The story
In 2005, Yury Shar, Brendon McQueen and Michael Doubinski partnered to create an all-encompassing hotel site where users could access the best rates from a variety of top travel sites all in the same place. All three founders previously worked for HotelClub, now absorbed and merged with Hotels.com.
Initially working out of their homes and without having raised any financial capital, the HotelsCombined founders launched the site following nine months of development. The website steadily earned an organic consumer base; within a year, the co-founders were able to hire their first employee. Today, HotelsCombined has nearly 200 employees and 17 million users monthly. The site is available in more than 220 countries and in over 42 different languages. It was acquired by Booking Holdings in 2018 and became part of its KAYAK division.
From Wikipedia’s article on HotelsCombined, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4