Holiday Autos sold
Travelocity Global has sold the Holiday Autos brand to Dublin-based car rental solutions provider CarTrawler for an undisclosed sum, leaving staff with an uncertain future.
The deal gives CarTrawler the rights and intangible assets of the Holiday Autos Directs and White Label business, including the brand, website URLs and domain names, subsidiary brands (including Mietwagen, carhire4less, elmundoencoche, degrifauto and bookanddrive), white label and marketing contracts and intellectual property.
Holiday Autos trade business and operations are not included in the sale, but Travelocity said it was considering the possibility of exiting from trade sales.
Under a separate agreement, CarTrawler will replace Holiday Autos as the exclusive provider of car rental to Lastminute.com, a company which is part of Travelocity Global.
Holiday Autos said a "small number" of employees who were wholly assigned to the Directs and White Label area of the business would transfer to CarTrawler, adding that it was "too premature" to say what would happen to the remaining employees. Internationally, Holiday Autos employs over 200.
A spokeswoman said: "We are in consultation with employee representative bodies in all jurisdictions in all our markets so at this stage we really cannot provide further details."
Travelocity said it has decided to sell Holiday Autos, which it has owned since 2003, to focus on its core business and key priorities, as well as to strengthen investment in its primary online travel brands.
Travelocity Europe president Matthew Crummack said: "For the last 10 years the Holiday Autos brand has been integral to Travelocity Global, and it has been our privilege to support the Holiday Autos team in their dedication to growing the business to become one of Europe’s most recognised, respected and leading car hire brokers as it is today.
"The time is now right however, for its further success to be developed by CarTrawler. Their compelling vision and investment plans for the Holiday Autos brand make it the best custodian for its future growth."
Travelocity Global is currently assessing options for the Holiday Autos trade business.One option, pending further review and consultation across each of its countries, may be exiting the "intensively competitive" car rental trade sector, it said.
Crummack, added: "As we assess the future direction for the Holiday Autos Trade business, our teams are working directly with all our business partners and suppliers. Our customer service teams are providing continued support to Holiday Autos customers whose bookings are unaffected by this acquisition."
A Which? survey this week revealed that Holiday Autos received more negative feedback among its members than positive, with 52% unhappy with the service they received. However, Holiday Autos fared better in the survey than Europcar and Avis, both of which received a negative rating from 59% of members.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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