The site was established in June 2002 by Chris Brown, who came up with the idea for a review site whilst working at lastminute.com. He taught himself computer programming from a £17 book. He then partnered with Chris Clarkson, who he met in a chat room, to develop the website and its business relationships.[1]
In 2006, the website began soliciting video clips.[2]
In January 2008, the website was acquired by TripAdvisor after the owners received a "multi-million-pound offer".[3] At that time, the website had 3 million unique visitors per month.[4]
In 2010, the website had turnover of £30 million.[1]
In July 2020, Tripadvisor sold Holiday Watchdog to Hopjump.[5][6]