CNG ups online inventory with $12.5m swoop for PlacesTo Stay
Online hotel reservation network WorldRes has sold hotel distribution business PlacesToStay for $12.5 million to CNG Travel Group.
PTS runs eight main consumer travel websites including PlacesToStay.com and represents 8,000 independent hotels in 140 countries.
This will increase CNG’s existing hotel inventory by 50% to more than 24,000 hotels. PTS generated 243,000 reservations in 2003 with a total travel value of $49.7 million and produced a gross profit of almost $5 million before costs.
As part of the deal Irish-based CNG gains the right to access WorldRes inventory but is not taking any staff.
The acquisition enables CNG, which raised £20 million through a flotation on the Alternative Investment Market in the UK this summer, to complement its mainly business travel stock with leisure accommodation.
PTS is available in seven languages including English, French, German and Spanish and provides “extensive search criteria” to enable travellers to choose their properties.
CNG chief executive Finbarr Power said: “PTS is a leading online hotel brand in the leisure sector and is an excellent first acquisition for CNG following our flotation. PTS will be integrated immediately, creating for CNG an ideally balanced business between the corporate and leisure travel markets.”
CNG, formerly known as Click and Go, runs US corporate travel agency business Tzell.
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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