Business & Finance

HomeAway Acquires Bedandbreakfast.Com

HomeAway Family of Websites Now Provide Travelers with the Most Comprehensive Alternative to Hotels

AUSTIN, TX - March 4, 2010 - HomeAway, Inc., the world’s leading online vacation rental marketplace, today announced its acquisition of BedandBreakfast.com, the most comprehensive global site for finding bed-and-breakfast properties (B&Bs). With this acquisition, HomeAway strengthens its position as the No. 1 source for unique lodging alternatives to hotels. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“HomeAway already provides the most trusted sites and broadest inventory for searching for the ideal vacation rental home,” says Brian Sharples, chief executive officer of HomeAway. “With the addition of BedandBreakfast.com, we’re providing travelers with another option to find home-like accommodations for a vacation experience that delivers far greater satisfaction than staying in a traditional motel or hotel.”

BedandBreakfast.com was founded in Austin, Texas, in 1994 by CEO Eric Goldreyer, and has grown into a top travel site listing more than 10,000 B&Bs across 100 countries. The site specializes in providing travelers with a way to have a more personal travel experience for a weekend getaway, business trip, or extended vacation.

“We are thrilled to be joining the HomeAway family,” says Goldreyer. “The missions of our two companies are closely aligned – to help consumers easily find and experience a better lodging option than chain hotels and to help property owners effectively compete for and serve the traveler.”

HomeAway plans to operate BedandBreakfast.com as an independent brand.

About HomeAway, Inc.
The HomeAway, Inc. websites connect homeowners and property managers with travelers who seek the space, value and amenities of vacation rental homes as an alternative to hotels. With more than 400,000 global listings across the sites, travelers may easily search for budget to luxury-priced vacation rentals on HomeAway.com, VRBO.com, VacationRentals.com, CyberRentals.com, A1Vacations.com, GreatRentals.com, TripHomes.com, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk, OwnersDirect.co.uk, FeWo-direkt.de and Abritel.fr. The sites also feature Reviews and the HomeAway Rent with Confidence Guarantee, which help ensure a memorable HomeAway from home® experience. HomeAway is headquartered in Austin, Texas and funded by Austin Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, American Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and Trident Capital.

About BedandBreakfast.com
Founded in 1994, BedandBreakfast.com is a leading specialty travel website with detailed information on over 10,000 B&Bs worldwide. Travelers can research information including over 50,000 photos, over 100,000 unbiased consumer reviews, and make confirmed reservations instantly at almost 2,000 properties. Welcome at more than 4,000 B&Bs, BedandBreakfast.com Gift Cards have no restrictions or blackouts, and are available online or at over 20,000 retail locations. BedandBreakfast.com also owns and operates RezOvation, a PA-DSS and Microsoft Gold-certified leader in property management systems

Coming Up In The June Online Hotel Business Review


Feature Focus
New Trends in Hotel Architecture and Design
On any hotel design project, architects are generally serving at least three masters - the owner/developer, the hotel operator, and the general public who will utilize the hotel - and each have their own goals, objectives and demands. The owner/developer is concerned with brand standards, the target market and the hotel's locale, while the operator is concerned about achieving the highest possible revenue through efficient design. The public is demanding that architecture and design be fully integrated into the guest experience, based on prevailing tastes and preferences. The architect's role is to respond professionally and efficiently to meet the demands of all and to develop a unified solution. Though each project has its own prerequisites and obligations, there are some general design trends which seem to be prevalent across the industry. First, there is an increased emphasis on the importance of the lobby. The principle here is that first impressions matter and that a hotel has only a few minutes to convince a guest that they have made the right decision. Hotel lobbies are being completely re-imagined - from eliminating front desks altogether to turning lobbies into warm, intimate social spaces, replete with fireplaces and comfortable furniture. There is also an increasing use of ambient natural light, even in large spaces like ballrooms and meeting rooms. In addition, there is greater emphasis on incorporating the distinctive attributes of any given location into the hotel design, which guests are defining as central to their experiences. The June issue of the Hotel Business Review will report on all these exciting developments in the fields of architecture and design.
In this issue...
Experiential Design Across All Sectors
By Ellis Katz, Principal, John Portman & Associates
Challenges of Contemporary Design in Historic Buildings
By Gary Meadows, President, HCI Architecture, Inc.
Ideal Meeting Spaces Should Offer Flexibility, Flexibility and Then Some
By Ronald M. Lustig, Design Architect/Principal, Earl Swensson Associates, Inc.
The Hotel Lobby
By Jennifer Skaife, Senior Associate, DiLeonardo
PLUS: Keeping an Eye on the Return on Design; Check In To the Future; L'AND Vineyards Wine Resort; How to Preserve Architectural Detail; Catering to Women in Hotel Design; Sustainability Retrofits, and much more.