Gonla, an online hotel booking service in Indonesia, has closed its website despite an apparent boom in the country's travel sector.
Business development manager Oggi Gunadi wrote on Twitter:
Currently, the site displays a "503 service unavailable" error.
As a differentiating factor in its business, Gonla offered a "price guarantee" service that would refund the difference if a cheaper price was found elsewhere on the web. It claimed to have over 2,000 hotel partners.
The company was launched almost a year ago in a bid to target an estimated $180 million flowing through the fledgling online travel sector in Indonesia.
Backed by investment house Nusantara Ventures, Gonla was part of the wider Viva consumer platform.
At its launch, Gonla officials lamented the fact that 80% (its own figure) of the online travel sector was controlled by OTAs based outside of the country, mainly Thailand and the US.
It wanted to be a "real Indonesian" brand, designed and operated by "young Indonesian IT, digital and travel professionals".
The average growth rate of the hotel industry alone in Indonesia is estimated to be at something in the region of 200%-300% a year.
Press queries to a number of individuals at the company have already bounced back.
Just over a month ago, Wego Indonesia announced a partnership with various online travel brands in Indonesia and also noted integration with Gonla was on the cards.
Gonla had 62,000+ fans in Facebook and 32,000+ followers in Twitter.
Update
Confusion surrounds the circumstance of Gonla's closure.
Earlier, Gonla sent below email to its hotel partners informing the site shutdown:
"Dear Clients GreetingsI m (sic) sure this email finds you wellSadly I would like to inform you that GONLA is shut down starting September 01, 2013 due to holding company reasonThere will be no reservation from Gonla anymore starting that day my apology for short notice and sorry for any inconvenience Thank you for kind attention, Hope to see you again sometime someday somehow."
Today (September 4), in a discussion with Faika, member of operations at Gonla, she tells us that an email was sent last night (September 3) to hotel partners informing that the site will be operational starting today.
Currently, the site is down with maintenance. Faika adds that the site will be up and running today.