Story so far

2024

2024 brought another step change in the strategic development of the Group, through the expansion of the proposition to City packages and into a new geography; selling package holidays to the Republic of Ireland, collectively more than doubling our addressable market.

2023

A record year of TTV – exceeding the £1bn revenue milestone for the first time - as the market returned to a more normal pattern. The Group saw a strong demand for holidays across its core addressable market and strategic expansion areas. Continued satisfaction from customers on perks offer and investment into proprietary technology improved the user experience leveraging automation, AI via our new website and customer app.

2022

Despite the travel sector remaining impacted by variants of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Group delivered good sales growth and became the first mainstream holiday company to offer free lounge and fast track on bookings. The Group saw improved access to 4* & 5* product, which was previously exclusive to other providers. On the Beach made key hires in technology and customer service areas and continued to invest in offline marketing.

2021

With the impact of the pandemic still present, the Group raised £24.9m as a result of a share placing. The Group also put consumers first by stopping selling holidays over the summer while maintaining investment in brand, technology and supply, including offering free Covid-19 tests in an industry first move and enhancing core capabilities of the platform.

2020

Due to being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Group raised £67m as a result of a share placing. Thanks to the Group’s asset light model, strong liquidity position and Trust account protection, we remained resilient through the uncertainty, alongside providing all refunds in cash (no refund credit notes or vouchers). The Group also redesigned the customer booking path.

2019

During 2019, the Group built and launched Classic Package Holidays, gaining share of the offline market and saw long haul revenues grow by more than 100% after integrating with several key scheduled long-haul carriers. The Group opened a new Digital HQ in the centre of Manchester called Aeroworks.

2018

March 2018 saw the Group enter the FTSE 250 and in the summer made its second significant acquisition, acquiring Classic Collection Holidays for a consideration of £20m in August 2018.

The Group also completed its Scandinavian rollout in 2018, with the launch of eBeach.dk in Denmark.

2017

In 2017 the Group completed its first significant acquisition. Sunshine.co.uk Limited, an online travel agent based in the UK, was acquired on 9 May 2017 for a net consideration of £12.0m.

2016

In late 2016, the Group furthered its expansion into the Scandinavian market with the launch of the “ebeach.no” domain for Norway.

2015

In early 2015, the Group launched an international platform in Sweden under the “ebeach.se” domain name.

On 28 September 2015, On the Beach listed on the London Stock Exchange.

2013

In October 2013, Inflexion Equity Partners indirectly acquired a majority stake in the Group from Livingbridge on the basis of an enterprise value of £73 million. Inflexion's investment has allowed the Group to improve its revenue by developing and optimising its technology platform across multiple devices, growing its direct contracting system, maximising brand awareness by continuing to invest in online and now TV advertising, expanding its offering of holiday ancillaries (e.g. transfers and insurance products) and international expansion.

2012

In January 2012, the Group launched its 24-hour in-resort telephone support service to provide customers with access to the Group's service team throughout their holidays for any questions or concerns.

2011

In 2011, the Group launched its own proprietary technology platform which is characterised by flexible, modularised architecture to enable the Group to aggregate, filter and enrich data with speed and efficiency. The platform has allowed the Group to continuously improve its offering and create more of a seamless customer experience over multiple devices.

In 2011, the Group acquired assets from ResortTaxis.com out of administration (being its technology platform, brand and URL) for approximately £10,000 to assist with transporting holidaymakers in Egypt, Turkey, The Balearics, The Canaries, mainland Spain, Greece and the Algarve. This initiative was later rebranded “On the Beach Transfers”.

2007

In 2007, Livingbridge acquired a majority stake in the Group for £36 million. The Group continued to develop its website specialising in beach holidays, offering dynamic packages focussing on the search and need patterns of consumers otherwise booking from traditional tour operators.

Following the investment by Livingbridge, the executive and senior management team of the Group grew and the proportion of online bookings increased. By 2011, approximately 79 per cent of the Group's bookings were made online, with the remainder being made via the call centre.

2004

The first Group company was established by current CEO Simon Cooper in 2003, and became a trading subsidiary of On the Beach Limited in 2008. Mr Cooper was also a founder of On the Beach Limited (formerly known as On the Piste Travel Limited) which was incorporated in 1996. The Group initially operated on a digital platform operated by Teletext Holidays, with bookings being taken via a call centre. In October 2004, the Group launched its first ‘static’ website to show hotels to prospective customers. Shortly thereafter, the Group began to develop an offers based website providing dynamically packaged holidays, which launched in September 2005. At this stage, the Group had access to a single hotel-aggregator (known as a ‘bed-bank’) and one provider of flight data. During this time, the Group’s call centre function expanded rapidly.

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