Hotel booking website EasyToBook was acquired this week by Travix, joining the likes of Vayama and Cheaptickets in the BCD Holdings-run leisure brand division.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but EasyToBook has a turnover of around Euro 100 million a year and is expecting to double the figure in 2012.
The sale to Travix marks the end of seven years as an independent company since its formation in 2004. EasyToBook has 65 employees and offices in Switzerland, Netherlands and Israel. The last 12 months have seen it sell over one million room nights.
The deal gives the other Travix brands access to more than 100,000 hotels through the EasyToBook platform, as well as the opportunity to create package deals.
“This represents a major step forward for Travix, which has built a solid reputation in the online travel industry by offering discounted airfares with its brands in Europe, North America and Asia.
“With the acquisition of EasyToBook, each Travix brand will become a one-stop shopping destination for travelers seeking great deals in airfare, hotels and packages.”
Other brands under the Travix umbrella include Vliegwinkel and BudgetAir.
BCD Holdings first unveiled the idea of creating a dedicated online leisure division with multiple brands in January this year.
The company carried out mergers with investments from ING Corporate Investments, Bluefield Investments and Beins Travel Group, which owned CheapTickets.
CheapTickets and Vliegwinkel operate in the Netherlands and Germany; Vayama does business in the US, Canada, the UK, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore; and BudgetAir has expanded from the Netherlands into Belgium, France and the UK.
The name Travix was finally unveiled in May.
NB: CheapTickets.nl and CheapTickets.de are not related to CheapTickets.com, which is owned by Orbitz Worldwide.
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About Kevin May
Well played by Easy To Book, getting out while the waters are still relatively calm, I think, is a very smart move.
Think it will start to get choppier on the OTA starting in the year 0001 AG (After Google).
@Timothy Oneil-Dunne pointed out some relevant analysis on the subject recently:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2011/08/15/online-travel-stocks-nomura-launches-with-bearish-view/?partner=airlines_newsletter Whoops, that’s a long URL
I reckon @Groupon wishes they chose the same exit in retrospect.
Good for the guys at EasyToBook – I’m all for building an business / brand and selling it on; Interested to see how this integrates with the BCD family given a disparity in technology and business process! Regardless, the travel industry is an exciting place to be and I’m glad to see the synergy of these two businesses aligned.