M&A tips

Airbnb has denied all reports of acquiring Scottish property portal Letting Cloud. 

InteleTravel acquired corporate travel consortium Hickory Global Partners, a firm nod to the rise of blended travel as employees increasingly blur the lines between vacations with business trips.

Finnish short-term rental operator Bob W has acquired Munich-based German competitor Charly Hospitality.

Guesty, the California-based property management software company, acquired vacation rental tech platform StaySense. 

Korean Air Lines’s proposed acquisition of rival Asiana may restrict competition in passenger and cargo air transport services between Europe and South Korea, EU antitrust regulators said on Wednesday.

Blueground, the property management company that operates furnished 30-plus-day rentals, has acquired Nestpick in an equity-based deal. Nestpick’s platform lists month to month rentals of furnished accommodation. The company is registered in Germany, with offices in New York.

Online travel agency Booking Holdings Inc is expected to receive an EU antitrust warning about its 1.63 billion euro bid for Sweden-based Etraveli Group, three people familiar with the matter said.

Frontdesk, which manages furnished apartments in more than 30 U.S. markets, acquired a smaller rival, the Chicago-based Zencity.

There are stories of “software eating the world” and leaving a dust trail of fallen companies behind. This is not that story.

Swiss travel investor Viadi Group has acquired British luxury villa rental marketplace, Edge Retreats. 

This story began with a promotion featured in an email from my credit card company, Capital One, and it took me aback: “Save up to 30% off on your Instant Book hotel with Tripadvisor.”