Webjet has acquired Dubai-based travel firm Destinations of the World (DOTW) for $173 million from Middle East private equity giant Gulf Capital.
The company will join the portfolio of Webjet’s travel provider WebBeds, which includes JacTravel, TotalStay, Sunhotels, Lots of Hotels and FIT Ruums.
However, Gulf Capital’s founder and management team will retain a share in the Webjet Group.
DOTW’s acquisition is expected to help WebBeds deliver substantial cost and revenue over the short to medium term. The Dubai firm has a portfolio of approximately 12,300 directly contracted hotels, of which around 5,600 are unique to WebBeds, increasing its directly contracted inventory pool to over 28,500 hotels.
Moreover, approximately 6,700 overlapping hotel contracts will further deepen WebBeds’ room allocation and availability at key hotels around the world.
Besides DOTW’s strength in the Asia Pacific market, which is a key strategic focus for WebBeds, it will also deliver a number of contracts into the Americas region while xpanding WebBeds’ presence in the key European and MEA regions.
“WebBeds is focused on helping our clients succeed and enabling our hotel partners to respond to fast-changing market trends. The acquisition of DOTW will ensure we can accomplish this on an even greater scale than we have achieved to date,” said Webjet Managing Director John Guscic.
DOTW’s addition to WebBeds is expected to boost annual total transacted volume (TTV) to over $2 billion, representing an increase of 54%. It will also increase the global footprint with offices in 36 locations, meaning WebBeds will have more than 2,100 employees and a portfolio of over 250,000 hotels in the world.
Commenting on the sale, Dr. Karim El Solh, CEO of Gulf Capital, said: “This is as a result of the management team’s execution of their business plan, supported by a significant investment program into technology, rapid organic expansion and two strategic acquisitions that accelerated DOTW’s expansion in Asia, Europe and the Americas.”
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