city beach florida key people bud finlaw ceo products destination experience website bookit.com bookit.com is a privately held online travel agency headquartered in panama city beach florida . 1 contents 1 history 2 consolidation layoff 3 technology 4 competitors 5 see also 6 references history edit the company was founded in 2000 by current president and ceo arthur bud finlaw . as he has often mentioned the company started with a recommendation from his wife melody a family portrait photographer also based in panama city beach . the business began in the family garage with the help of son jamin finlaw as the company showed promise the first additional employees were hired including the current vice president of marketing jesse henson were brought into the organization . the company originally launched as reservationsystem.com and in addition to its primary website operates several affiliate travel websites including springbreakrooms.com . 2 bookit.com enables users to plan and book travel products including hotel cruise airline activities car and vacation packages . it operates in more than 100 destinations worldwide and maintains offices throughout the united states mexico and the caribbean . 3 bookit.com became one of the first privately held corporations online to begin competing on a national and international scale in the travel industry . bookit.com has evolved its travel technology to include its services throughout the united states caribbean mexico central america canada europe asia and the pacific 1 consolidation layoff edit in august 2012 bookit.com laid off 80 employees in what was called by ceo bud finlaw a consolidation of resource so thursday was a day where we were able to consolidate two departments into one . a call center and a service center into a contact center . we re very excited about this . people were let go from all positions including marketing development and help desk including the newly hired director of help desk . mr. finlaw also said in the same interview the company which has created more than 500 jobs locally has completed its staffing consolidation and expects to begin hiring again late this year . and um we certainly ... they re eligible to rehire said finlaw speaking about the 80 persons laid off . although the severance contract offered less than 2 weeks pay stated that employees will not be eligible for rehire and should consider the lay off permanent . this severance also required the employees to agree to a noncompete agreement stating they would not pursue work in their same field . 4 technology edit in april 2008 bookit.com adapted from technology fast relevant origin method a patent pending pricing methodology with a search feature that generates deals instantly displays relevant prices and automatically uses the closest airport to the user s current i.p. address to find deals . from ranks travel deals based on factors that include user rating popularity of the destinations from each users point of origin internal marketing ratings rankings of the property manager and the number of mouse clicks on the destination s websites . competitors edit tripoto expedia orbitz priceline.com travelocity booking.com see also edit triphobo traveltriangle holidayme lastminute.com travelstart travelzoo viventura thrillophilia touristlink references edit a b http www.wjhg.com home headlines 19617529.html http www.springbreakrooms.com hotel.php hotelid 282 & hotelvendorid bt & areaid 377 & arr date hm 2 1 2009 & adult hm room 1 2 & package7 7 http www.850businessmagazine.com spotlight 226 bud finlaw takes on internet vacation booking giants.html hampton addie 8 11 2012 . bookit.com fires 80 employees in panama city beach . archived from the original on august 13 2012 . retrieved 8 10 2012 . check date values in access date date help usa weekend july 18 20 2008 http www.usaweekend.com 08 issues 080720 080720save money.html gas how to save on money on nearly everything msnbc http www.msnbc.msn.com id 25012816 june 8 2008 bookit.com facility breaks ground in panama city beach the news herald panama city fla. business section aug. 6 2008 http www.newsherald.com news new 67262 article.html panama beach.html bookit launches new website wjhg nbc http www.wjhg.com home headlines 19617529.html news herald panama city fla. feb. 17 2008 bookit looking to expand after banner year . company website louisville courier journal sept. 7 2008 travel briefs point of origin plan helps travel . the wall street journal may 22 2009 http online.wsj.com article sb124291893807443635.html mexico goes on sale louisville courier journal september 7 2008 point of origin plan helps travel . travel.com and travel distribution news aug. 5 2008 destination method of vacation planning out origin planning in travelweekly.com sept. 10 2008 bookit.com search puts focus on origin in listing travel deals retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bookit.com & oldid 743840882 categories online travel 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