Lastminute.com N.V. is the owner of several travel brands including
lastminute.com,
Volagratis, Rumbo,
Bravofly,
Jetcost, Crocierissime.it, weg.de, and Hotelscan.
The company operates websites and mobile apps in 17 languages and 40 countries and has 43 million monthly unique users.[citation needed]
It was called Bravofly Rumbo Group until May 2015.[1]
History
Lastminute.com Group was founded in 2006 but traces its roots back to 2004, when Fabio Cannavale[2] and Marco Corradino launched Volagratis, a
search engine for low cost flights in the Italian market.
In 2006, it was organized as a Group, the headquarters were moved to Chiasso and it began its international expansion by introducing localized websites in Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.[3]
In November 2012, it acquired Rumbo, a Spanish online
travel agency.[4]
In March 2015, the company acquired lastminute.com from
Sabre Holdings, owner of online travel agency
Travelocity.com, the for £76 million, and in May 2015 it changed its name to lastminute.com group.[1][7]
In 2016, the company launched Travel People, an advertising platform.[8]
In September 2016, the company acquired WAYN, a social travel network, for £1 million.[9][10]
In December 2017, the company acquired German Comvel GmbH, founded 2004 in Munich, which operates weg.de.[12]
In April 2019, the company created Forward, a media company.[13]
For a number of years even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Bravofly and other Lastminute.com Group brands have had a high percentage of negative reviews relating to customer service. This has earned Bravofly a 2.4 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot.com,[14] 1.55 stars out of 5 on sitejabber.com,[15] 2.0 stars out of 5 on mamma.com[16] and 1.2 out of 5 on their own Facebook[17] page. Common problems include customer service telephone numbers that are no longer connected, requested flight changes not being made in a timely manner, refunds not being processed, and the optionally purchased Service Package not being honored.
Volagratis.com was launched Italy in 2004. It offers a range of services including hotels, flights, city breaks, holidays, cruises and car rentals.
Rumbo, launched in Spain in 2000, operates websites in other European countries as well as in South America. Rumbo is a full-service travel website, with its offering comprising hotels, flights, city breaks,
package holidays and cruises.[18]
Hotelscan is a
metasearch engine for
lodging. Its daily updated database of around 1.3 million properties with data from over 100 online booking website.
Bravofly is a full-service travel website. Founded in 2006, Bravofly websites are available in 17 languages in 40 countries.
weg.de is a German travel website operated by Comvel GmbH, which was founded 2004 in Munich. weg.de focuses on package holidays and all-inclusive vacations.