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Booking Holdings has entered into an agreement to acquire hotel metasearch site, HotelsCombined.

Based in Sydney, Australia, with a strong presence in Asia-Pacific and thousands of active affiliates worldwide, HotelsCombined will report into Booking Holdings’ travel metasearch brand, Kayak.

“HotelsCombined has built a strong brand with loyal consumers across Asia-Pacific, and we believe the team will be a great addition to Kayak to further expand our worldwide metasearch strategy,” said Glenn Fogel, chief executive of Booking Holdings.

HotelsCombined was founded in 2005 and has been recognised as the World’s Leading Hotel Comparison Website for the past five years at the World Travel Awards.

The acquisition has been approved by HotelsCombined’s board of directors and stockholders and is expected to close later this year, subject to regulatory approval and satisfaction of closing conditions.

“We’ve admired their execution for many years.

“I’m eager to work together to strengthen our capabilities and global network,” said Steve Hafner, chief executive of Kayak.

Booking Holdings is the world leader in online travel and related services, provided to customers and partners in over 220 countries through six primary brands – Booking.com, Kayak, priceline.com, agoda.com, Rentalcars.com and OpenTable.

“We’ve always been inspired by the entrepreneurial culture of Booking Holdings brands and are excited to be joining the family,” said Hichame Assi, chief executive of HotelsCombined

“Operating under the Kayak umbrella will strengthen our proposition to both customers and partners with greater scale, product breadth and innovation.”

Source: breakingtravelnews.com