On the Beach Buys Classic Collection for $25 Million as Package Rules Get Upended
Photo Credit: On the Beach acquired short-haul vacation packager Classic Collection Holidays. One of Classics vacation destinations is shown here. Classic Collection Holidays
Skift Take
Online player On the Beach is making a play to attract the business of offline travel agents by creating a new online dynamic-packaging portal. Got it? In online travel, as in life, it sometimes pays to be flexible, and to buy stuff.
UPDATE: On the Beach CEO Simon Cooper said the new European rules about dynamic packages were “absolutely critical in terms of how we started thinking” about acquiring Classic Collection Holidays. He said he was aware about the timing of the implementation of the regulations two to three years ago.
Cooper said the appeal of buying Classic, which sells luxury beach holidays, was for On the Beach to launch a hybrid strategy, part online and part offline, and Classic’s distribution network of more than 1,000 travel agents.
The new regulations altered the definition of a dynamic package so that now if agents cobbled the elements together, they would assume the legal obligations and risks. Previously, most responsibility fell to the airline or hotel, for example.
Independent travel agents, or those in
