Luxury travel firm Secret Escapes snaps up failed rival Laterooms
Luxury travel agency Secret Escapes has snapped up part of collapsed rival Laterooms as it booked a 66 per cent increase in sales for the year.
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The London-headquartered company, which offers deals on holidays and hotels for its members, has acquired the booking website’s intellectual property after its collapse last month.
Secret Escapes has also established a presence in Ireland following the purchase of travel rewards website Pigsback.com, the Sunday Times reported.
It came as the company posted revenue of £121.2m in 2018, up from £73.2m the previous year. The firm narrowed its loss from £14.2m to £10m.
Secret Escapes was launched in the UK in 2011 by co-founder Alex Saint with the purpose of providing cheap deals on luxury holidays, while also helping hotels to fill empty rooms.
The company last year secured £52m from Merian Global Investors, a major tech investor whose bets include Transferwise and The Hut Group. Secret Escapes has previously received backing from Google Ventures and Singapore-based tech investor Temasek.
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Earlier this month Secret Escapes appointed Andy Botha, former finance director of Zoopla, as its first chief financial officer, in a sign the firm could be gearing up for a further fundraising round or an initial public offering.
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