Airbnb buys HotelTonight to expand hotel-booking business
The acquisition extends the home-renting company’s reach even further into the hotel industry
New York — Airbnb has bought HotelTonight, its biggest acquisition yet, in a move to increase hotel listings on the site as the home-sharing startup prepares for an eventual public offering. Airbnb did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but according to PitchBook Data, HotelTonight was valued at $463m in a venture capital deal two years ago. In early 2017, Airbnb acquired Luxury Retreats for about $300m, its largest purchase at the time. San Francisco-based HotelTonight offers last-minute hotel bookings, seeking to tap into unused inventory largely in urban areas, and the app has been a travel-industry darling since it launched in 2010. The acquisition extends Airbnb’s reach even further into the hotel industry, where it has been a disruptive rival since its launch just over ten years ago. Airbnb transformed the travel sector by persuading millions of people to open up their homes to strangers, and became such a market force that mainstream travel and hotel companies like...
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