Holiday rentals technology specialist Holidu acquires Spain-Holiday platform

Holiday rentals technology specialist Holidu acquires Spain-Holiday platform

New partners ‘share a mission: to make the search and booking of holiday rentals easy’

Holiday rentals technology specialist Holidu has acquired the Spain-Holiday platform and merged it with subsidiary Bookiply.

The Munich-based firm said “the deal writes a new chapter for the holiday home market in Spain, with numerous benefits for homeowners and travellers”.

Holidu is active in 21 markets with its eponymous search engine for holiday rentals and claims to be one of the fastest-growing travel tech companies worldwide.

Following the merger Bookiply, which provides software and services for holiday home owners, has expanded its customer base and claims to have become the market leader in the brokerage and management of properties in Spain.

Johannes Siebers, chief executive of Holidu, said: “After our first conversations with the Spain-Holiday board, it quickly became clear that we share the same mission: to finally make the search and booking of holiday rentals easy.

“This is because the holiday home market is still not fully transparent and technologically lags behind other markets.

“With the acquisition of Spain-Holiday, we are writing a new chapter for both businesses, in which we are expanding our innovative technologies and unique service in the holiday rental market Europe-wide.

“We welcome our new colleagues from the Spain-Holiday team and look forward to working together on our mission.”

Spain-Holiday chief executive Jannich Friis Petersen said: “Both Spain-Holiday and Holidu aim to support holiday home owners in a professional yet simple way.

“The new partnership will help holiday home owners and their properties gain much more visibility.

“Holidaymakers will benefit from improved service thanks to Holidu’s technology, such as direct booking options.”

Claus Sørensen, the founder of Spain-Holiday, added: “At Spain-Holiday, we have focused on private holiday home rentals from the very beginning and sought personal interaction with the owners.

“This approach has made Spain-Holiday one of the leading rental portals in the Spanish market.

“The acquisition provides both owners and guests with an even more powerful portal that scores with top technology and customer service.”

Darius Abde Yazdani, vice president operations and strategy at Bookiply, said:

“From the first contact with the Spain-Holiday team, it was clear to us that both companies have very complementary strengths and that a merger of both businesses will lead to sustainable, strong growth.”

Spain-Holiday was founded in 2002 in Málaga and is one of the leading online portals in the management of holiday homes in Spain.

The branch in Málaga will continue as well as the large majority of the Spain-Holiday team. Holidu will continue to operate the portal and use its technology platform to give the website a further boost.