WTM 2015: Snaptrip survives the dragons to be picked out as the ‘next big thing’

Late-availability UK holiday rentals website Snaptrip has been named the next “big thing” in travel by a panel of entrepreneurs.

Late-availability UK holiday rentals website Snaptrip has been named the next “big thing” in travel by a panel of entrepreneurs.

The company, established in April 2014, works with holiday rental agencies such as Cottages4you and Holidaycottages.co.uk to sell off remaining unsold stock at discounted prices.

It currently has an inventory of 35,000 UK properties, most of which are sold within three weeks of departure.  It prides itself on giving live and accurate late booking availability and pricing.

Snaptrip chief executive Matt Fox was one of four start-up bosses to pitch for the title in a Dragon’s Den style session at World Travel Market.

The four start-ups, Travelperk, Discoveroom, OneJet and Snaptrip were grilled by judges Yannick Roux, of EC1 Capital; Carl Pihl, of Ticketinghub; Timothy ONeil Dunne, of T2Impact; and Sally Davey, of TripAdvisor.

Fox told the panel: “No-one else is doing what we are doing. Our aim is to become the “go to” place for last-minute breaks.”

He described the company’s strategy as “aggressive but realistic” and plans to extend its product range to France and Spain next year, sticking with rural areas as it does in the UK.

The judges said all four companies had “very viable” models but that Snaptrip was particular promise as a “scaleable” business.

Session moderator Mark Frary, co-founder of social media and digital agency Travel Perspective, added: “Start-ups are the lifeblood of the economy. Many of them will be big names in the future.”