Rochdale company successfully expands into the US market

Posted by on 8 Jun 2021

Photo © L-R Fiona Daniels, Eddie Daniels, Aftab Ali, Naheem Iqbal, Ben Richardson and Emma Richardson

After struggling through the early economic impacts of the global COVID19 pandemic, Rochdale entrepreneurs Eddie Daniels and Aftab Ali of Booking Online Ltd - a live reservation system for event rental companies, have successfully expanded into the US market and been granted LLC status, allowing Booking Online to put down business roots in America.

With guidance from Alison Salas from the Rochdale Development Agency, who connected the duo with the Department for International Trade, Aftab said, “Finding the right route to the US market was a key turning point in our business, and the support we have received from the RDA and DIT has been crucial in making that journey possible”.

Having grown their customer base by over 300% in the USA, this resulted in a recruitment drive - doubling the size of their customer support team and extending their office hours to 9pm to cover international time zones.

To manage their new customer’s needs and employ staff in the USA, Booking Online Ltd had to establish themselves as an LLC, which is the equivalent of an Ltd in the UK, and that’s where the RDA stepped in and put them in touch with the right people at DIT.

Eddie said: “Gaining LLC status has been very challenging and was only achievable with the support of RDA and the DIT. Although we have strong relationships with UK payment processors and banking, the US has very different regulations and to operate effectively; you have to be an LLC”.

With global agreements now in place with WorldPay FIS, Square and GoCardless, Booking Online USA LLC can now trade efficiently, serve their global customers, and open the doors to begin a recruitment campaign overseas to serve this specific market.

Cllr Blundell RDA board member and Rochdale Council Portfolio Holder for Economy and Communications said: “Booking Online’s journey has been a great success story, and the RDA continues to support Rochdale businesses find the right trade connections and routes to market”.

Founded in 2011, Booking Online Ltd provides websites and online booking systems to over 3,500 event rental businesses, processing over 3m bookings valued at over $850m, across 17 countries. www.bookingonline.co.uk