Lowcost Travel Group, the parent company behind the Lowcostbeds bed bank, is to buy transfer services firm Resorthoppa for an undisclosed fee.
The deal, which will be unveiled today by Lowcost chief executive Paul Evans and Resorthoppa chairman Michael East, will see the formation of a single unit to provide hotel and transfer services for consumers and the travel trade.
Evans said the merger will create an extremely powerful operator in the marketplace as the deal brings together two market leading brands under the same commercial roof.
The deal will see bed and transfer products bundled together to give lower prices to the trade and allow agents to improve margins, Evans said.
“There is no crossover of product here and the services compliment one another fantastically,” he added.
Staff working at the two companies were told of the merger in the last 24 hours, ahead of the official announcement today.
The deal is expected to complete before Christmas, with both consumers and trade partners able to bundle Resorthoppa services immediately through the lowcostbeds.com website
The management structures of the two businesses will be merged following completion of the deal.
Resorthoppa will continue to operate its consumer-facing and trade website.
In a statement, East said: “This merger brings together two of the travel industry’s leaders, creating a one stop shop for agents.
The two businesses have experienced dramatic growth in trade sales over recent years and together, we are creating a stronger group which will allow agents to simplify the process of dynamically packaging holidays and increase their margins.”
Resorthoppa was launched in 2004 and currently operates services from 450 airports in 70 countries.
The company received a £2.1 million funding round from Close Brothers Venture Capital Trust in September 2007.