Trip.com, a travel discovery app formerly known as Gogobot, is acquired amidst intense activity surrounding travel discovery tools and businesses – and the emergent presence from the Airbnb incursion in the search for experiences.
The acquisition comes in the middle of the Airbnb spectrum, which has been explicit about becoming an engine of "experience". If you go to Airbnb today, the first invite is more or less "what would you like to do" instead of finding a home. Certainly Airbnb still lacks in the transportation research department, but as it continues to grow it is likely that we will see some of these small businesses or products consolidating themselves to cope with Airbnb 's ambitions of owning a business. travel experience.
CTrip Group will acquire Trip.com for an undisclosed amount. In the announcement, CTrip Group reported that more than 60 million people have used Trip.com to plan their trip. Trip.com, a first step of a more unified travel search experience that encompasses multiple modes of travel, accommodation and experiences, announced the acquisition via a blog today. 39; hui. The search engine for travel has raised $ 39 million in funding. He has already raised $ 20 million (return to the Gogobot era) from HomeAway in 2014.
"What does it mean to you, our users? Everything and more," the company said in a blog. "We will always be what you love and trust – the same personalized recommendations, an unmatched perspective of others like you, wrapped in a contextual application, delivered by the same great Silicon Valley-based team – and some others. Over time, you will get enhanced features and additional value. "
Launched in 2010, Trip.com was part of a wave of startups who saw an opportunity to pick the dominance of travel search sites like Kayak with a simplified and simplified experience. But since then, we've seen a lot of big companies recognize the opportunity there and snatch those startups, like Concur buying Hipmunk in September last year. The idea is that the search for travel, accommodation and experiences can be fragmented and disseminated across multiple platforms like the Yelp and airline websites, and it is possible to unify them .
Trip.com's technology will also be transferred to the CTrip Group Skyscanner, which it acquired for $ 1.74 billion last November.