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OTC snaps up Deckchair.com
Online Travel Corporation has bought Leisurehunt.com and Deckchair.com, the website launched by Bob Geldof, for £150,000.
Deckchair.com and Leisurehunt.com were owned by World Travel Holdings. They amassed £6 million gross sales in 2002. Through the acquisition OTC gets the domain names, which will remain the same, plus the client databases – 490,000 of whom have opted to receive offers through email.
OTC chief executive, Mark Jones (pictured) told TravelMole the primary motivation for the acquisition was to get access to the 600,000 registered users and turn profit.
He added: “We can get the conversion rate up through products like the Build-Your-Own functionality. Plus running another website is an incremental cost for us, so we should be able to boost profits by 10% or 12%.”
Mr Jones told TravelMole that Deckchair.com users were a similar profile to OTC users – independent travellers looking for bespoke packages to Europe and the US.
He said: “In recent times Deckchair and Leisurehunt have not received sufficient investment in technology and content. We can get the margins up on dynamic packaging with our technology and resources.”
Read our previous stories:
28-March-2003 Interview: Mark Jones, chief executive, OTC
25-March-2003 OTC reacts to CAA campaign
24-Jan-2003 OTC gets a positive result
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