BUDAPEST – Hungary-based OTA Szallas.hu reported on 1st July that it has successfully acquired the Czech OTA Hotel.cz. The acquisition will raise the revenue of Szallas.hu by two-thirds and it will also increase the number of employees to 275.
Thanks to the acquisition, regional and intercountry tourism will be boosted significantly. Consequently, Szallas.hu has become a regionally significant company group in the online accommodation segment: it now offers online services in six countries – Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary – and almost half of its total revenue is the result of the company’s international expansion in recent years.
Szallas.hu has reached a major milestone in its history. As of July 1st 2019, Szallas.hu is the sole shareholder of the Hotel.cz Group, as a result of a combined cash and share-exchange transaction. “We were looking for a company which has a significant presence in the regional market, can help us reach our goal to become the best regional online accommodation portal and which also has a similar company culture to ours” said József Szigetvári, the chief executive officer of Szallas.hu Zrt. “Hotel.cz is a remarkable company which has been operating in the Czech market for over 10 years. Its history, structure and culture are very similar to those of Szallas.hu and it will make the integration process much smoother.”
Szallas.hu now offers online reservation services in six countries: Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Hungary - almost half of its revenue is the result of international expansion in recent years. “The Czech expansion fits well into our long-term growth strategy for Szallas.hu to become a regional champion, we have been looking for such suitable opportunities since our initial investment” said Tibor Győrbiró, the Investment Director of PortfoLion VC. OTP Bank and Eximbank are shareholders of the OTA through the funds of PortfoLion, the Budapest-based venture capital which acquired shares in Szallas.hu in 2015.
Szallas.hu reported that the non-organic growth this year will be funded by a capital investment from PortfoLion VC, bank credits and share exchanges. Szallas.huʼs revenue reached roughly 13 million euros last year, while Hotel.czʼs revenue was more than 8,5 million euros. Due to the successful merger, Hotel.cz has become part of the regional Szallas.hu online travel agency group and Hotel.cz shareholders have become minority shareholders of the Szallas.hu Group. The sales of both companies have been growing by 20-25% each year.
Nearly 6,000 new Czech accommodation lets will become available to book for customers on the Szallas.hu Group websites as a result of the acquisition. The company will also work on growing the apartment and guesthouse inventory of Penzion.cz so it can offer more economic accommodation types for Hungarian, Polish and Czech customers. “We will boost the intercountry traveling of Czech customers to Hungary, Poland and Croatia as well” said József Szigetvári.
"It makes sense and brings benefits to carry out developments together as part of a larger group, and to be able to offer better services to customers and our partners, and we also see a great opportunity in boosting travel between countries in the region” commented Pavel Kotas, Chairman of the Hotel.cz. Board of Directors “The Czech Republic has a very high GDP per capita, one of the highest in the region, and due to its small geographical size, there is a high demand for regional tourism opportunities.”
Source: TravelDailyNews International
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