Venere.com
Industry | Travel, Hotel |
---|---|
Founded | 1995 |
Founder |
Matteo Fago Marco Bellacci Renata Sarno Gianandrea Strekelj |
Defunct |
December 1, 2016 (replaced by Hotels.com) |
Headquarters | Rome, Italy |
Key people | Johan Svanstrom (President) |
Number of employees | 150 |
Parent | Expedia, Inc. |
Website |
venere |
Venere.com was a website focusing on online hotel reservations. Its listing included various types of accommodation. Venere.com started in the year 1994 as Venere Net Srl an Online Travel Agency based in Rome, Italy.[1] In 2008, it became part of Expedia Inc.[2] The president of the company was Johan Svanstrom.[3] The company offered scholarships for Business & Management and Tourism students in Europe[4] and Australia.[5]
History
In 1994, four partners launched Venere.com and developed the first beta version of the hotel booking engine. In February 1995, the first marketing activities were launched for hotels in Rome and Florence. The first reservation arrived in June 1995. In 2001, Venere.com became a Joint Stock Company (Venere Net SPA) and opened international offices in London (Venere UK LTD) and Paris (Venere France SARL).[6]
In 2007, the global private equity firm Advent International acquired a 60% stake in Venere Net. Expedia Inc. acquired 100% of Venere.com in 2008.[7]
On December 1, 2016, Venere.com was replaced by Hotels.com (another brand owned by Expedia). The Venere.com app became non-operational after this date, with users advised to download the existing Hotels.com app and register an account there instead.[8]
Services
In 2001, Venere.com became a pioneer with the publication of hotel reviews. Property features were able to be rated independently by users who had actually stayed at the hotel in question. Hotel reviews were then published in specific consumer categories.
References
- ↑ "Venere.com". Bloomberg.
- ↑ "Expedia, Inc. Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Europe-Based Venere.com". ExpediaInc. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
- ↑ "Leadership". ExpediaInc.
- ↑ "Venere Scholarship". European Funding Guide.
- ↑ "Venere Business & Tourism Scholarship". Study Perth.
- ↑ "About". Venere.
- ↑ "Expedia acquires Venere but what does it mean?". Hotelblogs. Retrieved 17 July 2008.
- ↑ May, Kevin (January 9, 2017). "Ciao Venere - Expedia Closes Headwind-Facing Hotel Booking Site". tnooz. Retrieved May 2, 2017.