Booking.com awards grants to UK startups in Booster Programme

Two UK companies have received grants totalling €450,000 through a new Booking.com accelerator scheme for start-ups in sustainable tourism. Continue reading →

Two UK companies have received grants totalling €450,000 through a new Booking.com accelerator scheme for start-ups in sustainable tourism.

Good Hotel, which runs a sustainable hotel in Guatemala, received €300,000 and environmentally friendly water purification business Desolenator €150,000 as a result of the Booking.com Booster programme.

The top grant of €400,000 went to Singapore-based peer-to-peer travel platform Backstreet Academy.

The awards were made after three weeks of workshops and intensive coaching, with ten teams of finalists pitched their plans to an audience and panel of expert judges in Amsterdam.

They had been whittled down from 700 start-ups with teams from 102 nationalities applying to join the programme.

Other grants were won by four companies, Seabin, Local Alike, Awake and Authenticook.

Booking.com CEO Gillian Tans said: “The ambitious creativity and innovative ideas we’ve seen from all of the start-ups who joined our booster programme this year were truly inspiring.

“I was particularly impressed with the entrepreneurial vision they all demonstrated in approaching a wide array of different challenges related to sustainable tourism.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing their plans unfold as these amazing companies continue to bring their vision for a more sustainable future for the global tourism industry to even more destinations worldwide.”