holiday autos corporate profile
holiday autos is part of lastminute.com, one of europe's leading leisure and travel organisations.
holiday autos is the world's largest leisure car rental broker. It offers low cost car rental in over 4,000 locations worldwide, and operates out of 40 countries. In 2002 the group turnover was £154 million with the company handling seven million car rental days.
Following the early success of the company in the UK, the decision was made in 1988 to expand first into Europe and then globally. What followed was one of the fastest and largest expansion programmes the travel industry has seen.
Millions of customers have enjoyed the freedom of renting a car with holiday autos.
standing out from the crowd
Since it's inception, holiday autos has re-written the rules surrounding the sale of car rental by demystifying the booking process and offering consumers affordable, fully inclusive prices, backed up by a great service. In doing so holiday autos has always 'stood out from the crowd'.
The introduction of fully inclusive pricing was a revolution in the car rental industry. Previously, customers were quoted prices exclusive of a whole host of required extras. That early innovation was rapidly followed by other initiatives, including the car rental industry's first ever price guarantee.
Being a broker, holiday autos is able to select the best suppliers in each of its 4,000 locations worldwide, ensuring its quality of service, standards of safety, and value for money remain consistent.
going global
Co-founded in the UK in 1987 by Clive Jacobs, holiday autos immediately revolutionised the leisure car rental market in the UK. The company's initial success, selling through travel agents in the UK, prompted rapid expansion, first into Europe and then globally.
The company's approach to international expansion has varied from market to market and today it operates through a mix of corporate offices, joint ventures, and sales agents out of 40 countries.
Achieving a market leadership position in the already competitive car rental arena, without owning any cars, demanded a new approach to business partnerships. From the early days holiday autos built strong relationships with car rental and distribution partners worldwide.
holiday autos now has contracts with multinational, national and local car rental companies, and if necessary, in order to guarantee high season availability, it has contracts with more than one supplier in a single location.
The company's distribution partnerships are equally well established and the list is continually growing. Key partnerships in the uk market are as follows:
uk & ireland:- The co-ops
- Travelocity
- Worldchoice
going online
holiday autos was one of the first of Europe's established travel companies to embrace e-commerce, launching sites in all its key markets. Each of these sites has been designed to recognise the needs of the local market, but with one thing in common: ease of use.
In line with its partnership strategy, the company invested heavily in developing technologies to ensure that customers booking direct, or through partner sites, have the benefit of the best online experience possible. The results speak for themselves, as today well over 60% of the company's business is transacted online.
company information - holiday autos uk and ireland ltd
address:
head office
holiday autos
Victoria Gate
Chobham Road
Woking
GU21 6JP
mission statement
"To be the world´s leading leisure car rental organisation through excelling in efficiency, customer care, value and innovation."