17 Jan 2017

eDreams Odigeo acquires hotel booking site BudgetPlaces

Accommodation service BudgetPlaces has ended almost 14 years as an independent company and sold to travel group eDreams Odigeo.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

eDreams Odigeo says the deal will not any impact on 2016-2017 capital expenditures as it follows the sale of part of its corporate travel division, TravelLink, to Flight Centre Travel Group in September last year, also for an undisclosed fee.

BudgetPlaces has around 7,500, directly-contracted properties on its books from 1,000 destinations around the globe.

The company was created under the EnGrande umbrella in 2003 in Barcelona, part of a portfolio of websites that included dozens of destination-specific brands for hotels in a specific area.

Palamon Capital Partners took a majority stake in EnGrande in April 2011, in a deal that was said to be in the region of €30 million.

eDreams Odigeo has only purchased the BudgetPlaces brand and portfolio of hotel contracts.

At the time of Palamon investment, the flagship BudgetPlaces brand had offices also in New York and Dublin, with 85 staff.

A statement says:

“The acquisition will give eDreams ODIGEO and its travel brands access to innovative technology and will improve product diversification, in line with the company’s business strategy.”

BudgetPlaces claims to be processing 50,000 room nights each month on the back of 210,000 online reservations per year.

Other brands in the eDreams Odigeo stable include online travel agencies, eDreams, Opodo and Go Voyages, as well as metasearch site Liligo and the remaining elements of the TravelLink corporate travel service.