Vacation Rental Industry Leader, HomeAway, Acquires U.K.-Based OwnersDirect.co.uk

HomeAway, Inc., which operates the world’s leading vacation rental sites, reinforces its leadership position in the global vacation rental industry with the acquisition of OwnersDirect.co.uk. Representing more than 17,000 ”holiday homes,” the company ranks only behind HomeAway’s Holiday-Rentals.co.uk as the largest vacation rental web site in the United Kingdom. Under HomeAway, OwnersDirect.co.uk remains an independent brand, continuing to operate from its offices in Ashtead, England.

OwnersDirect.co.uk, a 10-year-old company, marks HomeAway’s fourth acquisition in less than a year of an established vacation rental marketplace. The company acquired U.S.-based VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner) in November 2006, French site Abritel.fr in January and U.S. site VacationRentals.com in May. Each acquisition has increased HomeAway’s ability to provide property owners and managers access to the largest audience of travelers seeking the perfect rental for their next vacation.

HomeAway’s worldwide portfolio also includes HomeAway.com, CyberRentals.com, A1Vacations.com, GreatRentals.com, TripHomes.com and FeWo-direkt.de in Germany. Together, the sites represent more than 255,000 listings across 100 countries and serve more than 100 million travelers a year.
HomeAway is committed to providing home owners and managers the most efficient way to market their properties to the largest audience of vacation rental travelers in the world, while making it easier and safer than ever for travelers to find and compare the most diverse inventory of condo, villa, and house rentals.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

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About HomeAway, Inc.:
HomeAway, Inc. is the worldwide leader for online vacation rentals. Each year, more than 100 million travelers visit the HomeAway sites, which represent more than 255,000 paid vacation rental home listings across 100 countries. The portfolio includes the leading sites in the U.S.: HomeAway.com, VRBO.com, VacationRentals.com, CyberRentals.com, A1Vacations.com, GreatRentals.com and TripHomes.com; the U.K: Holiday-Rentals.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk; Germany: FeWo-direkt.de and France:Abritel.fr.

Led by an experienced team of online and travel industry experts, HomeAway is based in Austin, Texas and is funded by leading venture capital firms Austin Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, American Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and Trident Capital.