Despegar
Latin American online travel marketplace with a growing travel ads business.
Available information varies by company and source.
Profile record updated:
Company facts
- Official name
- Despegar.com Corp.
- Entity type
- COMPANY
- Founded
- 1999
- Headquarters
- Argentina
- Company size
- 1,001–5,000
- Market role
- B2C Consumer App / Platform
- Official website
- despegar.com
What Despegar does
Despegar operates a two-sided digital travel commerce model. On one side, it attracts consumer demand through its web and mobile booking interfaces. On the other, it aggregates travel supply from airlines, hotels, car rental providers, insurers and other travel partners. It creates value by simplifying discovery, comparison, booking and bundling across the travel lifecycle, while localising payment options and commercial offers for Latin American markets. The company also monetises its audience and first-party travel intent data through an embedded advertising platform sold to travel-sector advertisers.
Category differentiation
Despegar is a consumer travel marketplace and travel advertising platform focused on Latin America. It is not a general adtech infrastructure vendor, airline, hotel chain or standalone global booking engine like a pure SaaS provider.
Strategic context
AI-supported assessment from the existing company research; distinguish interpretation from sourced facts.
Despegar.com Corp. is a Latin American online travel marketplace operating primarily under the Despegar and Decolar brands. The company sells flights, hotels, holiday packages and related travel products through its web platform and mobile app, aggregating inventory from airlines, hotels and other travel suppliers. Its core customers are consumers booking travel across Latin America, while a secondary customer segment includes hotels, airlines, tourism boards and other travel advertisers buying media inventory through its Travel Ads platform. The company generates most of its revenue from transaction commissions, travel margins and ancillary cross-sell such as insurance, car rental and activities. It has also built a self-serve advertising business that monetises high-intent traffic inside the booking journey through sponsored listings and native placements. Following its 2025 acquisition by Prosus, Despegar remains an active operating business focused on Latin America rather than a standalone public company.
Business model & monetisation
Despegar monetises through booking commissions and travel margins on flights, hotels, packages and other travel products, plus ancillary revenue from insurance, car rental, destination activities and related add-ons. It also generates advertising revenue through a self-service, auction-based media platform where travel advertisers fund campaigns for sponsored placements and native visibility within Despegar’s marketplace. Cross-selling, bundling and mobile-led conversion support higher average order value and repeat monetisation.
- Travel bookings
- Percentage Take-Rate
- Package deals and bundled travel
- Percentage Take-Rate
- Ancillary travel products
- Percentage Take-Rate
- Travel Ads sponsored placements
- Ad-Supported
Products & capabilities
No products with linked sources are available in this view.
Products & market categories
Media Channel
Competitors & alternatives
- Expedia Group
Online travel marketplace group with a scaled travel advertising business.
- Skyscanner
Travel metasearch platform monetising intent through referrals and advertising.
Side-by-side comparisons
Recent recorded signals
Dates refer to the source publication. Older entries are historical context, not evidence of a new event.
No sufficiently sourced and dated signals are available for this view.
Explore company relationships
Questions about Despegar
What is Despegar?
Despegar is a Latin American online travel marketplace that lets consumers book flights, hotels, packages and related travel services, and it also operates a travel advertising platform.
Who uses Despegar?
Consumers across Latin America use Despegar to plan and book trips, while hotels, airlines, tourism boards and travel brands use its Travel Ads platform to promote offers.
How does Despegar make money?
Despegar earns commissions and margins on travel bookings and ancillary products, and it also generates advertising revenue from sponsored placements sold through its self-service Travel Ads platform.
Sources & coverage
This profile uses public, official and technically observable information. Missing information does not prove that a product or relationship does not exist. The list below does not imply that every profile statement has been verified.
22 publicly documented primary sources and citations linked across the market graph.
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