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10
December 2008
Lowcost Travel Group, parent company behind
the Lowcostbeds bedbank brand, is to buy
transfer services firm Resorthoppa for an
undisclosed fee.
Travolution can confirm the deal, which will
be unveiled today by Lowcost chief executive
Paul Evans and Resorthoppa chairman Michael
East, will see the formation of a single
unit to provide hotel and transfer services
for consumers and the travel trade.
Paul Evans said:
"The merger will create an 'extremely
powerful' operator in the marketplace as the
deal brings together two 'market leading'
brands under the same commercial roof.
The deal will see bed and transfer products
bundled together to give 'lower prices' to
the trade and allow agents to improve
margins".
"There is no crossover of product here and
the services compliment one another
fantastically." he added.
Staff working at the two companies were told
of the merger in the last 24 hours, ahead of
the official announcement today.
The deal is expected to complete before
Christmas, with both consumers and trade
partners able to bundle Resorthoppa services
immediately through the lowcostbeds.com
website
The management structures of the two
businesses will be merged following
completion of the deal.
Resorthoppa will continue to operate its
consumer-facing and trade website.
In a statement, Michael East said:
"This merger
brings together two of the travel industry's
leaders, creating a one stop shop for
agents.
The two businesses have experienced dramatic
growth in trade sales over recent years and
together, we are creating a stronger group
which will allow agents to simplify the
process of dynamically packaging holidays
and increase their margins."
Resorthoppa was launched in 2004 and
currently operates services from 450
airports in 70 countries.
The company received a £2.1 million funding
round from Close Brothers Venture Capital
Trust in September 2007.
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