lastminute

History of Lastminute.com

Lastminute.com was founded in the UK in 1998 by Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox, with the aim of offering five star luxury holiday experiences at affordable prices. By 2000, with an expanding customer base of more than half a million users, Lastminute.com started expanding into more areas, such as restaurant deals and theatre tickets.

Their business idea is to help travel and leisure providers to fill their empty hotel rooms and unsold tickets at heavy discounts, right at the very last minute. For the providers, this offers a great way to get at least a small return from what would otherwise be empty beds, seats and tables. For customers, Lastminute.com sells the idea that you can suddenly drop everything and grab a spontaneous, last minute luxury getaway or leisure activity at a bargain price, and possibly have an experience that you would not ordinarily be able to afford.

To much media attention, they floated on the London Stock Exchange in March 2000. However, in a case of spectacularly bad timing, the famous dot-com bubble burst just one day later. This was a rocky ride for investors to say the least, and in 2005 the company was bought out by Travelocity for less than half of the original flotation price.

Since then, however, Lastminute.com has experienced increasing success and profitability despite the hugely increased competition in the market. By 2010 its sales were around five times higher than they were in 2003, and this was coupled with reduced costs and dramatically cutting their workforce in half.

At the same time, Lastminute.com has innovated, launching the nru (near you) restaurant search app for Android in 2009. It was also one of the pioneers of online flash sales, which customers have to grab straight away if they don't want to lose out. Lastminute.com brands its flash sales as WIGIG (when it's gone it's gone).

Recently, Lastminute.com has returned its focus to offering bargain prices for travel and leisure products, and customers are often able to boost their savings by using special offers and voucher codes. It claims to sell a spa break every three minutes, a theatre ticket every 26 seconds, and holiday every fifteen minutes.

It also launched Top Secret Hotels, which show up in regular listings on the site but do not include a picture or the name of the hotel. These hotels all have either four or five stars, and Lastminute.com claims that customers can save up to 35% compared with prices that are available anywhere else for the same hotels. Upon placing a non-refundable booking for a top secret hotel, the name of the hotel will be revealed to the customer. However, because Lastminute.com offers descriptions and details of these hotels, some customers have claimed to able to work out the identity of top secret hotels before placing a booking. Top secret hotels are available in most major cities, including London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham within the UK, along with overseas destinations such as Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Dubai.

Lastminute.com guarantees that for all hotels and city breaks their customers get the best deal available within the UK. They promise to refund the difference if anyone finds the same product or package available at a lower price on any other website. However, this guarantee lasts only for 24 hours after you've made your booking.

The price match guarantee applies to all hotels, including top secret hotels, along with city breaks (flight or Eurostar + hotel). It does not apply to other holidays booked through their site, as these are provided by a separate Spanish company called Lowcostholidays. In order to claim a refund, customers must find a cheaper price for the exact same product, including the room type, board basis, flight number and class of service. The guarantee excludes lower prices that are due to limited time promotions, vouchers, coupons, cashback or members' discounts. Lastminute.com will only consider the total package prices, including any applicable delivery charges, booking fees, taxes or other charges.

Brands

Lastminute.com products are sold under their own branding, on behalf of a huge number of international travel partners.

Lastminute.com offers products in the following departments: hotels, city breaks, flights, flight + hotel packages, holidays, car hire, spa breaks, theatre tickets, restaurant deals, entertainment (including art exhibitions, comedy clubs and seasonal family shows) and gift experiences.

Cancellations and Changes

Lastminute.com's terms and conditions are complex, due to the large number of providers they deal with and the fact that some of their products are booked directly through Lastminute.com group companies, whilst others are booked via partners. Amendments to hotel bookings are not permitted, whilst cancellations are subject to administration fees imposed by both the website and the provider. City breaks and flight + hotel packages are generally not changeable or refundable under any circumstances.

Lastminute.com does, however, offer travel insurance via Allianz Global Assistance which can be purchased at the time of booking and offers limited coverage for unforeseen, emergency cancellations.

Security & Reviews

Lastminute.com supports secure connections and payments via SSL technology. Their Trustpilot rating is a decent 6.8, and it's worth noting that most reviewers do not award them less than 4 stars.