What Happened To Blink and SideTour 6 Months After Groupon Bought Them


Skift Take

While some erroneously looked to Expedia to take tours and activities mainstream, Groupon, if it survives, is making the first move.
Six months after Groupon separately acquired Blink, the Madrid-based same-day hotel booking app that competes with HotelTonight, and New York-based tours and activities provider SideTour, the Blink brand is dying, and SideTours' tours and activities are growing. A couple of senior managers of the small Blink team relocated to Groupon offices in Seattle, and they are working on what appears to be the imminent integration of tonight-only hotel deals into the Groupon app. The Blink brand itself appears to be in a downward death spiral. The Europe-only Blink app has become Blink by Groupon, and don't look for much expansion there under the Blink by Groupon brand. It is highly unlikely that Blink by Groupon will ever offer hotels in North America, and it is possible that once the Groupon app ge