Holiday Watchdog Explained

Holiday Watchdog
Location:London, UK
Founder:Chris Brown
Chris Clarkson
Industry:Travel

Holiday Watchdog was a London-based travel website and review site.

History

The site was established in June 2002 by Chris Brown, who came up with the idea for a review site whilst working at lastminute.com. He taught himself computer programming from a £17 book. He then partnered with Chris Clarkson, who he met in a chat room, to develop the website and its business relationships.[1]

In 2006, the website began soliciting video clips.[2]

In January 2008, the website was acquired by TripAdvisor after the owners received a "multi-million-pound offer".[3] At that time, the website had 3 million unique visitors per month.[4]

In 2010, the website had turnover of £30 million.[1]

In July 2020, Tripadvisor sold Holiday Watchdog to Hopjump.[5] [6]

Notes and References

  1. News: Chris Brown: The internet love affair that led to a fortune . James . McKeigue . . December 9, 2010.
  2. News: Capture your holiday disasters on video . Phil . Davies . . November 6, 2006 . subscription.
  3. News: TripAdvisor Acquires Holiday Watchdog . Rebecca . Zacks . . February 14, 2008.
  4. News: TripAdvisor buys Holiday Watchdog, reviews site M&A begins . Mike . Butcher . . February 15, 2008.
  5. News: Tripadvisor Is a Media Business So Why Did It Unload These 8 Brands? . Dennis . Schaal . . July 17, 2020.
  6. News: Tripadvisor sells eight brands to Cambridge travel firm . Lucia . Maffei . . July 16, 2020 . subscription.