Cox & Kings acquires UK’s online hotel booking firm LateRooms

NEW DELHI :  Travel services provider Cox & Kings today fully acquired UK-based online hotel booking specialist LateRooms for 8.5 million pounds (about Rs 85 crore) from TUI Group.
The acquisition fits the group’s strategic intent to expand its global online and B2C (business-to-consumer) leisure proposition, the company said in a BSE filing.
“We are confident that bringing the LateRooms brand and technology into the fold will provide a significant boost to Cox & Kings’ growth trajectory and technology capabilities,” Cox & Kings Director Peter Kerkar said.
The group also expects to drive synergies and value from LateRooms’ association with Cox & Kings’ arm SuperBreak Mini-Holidays, a short-break packaged holiday specialist in the UK, the company said.
Cox & Kings Leisure Division (EU) Executive Chairman Hugo Kimber said the acquisition of LateRooms and access to its online technology platform bolsters the group’s delivery capabilities across all geographies for the leisure business.
LateRooms has 3.5 million active consumer database and had 93 million online visits in the fiscal ended September 30, 2015, generating a total transaction value of 300 million pounds and net revenues of 50 million pounds.
It operates a single web platform which optimises the site for mobile device usage. (PTI)