Articles tagged “m&a”

An Expedia acquisition of Thomas Cook? While problematic on many fronts, including buying all of those offline agents, it isn't out of the question. Consider that Expedia would gain access to a customer base in Europe that it hardly touches. Expedia's Barry Diller has made a ton of acquisitions. He and Okerstrom are hardly done yet.

The deal, which just closed, provides some insight into both Grubhub and LevelUp’s businesses, but it says even more about the future of restaurant technology.

RedAwning's acquisition of Leavetown suggests that marketing and distribution technology built separately for rentals and hotels may one day blend into all-purpose software for all types of lodging.

Booking sites are offering more types of travel products and services on their platforms. Of these verticals, alternative accommodations are a highly contested space where Booking and Airbnb lead for now.

Don't you just love those proverbial tuck-in acquisitions? Booking Holdings didn't break the bank for either HotelsCombined ($140 million) or FareHarbor ($250 million). Sometimes making smaller bets is a much smarter strategy than gargantuan deals, but only time will tell.

The acquisitions of Active Hotels and Bookings B.V., which led to the creation of Booking.com, transformed parent company Priceline.com, and online travel history. Take a look at Priceline's fourth quarter of 2005 financial results, and you'll be able to see the journey in process.

The stars were seemingly aligned when Booking.com made its move. The big U.S. players were too comfortable with their huge margins from the merchant model; Booking.com focused on independent hotels; and search engine marketing was on the rise. Still, it was the entrepreneurs and dealmakers who made it all happen.

Booking.com is Booking Holdings' favored child, but with the addition of HotelsCombined, it is apparent that the parent company still sees plenty of opportunity for its Kayak unit in metasearch worldwide. This deal will help Kayak expand in Asia Pacific, and will give HotelsCombined additional resources as well.

Where there is smoke there is fire and Sebastien Bazin's comments at Skift Forum Europe last week hinted at an imminent deal.

Accor's acquisition strategy might seem scattershot to some but buying up technology providers in key sectors does make sense. There's always an element of risk but you'd hope Accor knows how to get the best out of management teams.