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Online Travel

Lastminute.com's Growing Pains Show Change in Online Travel Retail

Patrick Whyte

Photo Credit: A still from Lastminute.com's recent Game of Thrones-inspired commercial. The parent company is seeing a shift in its business model. Lastminute.com Group

Skift Take

Being a pure play flight seller is a business approach that has probably had its day (unless you can guarantee huge volumes). Lastminute.com Group's diversification strategy over the last few years makes sense but if it is going to work it will take time.

Moving from a flight-centric business model to that of a diversified online travel seller is proving to be a tough transition for Lastminute.com Group. Pre-tax profit for the first half of its financial year (January to June) fell by 68 percent to $2.1 million (€1.8 million) on the back of an 2.2 percent decline in revenue. What is interesting is the shifting shape of the Lastminute.com business. The company started out as a flight-centric online travel agency but through a series of acquisitions moved into metasearch and content. Revenue from flight is still the biggest money maker for the company but in the first six months of 2017 it fell from $96.9 million (€81.9 million) to $86.3 million (€73 million) and as a proportion of

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