Crawley-based holiday operator First Choice has bought hotel booking website LateRooms.com for a fee that could rise to £120 million.

The company snapped up the internet venture for £108 million but could end up paying another £12 million during the next three years depending on its performance.

LateRooms.com, which receives more than a million visitors a month, achieved turnover last year of £7.1 million with profit of £3.4 million This year, it expects turnover to top £11 million.

Peter Long, First Choice's chief executive, said: "Operating in a high-growth sector we see considerable opportunity to increase LateRooms's future profitability even further.

"It has a distinct business model serving a niche market segment at low cost. LateRooms is a significant addition to our portfolio and enables us to offer even better late availability deals to our customers."

First Choice said the deal would enable Laterooms to build on its strong position in Britain and its growing presence in Spain, France, Italy and beyond.

The Laterooms site currently has 13,000 properties in Britain and Europe.