JD.com (formerly 360Buy), the leading online retailer in China, reportedly has acquired last-minute hotel booking app Hotelvp. Deng Tianzhuo, CEO of Hotelvp, will join JD as vice president. Mr. Deng confirmed the news saying it hasn’t been completed yet.
The app for iPhone, Android phones and Windows Phone 7 offers hotel rooms that are available for booking from 6pm every night at discounts. Also Hotelvp users can book ordinary hotel rooms from three thousand hotels. The company behind the app also developed and ran apps for some hotel chains.
Shortly after the app was launched in September 2011, the company raised $4 million in Series A round of funding. It is reported that all the investors from that round exited this time.
JD.com launched an online travel platform for third-party agencies or services in 2012. Compared with big players like Ctrip, Qunar and eLong, JD’s hasn’t performed well. JD introduced an exec from Kuxun, an online travel search service, last year to take charge of the travel platform. It is reported that JD is planning to go public in the US as early as in this year.
