The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in London, UK, have approved the merger of HostelBookers and Hostelworld – the number one and two most used hostel booking sites worldwide.

HostelBookers will now become part of the Web Reservations International (WRI) portfolio, much to the delight of Hellman & Friedman – known for a focus of ‘investing in management buyouts in media, telecommunications, financial services, technology and marketing’.

HostelBookers and Hostelworld now have five working days to complete the merge. Under the WRI folio will be Hostelworld.com, HostelBookers.com, Hostels.com, BedandBreakfastworld.com and Backpackonline.com.