Our history - TRAVELFACTORY

2000

Yariv Abehsera, Founding President of TravelFactory

2000 : Creation of TravelFactory and launch of the GoldenVoyages brand

In 2000, Yariv Abehsera took up an unprecedented entrepreneurial adventure, aiming to become the student holiday expert on the Internet. He founded TravelFactory and the GoldenVoyages brand, with the ambition to capitalise on the emerging World Wide Web boom.

In the spring of 1999 the company sent their first students to Prague. The next winter, GoldenVoyages organised its first ski holidays for students. The challenge facing Travelfactory was significant, this lead them to develop a unique solution: a new commercialisation method which allowed GoldenVoyages to manage turnkey holidays on behalf of the student associations (city-breaks, freshers’ week, ski, etc).

2005

2005 : Launch of Travelski, the Mountain expert specialist

Thanks to its expertise acquired in the organisation of holiday packages for 18-25 year olds and driven by a growing ambition, the Group decides to extend its mountain offering to the general public. Olivier Abergel joins Yariv Abehsera, a longtime friend: they launch Travelski. For the first time, bespoke holiday packages for mountain resorts are offered to customers. The goal since its inception is simple: book your all-inclusive skiing holiday in 5 clicks, from accommodation to food delivered in the fridge!

The team was then composed of ten employees and allowed itself the luxury of a new growth potential.

2006

2006 : Creation of DeclicFrance and EspanaClic

The Group noticed the increasing importance of B2C in the online holiday rental sector and so decided to create two brands specialised in holiday rental in France and Spain on the Internet. Well recognised advertising campaigns in public transportation networks made a great impact in France. Very quickly, these two destinations became flagship products for TravelFactory.

2008

2008 : Exclusive white labelling partnership with Lastminute.com

The expertise of the Group is quickly recognised in the tourism sector, which has led to leading companies putting their trust in TravelFactory. In 2008, Lastminute.com – an Internet holiday specialist – signed a white labelling deal with the Group, which became the official supplier for French, Spain and mountain destinations, with TravelFactory also managing customer relations for these regions.

2011

2011 : Takeover of the emblematic Locatour and Snotour brands

In 2011, TravelFactory is already established as a holiday rental leader for individuals. With increasing ambition, the Group seeks to develop an omni-channel strategy. Locatour and Snotour were precursors of physical distribution in travel agencies, present in a 3,000 point-of-sales network. The Group reckoned this as an excellent opportunity to reach a new market and foster its consistent growth.

2013

2013 : Merger of the Locatour brands

Very quickly, the different brands became the forerunners in the holiday rental market for France, Spain and mountain resorts. Developing an unprecedented multichannel offer, they are present in the largest networks of travel agencies, on the Internet and Works Councils.

With the ambition to simplify its offer for consumers, TravelFactory decided to merge its four rental brands: Locatour, Snotour, DeclicFrance and EspanaClic are thus grouped under the single brand LOCATOUR. Now, TravelFactory relies not on six but on three flagship brands.

The holiday rental specialist for France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Andorra

2015

2014-2015 : TravelFactory intensifies its development and commits itself into start-up incubation

Willing to develop and spread its activities, the company works to create, buy or host promising startups close to its core business. For the TravelFactory team, the issue it so position itself as a one-stop holiday provider for mountain trips, with a solution for every step in the value chain. Our Internet customers should be able to book everything from accommodation to food to skiing equipment for their trips to the mountain.

TravelFactory verticalises its model

In the summer 2014, TravelFactory welcomed Bernard Germain as head of the strategy for mountain destinations through the Ski&Soleil brand. At the same time, the Group acquired nine real estate agencies and an 800-flat portfolio in La Plagne, Les Arcs, La Rosière and Tignes. In 2016, 1,000 new apartments in the Southern Alps are added with IDHA and the AlpesforYou brand.

Tour operator, Accommodation provider and Simplifier

In order to distinguish itself, in particular from C2C players, TravelFactory wants to simplify the booking of skiing holidays, thus offering global solutions to its customers. In 2015, the Group developped a ski rental website: SimplyToSki.

2017

Silicon Wadi, the heart of the Israeli Tech.

2017 : Opening of a “Lab” in Israel

TravelFactory opened an R&D laboratory in Ra’anana, in the heart of the “Israeli Silicon Valley”. Ilan Koskas, Chief Marketing and E-Commerce Director, leads this project in order to improve user experience, particularly on mobile applications.

The adventure has only just begun!