Lastminute.com
Lastminute.com is a European online travel and leisure retailer known for late-booking deals, package holidays, flights, hotels, short breaks, entertainment and related travel services.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
Lastminute.com is an online travel and leisure brand founded in London in 1998 by Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman. It emerged during the first wave of consumer internet businesses in the United Kingdom, initially focusing on the sale of late and otherwise difficult-to-sell travel inventory. The business used the internet to connect customers with unsold airline seats, hotel rooms, holidays, entertainment and gifts, presenting immediacy and price opportunity as central parts of the proposition. The company grew rapidly before the dot-com downturn. By early 2000, its service had more than 500,000 regular users and had expanded beyond holidays into travel, entertainment and gifts. It opened offices in several European cities and acquired the French online travel agency Degriftour in 2000. Lastminute.com floated on the London Stock Exchange in March 2000, becoming one of the most visible British internet companies of the period. Its market performance soon reflected the collapse in valuations across the technology sector, and the business experienced substantial losses while investing in its website, international operations and customer proposition. After a prolonged period as a public company, Lastminute.com was acquired by Sabre Holdings in 2005. Sabre owned Travelocity and brought the brand into a larger international travel-technology group. During the following years, the business developed a broader portfolio that included Holiday Autos, MedHotels and digital travel tools. It also expanded its use of international technology and service centres. The brand experimented with mobile products, local restaurant discovery, flash sales and short-break merchandising, while maintaining its focus on travel and leisure purchases made close to the date of departure. Sabre sold the business to the Swiss-based Bravofly Rumbo Group in 2014. Following the transaction, Bravofly Rumbo changed its corporate identity to lastminute.com group during 2015 and made Lastminute.com its principal consumer-facing brand. Other brands in the group, including Bravofly, Volagratis, Rumbo and Jetcost, continued to operate in their respective markets and categories. The group increased marketing expenditure behind Lastminute.com, particularly in the United Kingdom, France and Italy, and repositioned the brand around inspiration, spontaneous travel and leisure experiences. From 2016 onward, the group broadened its digital capabilities through acquisitions and portfolio investments. WAYN, a social travel network, was acquired to support travel content and audience engagement. Hotelscan was added to strengthen accommodation metasearch, while Comvel and its weg.de travel website expanded the group’s presence in Germany. The brand’s offer consequently developed beyond traditional late deals to include flights, hotels, package holidays, all-inclusive holidays, city breaks, car rental, accommodation comparison and selected entertainment or experience products. Lastminute.com has also faced significant criticism. In the late 2000s, consumer commentators objected to its association with a third-party cashback membership scheme that was alleged to use negative-option selling and unexpected recurring card charges. The company ended the relationship after receiving customer complaints. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the brand was criticized over delays in processing refunds for cancelled travel, and UK consumer organizations and the Competition and Markets Authority examined the issue. These episodes affected customer trust and highlighted the operational and regulatory challenges faced by online travel agencies when suppliers cancel or materially change bookings. Today, Lastminute.com remains an active European online travel brand within lastminute.com group. Its positioning combines digital booking convenience with value-oriented, flexible and often short-notice travel inspiration. The brand serves customers seeking flights, hotels, package holidays, weekend…
History
Lastminute.com was established in London in 1998 by Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman, who had worked together at the media strategy consultancy Spectrum. Their concept was to use the emerging web to sell travel and leisure inventory close to departure or event date, when suppliers had unsold capacity and customers could potentially obtain attractive prices. The original proposition concentrated on late holiday offers but soon expanded into flights, hotels, entertainment and gifts. The business became one of the prominent British internet ventures of the late 1990s. It raised additional capital, opened offices in Paris, Munich and Stockholm, and built a substantial user base before its stock-market flotation. Lastminute.com listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2000, at the height of enthusiasm for internet businesses. The flotation was followed almost immediately by the collapse in technology-stock valuations. Its shares fell sharply, while the company continued to report losses as it financed international expansion, technology development and brand building. The company also acquired Degriftour, a French online travel agency, in 2000. During its years as a public company, Lastminute.com sought to improve the relevance and personalization of its website while broadening its travel and leisure range. It achieved its first pre-tax profit in 2003, although the result was below analyst expectations. The business was acquired by Sabre Holdings in 2005. Sabre’s ownership linked Lastminute.com with Travelocity and supplied access to a larger travel technology and distribution organization. Brent Hoberman remained with the business for a period before handing over the chief executive role to Ian McCaig in 2006. The Sabre period brought changes to the management team, technology infrastructure and operating model. The business developed or retained specialist services such as Holiday Autos and MedHotels, introduced mobile and location-based products, and experimented with limited-inventory flash sales. It also moved parts of technology hosting and development into Sabre’s international network and established back-office and fulfilment operations in Poland. MedHotels was later sold to Thomas Cook, while Holiday Autos remained part of the broader portfolio. Marketing during the early 2010s included the pan-European “Stories Start Here” platform, which presented the brand as a source of travel, entertainment and leisure inspiration. The business later returned more explicitly to its original “last minute” proposition, emphasizing savings from booking close to departure. A dedicated weekend-offers section was introduced in 2011, reflecting a stronger focus on short breaks and spontaneous leisure. Sabre sold Lastminute.com to Bravofly Rumbo in 2014. Bravofly Rumbo subsequently changed its corporate name to lastminute.com group in 2015, making the acquired brand the group’s principal identity while retaining other regional travel brands. Marketing investment increased in the United Kingdom, France and Italy. The group then pursued a broader ecosystem strategy: WAYN added social travel content and a large registered audience, Hotelscan strengthened accommodation metasearch, and Comvel’s weg.de added German package-holiday reach. The brand’s later history has included both portfolio expansion and reputational pressure. Consumer criticism in the late 2000s concerned a third-party cashback relationship and alleged negative-option practices. In 2020, the COVID-19 disruption generated further complaints about refunds for cancelled bookings. The issue drew attention from Which? and the Competition and Markets Authority and illustrated the dependence of online travel agencies on airline, hotel and tour-operator settlement processes. Lastminute.com remains an active online travel and leisure brand. Its present identity combines booking functionality across flights, accommodation, packages and short breaks with value messaging, travel inspiration and a strong European market orientation.
- 2017
Hotelscan and weg.de expansion
[1]The group acquires Hotelscan and Comvel, strengthening accommodation comparison and German package-holiday operations.
- 2016
WAYN acquisition
[1]The group acquires the social travel network WAYN to support content and audience engagement.
- 2015
Corporate rebranding to lastminute.com group
[1]Bravofly Rumbo adopts the lastminute.com group name and makes Lastminute.com its core brand.
- 2014
Acquisition by Bravofly Rumbo
[1]Bravofly Rumbo purchases the brand from Sabre.
- 2011
Stories Start Here campaign
[1]A pan-European marketing platform positions the brand around travel and leisure inspiration.
- 2009
Expansion into mobile and flash-sale services
[1]The brand introduces mobile restaurant discovery products and promotes limited-inventory WIGIG offers.
- 2005
Acquisition by Sabre Holdings
[1]Sabre Holdings acquires Lastminute.com and brings it into the Travelocity-linked travel group.
- 2003
First pre-tax profit
[1]The company reports its first pre-tax profit, although the result falls short of analyst expectations.
- 2000
London Stock Exchange flotation
[1]Lastminute.com becomes a publicly traded company during the peak of the dot-com boom.
- 2000
Degriftour acquisition
[1]The company acquires French online travel agency Degriftour to expand its continental European presence.
Products and positioning
A digitally focused European travel and leisure retailer built around spontaneous trips, late availability, value-conscious booking and inspirational short-break content.
Air travel booking
Flights
Lastminute.com sells scheduled airline tickets through its online booking platform, allowing users to search and purchase routes across European and international markets. Flights are also combined with hotels, transfers and other travel components in package or short-break propositions.
Accommodation booking
Hotels and accommodation
The brand offers hotels and other accommodation for individual stays and as part of bundled travel arrangements. Its wider group capabilities have included accommodation comparison and metasearch, supported by the acquisition of Hotelscan in 2017.
Package travel
Package holidays
Package holidays combine travel components such as flights and accommodation into a single leisure booking. This category extends the original late-deal proposition into planned holidays, destination breaks and all-inclusive products sold across the group’s European markets.
Short-break travel · 2011
Weekend breaks
Weekend and short-break offers are a recurring part of the brand’s merchandising strategy. The proposition targets customers seeking quick city escapes or nearby leisure trips and became more explicit through a dedicated weekend section introduced in the early 2010s.
Ground transportation
Car rental
Car rental has been offered through the group’s travel portfolio, including the Holiday Autos business. It complements flight, hotel and holiday bookings by providing destination transportation for leisure travelers.
Flash-sale travel offers · 2009
WIGIG offers
WIGIG, short for “When It’s Gone It’s Gone,” was a limited-inventory promotional format introduced around 2009. It used scarcity and short availability windows to present selected travel and leisure offers in a flash-sale style.
Mobile travel discovery · 2009
nru
nru, meaning “near you,” was a location-based restaurant search application launched for Android in the United Kingdom in 2009 and later made available in the United States with Zagat-related content. It represented an early attempt to extend the brand from booking into local discovery.
Controversies
2020
COVID-19 refund controversy
During the pandemic, customers and consumer organizations criticized delays in refunds for cancelled flights and holidays. Which? reported poor customer experiences, and the UK Competition and Markets Authority investigated the company’s handling of refunds for COVID-affected travel.
2009
Third-party cashback and negative-option criticism
Consumer sites and media criticized Lastminute.com’s association with highstreetmax.com, a third-party cashback membership service. Complaints alleged that customers could be enrolled through a negative-option process and later face recurring card charges. The company said the service was external, acknowledged inadvertent enrolments and ended the relationship.
Marketing campaigns
- 2015Core-brand relaunch after group rebranding
United Kingdom · France · Italy
After Bravofly Rumbo became lastminute.com group, the company increased marketing investment behind Lastminute.com and used the brand as the group’s principal consumer identity.
Outcome. Made Lastminute.com the central brand while retaining Bravofly, Volagratis, Rumbo and Jetcost as additional group brands.
- 2011Stories Start Here
United Kingdom · France · Italy · Other European markets
A pan-European campaign positioned Lastminute.com as a starting point for travel, entertainment and leisure stories rather than simply a discount-booking website.
Outcome. Supported a broader inspirational positioning before the brand returned to stronger emphasis on late-booking value.
Brand decisions
2017
Acquire Hotelscan and ComvelM&ABackground
The group sought to broaden its accommodation comparison capabilities and scale its German travel presence.
Action taken
The group acquired Hotelscan and Comvel, whose weg.de website was a significant German online travel property.
Aftermath
The transactions diversified the group’s metasearch and package-holiday capabilities.
2016
Acquire WAYNM&ABackground
The group aimed to build a content capability and engage younger travel audiences through social and editorial material.
Action taken
lastminute.com group acquired the social travel network WAYN.
Aftermath
WAYN was integrated into the group’s media activities to support travel content and audience development.
2015
Make Lastminute.com the group’s core brandStrategyBackground
Following the acquisition by Bravofly Rumbo, the group needed a unifying consumer identity and a stronger lead brand.
Action taken
Bravofly Rumbo changed its corporate name to lastminute.com group and increased advertising investment behind Lastminute.com.
Aftermath
The brand became the group’s principal marketing platform while other digital travel brands continued to operate in parallel.
2011
Emphasize weekend and late-booking travelStrategyBackground
The business wanted to reconnect the brand with its original last-minute identity while developing more focused short-break merchandising.
Action taken
Lastminute.com promoted late-booking savings and introduced a dedicated section for weekend offers.
Aftermath
The brand combined value messaging with a more explicit focus on spontaneous city breaks and short leisure trips.
2005
Sell the business to Sabre HoldingsM&ABackground
After several years as a listed company with substantial investment requirements and continuing profitability challenges, Lastminute.com entered takeover discussions.
Action taken
Sabre Holdings acquired Lastminute.com and integrated it into the Travelocity-related travel group.
Aftermath
The brand continued under new ownership and gained access to a larger travel technology and management organization.
2000
Acquire DegriftourM&ABackground
The company sought to accelerate international expansion and establish a stronger position in the French online travel market.
Action taken
Lastminute.com acquired the French online travel agency Degriftour.
Aftermath
The transaction expanded the company’s European operating footprint during its pre- and post-flotation growth period.
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