BookIt.com Inc.

About BookIt.com Inc.

BookIt.com Inc. was an online travel agency founded in 2000 by Bud Finlaw, with its headquarters in Panama City Beach, Florida. The company operated as a web-based platform, providing services for booking travel products such as hotels, air travel, car rentals, and vacation packages, with a particular focus on leisure destinations in the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Its business model centered on offering an intuitive online booking experience, supplemented with travel guides and customer support. The company generated revenue through the sale of these travel packages and services.

Over the years, BookIt.com expanded its market reach beyond the US into locations like Mexico and the Caribbean. In 2014, the company secured $10 million in funding from Monroe Capital and partnered with Teleperformance to run a contact center in Montego Bay, Jamaica, to handle customer care services. A significant strategic shift occurred when the company decided to focus exclusively on all-inclusive packages. In June 2021, Bookit completed the acquisitions of Travel Club and Casita Travel.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 had a catastrophic effect on the company. Citing a "tsunami of cancellations" that exceeded new sales, CEO Bud Finlaw announced the company was suspending regular operations and laying off approximately 85% of its staff. Subsequently, BookIt.com ceased operations, disconnected its phone lines, and became unresponsive to customer inquiries, leading to numerous complaints from customers who had paid for trips that were not fulfilled or refunded. This resulted in legal action, with attorneys general in states like Massachusetts and Florida launching investigations and filing lawsuits against the company and its CEO for deceptive practices. As of August 2025, recent developments indicate a pivot, with co-founder Lin Dai partnering with Moca Network and Spree Finance to launch AIR Shop, a loyalty platform for real-world commerce and rewards, suggesting a new direction leveraging blockchain technology.