE

While we are doing a lot of work to position the company for the future, we have not lost sight of the now and present.

The company has continued to perform well in the first quarter of the 2025 financial year:

• Net property additions are tracking ahead of last year with continued focus on larger properties which present attractive long-term revenue opportunities for the company.
• The adoption of transaction products continues to grow across incoming and existing customers.
• On the Smart Platform, we are progressing as planned with the commencement of the Smart Distribution Program. 
• Channels Plus is on track for its full commercial launch in January 2025
• Dnamic Revenue Plus is progressing through its staged launch program with positive early industry feedback.

Our guidance is unchanged. We continue to target organic revenue growth of 30% in the medium-term, aided by contributions from the Smart Platform. 

SiteMinder also expects to be underlying EBITDA profitable and underlying free cash flow positive in FY25, and make continued progress on the Rule of 40