Bass and Starwood in lastminute deal
Hotel groups Bass and Starwood have joined a consortium of seven major international companies investing more than £18m in UK-based Internet firm lastminute.com.
Lastminute.com offers consumers the chance to book late deals on items such as hotel rooms, holidays and airline flights.
Other partners in the joint venture include the British Airports Authority and Sony Music Entertainment.
Lastminute.com will use the money to develop in the UK and overseas, improve the range of content on its Web site and run marketing campaigns.
Ravi Saligram, chief marketing officer and managing director of global strategy for Bass, said: "We are aggressively building our leadership in new channels of distribution in the digital world by leveraging our worldwide scope and scale and establishing strategic alliances with key e-commerce players."
The deal will allow lastminute.com users to make late bookings at participating hotels from Bass's 2,800-strong portfolio.
