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Holiday

Travel industry's 'holy grail' web domain Holiday.com projected to make £21m at auction

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By John McCarthy | Opinion Editor

August 29, 2014 | 3 min read

A US online domain broker has announced that it will be selling the long-sought after ‘Holiday.com’ with it predicted to take £21m at auction.

The site will be sold on 6 November

A host of travel companies have allegedly been competing for the address, which has remained in the possession of the same broker for sixteen years, since it was first purchased.

‘Holiday.com’ may spark a bidding war between travel companies as it is the term consumers would most likely use when booking a trip.

The domain has been valued at £21m based on previous web address sales and extensive brand interest.

Ninety per cent of travel companies add the ‘holiday’ tag to their sites to increase search engine optimisation. The owner of Holiday.com would not have to do this.

American broker, Breathe Luxury Limited, will auction off the web address during the World Travel Market. The event, which is one of the most important in the travel industry, will take place in the London Excel building on 6 November.

Farad Laaforce, managing director of Breathe Luxury, told the Telegraph: “It’s in these companies’ best interests to acquire this domain name because they will lose their market share once Holiday.com goes live.

“They will end up having to spend more money optimising for that keyword for their businesses anyway.”

The domain is projected to snap up the big bucks. In 2010, ‘Insurance.com’ sold for £21m, ‘PrivateJet.com’ went for £18m in 2012 and ‘Sex.com’ raked in £10m four years ago.

Virgin Holidays, a potential bidder for the site, earlier this summer launched an online campaign, mocking mobile network 3’s holiday apology ad. Instead Virgin encouraged holiday-goers to gloat and share pictures with friends.

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