Over the next 12 months, online accomodation provider Bedsearcher will go global, pushing up annual booking sales from £4m to an estimated £40m. Deputy Business Editor Kate Bowman reports on the bid to become the biggest dotcom in the region.

JIM Mann and partner Gill Chapple want Bedsearcher to become the biggest dotcom company in the North-East. With record numbers of bookings flooding in each day, they don't think it will be hard to achieve.

The Internet accommodation provider was established in Darlington in 2002 and allows people to book a room at any of the 8,500 independent hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfasts in the UK and 23 European countries featured on its website.

By the end of the year, the company expects to have the details of tens of thousands of hotels around the world on its site, earning commission on every booking transaction that is made online.

With booking sales targeted to grow tenfold, from £4m to £40m, Bedsearcher is likely to more than double its workforce to between 25 and 30 staff.

"I am absolutely confident it is going to take off. I believe we can become one of the world's leading booking systems and by far the largest dotcom firm in the North-East," says Jim.

"There is no limit to how the business can grow. The market in the UK alone is worth £3.5bn. Seven hundred million room nights are sold every year - that's 700 million opportunities for us to sell.

"We are seeing that all the things we managed to achieve on a small scale are growing with the business. We are achieving record booking levels day after day."

Its plans for growth have been helped by £500,000 of funding from private investors, including award-winning businessman of the year Guy Readman, Gerald Stern, founder and chairman of Wearside-based Alfas Group and Roy Perkins, founder partner of the J Rothschild Partnership, now the St James' Palace Partnership.

Bedsearcher is not the first success story for 29-year-old Jim. As a student, he set up a mobile disco venture to fund his way through Durham University, which grew so big he commissioned DJs out to venues across the region.

The side-business not only paid for his years at university, but enabled him to set up his first proper company in 1999 - Point Blank, a paintballing site at Croft, near Darlington.

The firm, which had a phenomenal period of growth in its first two years, now has an annual turnover of about £250,000.

On the same site, Jim also set up an outdoor karting centre, which he sold to a Northumberland-based company after 18 months.

The success of Point Blank sparked the launch of his Just Paintball business, which is based next door to Bedsearcher on Darlington's Nestfield Industrial Estate.

"Just Paintball sells paintballing equipment. It sells high-end equipment to the UK market, which is led by US market. It is a niche market," says Jim.

As well as its online website and walk-in store in Darlington, the firm also has an outlet in Reading.

Bedsearcher was launched in May 2002 on the back of Gill and Jim's plans to launch an online paintballing booking site.

"We had the idea to put paintballing bookings online for sites all over the UK. But we looked at the size of the market and realised that it wasn't viable," says Jim.

"However, we had done a lot of research on the technology and we didn't want that to go to waste. We looked for something else to apply it to and that is when Bedsearcher was born.

"Bedsearcher gives an interface between independent hotels, bed and breakfasts and guest houses and the customers. It allows these smaller establishments to compete with big multi-nationals, like the Hilton or Travel Lodge, which squeeze independent hoteliers out the market because they have better communication channels.

"We give these businesses a route to market their hotels through our website. We give them a network that allows them to compete."

Unlike many online accommodation sites that act as a directory, listing hotels with website and address details, Bedsearcher allows customers to complete the booking online without charging. Customers then pay the hotel for the room after their stay and Bedsearcher takes a commission.

"Four years ago, this was a relatively new concept. Some other sites have tried it and failed, so competition has fallen away," says Gill.

Independent hotels can apply online to be added to the site.

"It is a no-risk business all-round. There is no fee for the users of the site and hotels can appear on the site free of charge. It is a very user-friendly site and all hotels can be reviewed by people that have stayed," says Jim.

Bedsearcher is used by a wide variety of people, from business travellers and overseas visitors to students and families.

"We have a solid product and a good repeat customer business. Growth will be fuelled by an aggressive marketing campaign to raise the profile of the company, with advertising both nationally and internationally," he says.

"People can now book rooms in 23 European countries and we will be going global by the end of the year. We will constantly be improving the site and the technology."

Bedsearcher already allows users to book accommodation in specific areas of a town or city, based on proximity to a railway station or local attraction, for example.

The firm recently increased its workforce from three to ten and expects it to more than double again by the end of this year as its customer services centre grows.

For more information, visit www.bedsearcher.co.uk