A six-month-old Danish room booking service in hotels has acquired its Swedish competitor in a bid to corner the Nordic region.

Gaest was launched in January this year and has bought Bokarum for an undisclosed fee.

The ambitious company says it wants to build the leading the online marketplace for the booking of on-demand venues for small and medium-size events and meetings.

Gaest (inevitably following the “Airbnb for…” monicker) says it “makes it easy to book inspiring meeting spaces at leading hotels and conference venues as well as creative spaces and meeting facilities at private companies, art galleries and restaurants”.

The next stage is to grow the company into other countries, says co-founder and CEO, Anders Boelskifte Mogensen.

The global MICE market is estimated to be worth in the region of $400 billion.

Existing players in the travel sector, such as Expedia, have been eyeing the potential bounty in recent years.

Expedia recently signed a deal with NH Hotels as part of its strategy to ramp up its MeetingMarket brand.