Phuket-based hotel booking site sells for US$25mn
PHUKET: Blair Speers, founder of the Phuket-based hotel booking website HotelTravel.com, sold the company to Indian online travel agency (OTA) MakeMyTrip.com for US$25 million (over 760mn baht).
Mr Speers, a resident of Phuket for the past 20 years, founded HotelTravel.com in 1999.
MakeMyTrip.com reportedly paid US$15mn in both cash and shares upfront, with the remaining US$10mn to be paid in MakeMyTrip shares over three annual installments, to be paid in full by 2016.
Experts assess that MakeMyTrip.com is trying to spread their net beyond the Indian market, which has seen profits fall in the third quarter by 25 per cent.
The losses are largely due to the current economic situation and the poor performance of domestic airlines, said MakeMyTrip.com CEO Deep Kalra.
The buy-out of HotelTravel.com is seen as part of MakeMyTrip.com’s business strategy of increasing its profile in the hotel and holiday industry in South East Asia, as well as its home market.
MakeMyTrip.com currently has tie-in deals with some 80,000 hotels world-wide.
