Ebookers
Encyclopedia
Ebookers.com is an online travel
company based out of the UK
and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Travelport
, the former travel arm of Cendant
which was bought in October 2006 by an affiliate of Blackstone Partners. Travelport split out itself into three companies. The part of the business related to the B2C arm is called Orbitz Worldwide and was floated in the Nasdaq in July 2007.
Ebookers is a pan-European travel
website
specialising in the mid and long-haul travel arena, offering a wide and varying range of travel products including hotel reservations, flights, car hire and sports packages. It formerly operated main street travel agents in Ireland, closing its Dublin branch in 2006 and going internet-only.
At the time of Cendant's original acquisition (28 February 2005), Ebookers was valued at $350 million.
Ebookers was formed in 1999, by Dinesh Dhamija
, but its origins go back almost 20 years. In 1983 Flightbookers Ltd was founded, a London-based travel agency with its main retail branches in Tottenham Court Road in London. Their most profitable retail outlet was based at Londons Gatwick Airport on the rail concourse and lastly its Heathrow operation which opened in 2004. It was reported that the new high performing Heathrow branch turned over a months profit in one day thanks to the BA Strike of 2004. Flightbookers grew into one of the UK's biggest travel agencies and in 1996 established a website, the first interactive travel website in the UK. This was so successful that in 1999 the internet arm was separated to form Ebookers and the new company taken public with a flotation on Nasdaq
in New York
and Germany's Neuer Markt. The $61M raised at flotation was used to roll-out Ebookers across Europe. In November 2000 Ebookers bought Flightbookers for $15M, reuniting the two companies.
Ebookers had a platform revamp and a brand relaunch for the UK market in July 2007. Ebookers launched a travel news section in the UK, where news related to airlines, airports and popular destinations are updated daily.
Travel
Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...
company based out of the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Travelport
Travelport
Travelport is a broad-based business services company and a leading provider of critical transaction processing solutions to companies operating in the global travel industry...
, the former travel arm of Cendant
Cendant
Cendant Corporation was a New York-based provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. In 2005 and 2006, Cendant broke up and spun off or sold its constituent businesses...
which was bought in October 2006 by an affiliate of Blackstone Partners. Travelport split out itself into three companies. The part of the business related to the B2C arm is called Orbitz Worldwide and was floated in the Nasdaq in July 2007.
Ebookers is a pan-European travel
Travel
Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...
website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
specialising in the mid and long-haul travel arena, offering a wide and varying range of travel products including hotel reservations, flights, car hire and sports packages. It formerly operated main street travel agents in Ireland, closing its Dublin branch in 2006 and going internet-only.
At the time of Cendant's original acquisition (28 February 2005), Ebookers was valued at $350 million.
Ebookers was formed in 1999, by Dinesh Dhamija
Dinesh Dhamija
Dinesh Dhamija is a British-Indian business entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder of the successful online travel agency Ebookers.-Biography:...
, but its origins go back almost 20 years. In 1983 Flightbookers Ltd was founded, a London-based travel agency with its main retail branches in Tottenham Court Road in London. Their most profitable retail outlet was based at Londons Gatwick Airport on the rail concourse and lastly its Heathrow operation which opened in 2004. It was reported that the new high performing Heathrow branch turned over a months profit in one day thanks to the BA Strike of 2004. Flightbookers grew into one of the UK's biggest travel agencies and in 1996 established a website, the first interactive travel website in the UK. This was so successful that in 1999 the internet arm was separated to form Ebookers and the new company taken public with a flotation on Nasdaq
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Germany's Neuer Markt. The $61M raised at flotation was used to roll-out Ebookers across Europe. In November 2000 Ebookers bought Flightbookers for $15M, reuniting the two companies.
Ebookers had a platform revamp and a brand relaunch for the UK market in July 2007. Ebookers launched a travel news section in the UK, where news related to airlines, airports and popular destinations are updated daily.