FILTER BY TAGS

HBX Group

Hotelbeds

Visitors to the United States are responsible for nearly 1.2 million U.S jobs that represent $33 billion in overall wages, according to the U.S Travel Association.

With travel spending increasing exponentially every year, is it any surprise that these tourists welcome big business for hoteliers?

To put this into perspective, on average, international travelers spend $4,200 when visiting the U.S. and stay an average of 18 nights! The difference between that and a domestic traveler is enormous.

But not all ‘international travelers’ are equal. While ‘long-haul arrivals’ – international travelers flying 7+ hours to the U.S. – represent only close to half of all non-domestic arrivals, they are nonetheless responsible for 84% of all international travel spending made inside the U.S.

A great example of such travelers would be Chinese visitors, who not only visit the U.S. in robust numbers, but are spending an average of $6,700 during their stays.

What’s more, all of this travel spending by international visitors generates nearly $170 billion in federal, state and local taxes.

International travelers, and particularly long-haul travelers, not only pay a higher per night rate than other international visitors, typically these customers also cancel less, make bookings further in advance, stay longer, spend more in the destination, give more generous tips and are keen to return more often.&nbsp;

At Hotelbeds, on average, 60% of the bookings we provide to our US hotel partners come from non-domestic travelers We gain these via our high quality distribution channels that target over 60,000 B2B travel buyers (tour operators, travel agents, airlines, loyalty and point plans) based in over 140 source markets around the world that drive bookings that are fully complimentary and incremental to a hotels own direct distribution strategy.

If you would like to find out more about how to fill your hotel with high-value overseas reservations – and spend more time creating a memorable experience for guests – then contact us today.&nbsp;

&nbsp;


chineseturist_1600x350.jpg

Why foreign is best for US hoteliers looking for high-value guests

The philosophy of hotel revenue management is to sell the right product to the right customer at the right time and at the right price, with the ultimate goal of maximizing the hotel’s bottom line.

Normally, a hotel evaluates revenue management performance based on ADRs, RevPARs, and occupancy rates. So where do lead-times fit into this? Often this important KPI can be easily overlooked or undervalued.

Should a short lead-time be a point of concern? Today hotels accept that the market is very dynamic and has a high level of complexity: uncertainty is the new normal. So short-lead times are not automatically assumed to be bad – after all, last minute bookings can often be very profitable.

Nonetheless, in general longer lead-times are more desirable for a hotel as they provide many benefits. Few finance directors will turn down the cash-flow benefits or the ability to anticipate staffing schedules more cost effectively. But from a revenue management perspective this allows the hotel more time to shift inventory to direct channels, reduce discounts in opaque channels and reconsider other deals, all in order to maximize the yield.&nbsp;

There is, of course, one very important benefit for hotels when it comes to longer lead-times, and this one is not so easy to measure over the short-term. Longer lead-times allow you to spend more time understanding the profiles of your customers and focusing on preparing to provide them with a memorable experience upon arrival – thus earning more loyal guests.

Earlier this year, distribution technology provider D-Edge analyzed the online distribution performance of more than 200 different channels for 680 properties in Europe between 2014 and 2018. One of the key findings is that Hotelbeds has the highest average lead time, at 60 days, and almost twice as high as Booking Holdings (with only 35). The average lead time across all channels is 39 days and only the hotel’s own website comes closest to Hotelbeds, at 41 days.

The lead-times vary from market to market. We at Hotelbeds have found that long lead-times often occur during the high-demand season or as a result of long-distance travel. According to booking data from the Hotelbeds platform in the year-to-date, 45% of United States travelers book APAC accommodation at least one month in advance.

But the one-month advance booking rate of the United Kingdom and Australian markets are even higher, with 63% and 72% respectively. By contrast, the one-month advance booking rate of Asian travelers is only about 39%.

To gain further insight into lead-time trends across different distribution channels and source markets don´t hesitate to contact us to find out more. And don’t forget to include lead-times as a key performance indicator when you next do your planning and forecasting for your hotel!


header_lead_time.jpg

Could lead-time be the most undervalued KPI by hotel revenue managers? 

Last weekend was the 100th anniversary of the first scheduled international air service. On August 25th, 1919 a plane took off from Hounslow Heath, London, and landed around two hours later in Paris. The plane transported – according to British Airways – a journalist, newspapers, several brace of grouse, some jars of Devonshire cream and a consignment of leather.

However, that plane also delivered something much more important, a gift that the hotel industry would benefit from: a revolution in travel that would slowly but surely create unprecedented demand for more hotels in more places. International travel had truly begun!

Fast forward 100 years and only during July this year there were more than 6.5 million flights globally, and the record for the most amount of flights in 24 hours was broken, reaching 230,409.

Such massive amounts of flights create a massive amount of need for accommodation. This year, in some coastal cities in Spain hotels have reached 90% occupancy, with tourists coming from all around the world to enjoy the Spanish beaches – a great many of them on planes. To give you an idea of the scale, employment associated with tourism in Spain almost reached 3 million in June.

Looking back over the last 100 years of international tourism, perhaps one of the most significant changes recently is that nowadays many airlines don’t just fly you to your destination, they also often act as travel agents or even tour operators to sell you a complete holiday package: flight, accommodation, transfer and more.

From the 700 or so commercial airlines existing in the world today, we estimate that around 120 are already offering accommodation sales – and this market is worth around 2 billion dollars in bookings annually for hotels.

Here at Hotelbeds we are currently providing accommodation for more than 40 airlines worldwide like easyJet, Ryanair, British Airways, Virgin, Finnair and Jet2&nbsp;in Europe, Spirit, Air Canada, LATAM, Volaris and Azul in the Americas. &nbsp;More recently in Asia, we launched a partnership with Singapore Airlines to use our dynamic packaging platform for Singapore Airline holidays in around 20 of its key source markets.

With so much world to discover and places to visit, and more flights now than ever before, there’s no doubt that hospitality industry will continue to grow as a result of this.&nbsp; Can you imagine what travelling will look like 100 years from now? Whatever the experience, one thing is for sure: you´ll need a room.


header_aviones.jpg

Travelling by air began 100 years ago this week 

We all know that nowadays many hotels are looking to become retail platforms and lifestyle brands, selling their guests anything and everything – but few are even close to achieving this dream.

An obvious area for increasing sales that hotels have been doing for years is selling guests ancillary services such as a transfer or entrance ticket. An easy sale with high-margins.

However, many hotels are now looking to do this before the guest even arrives in destination. How realistic an objective is this? And have many hotels perfected the technique?

Many other areas of travel are already very successful at doing this. Take for example the success of the airline industry, which in 2018 registered 100 billion dollars in revenues from ancillary sales. Take note, this includes selling transfers, car hire and hotel bookings! Or Airbnb’s recent expanded focus in the tours and activities business, under the label ‘Airbnb Experiences – discover local things to do’.&nbsp;

Taking examples such as these their inspiration, hoteliers need to make their ancillary offering more relevant to travellers via more advanced digital techniques.

First up would be personalizing the offering to predict the needs of a guest according to their profiles. By catering for the likely needs of the guest a hotel is much more likely to succeed in cross-selling them a service, and by extension gaining their loyalty.

And next up would be the opportunity to attract hotel bookings via an ancillary purchase. Hold on, is that right? Very much so! The ancillary portfolio could act as the principal sales point for some customers, who then go on to be cross-sold the accommodation.

Additionally, one important opportunity that many hoteliers are missing out on, particularly those with ambitions to become a bigger ‘retail platform’, is the possibility to sell ancillaries via points redemption. How does that work? Basically the hotel’s loyalty scheme could include ancillaries as one of the options when redeeming points.

Yes, that could mean that someone who does not even have a current booking for a hotel could nonetheless be buying from them. This has the added benefit that the hotel doesn´t have to limit its ancillary portfolio to products near to the destinations they have hotels in: they could literally sell products for the world over!

At Hotelbeds we have been working with our hotel partners for many years to help them cross-sell ancillaries to their guests pre-arrival via offering solutions such as white-labels, widgets, plug-ins and email campaigns.

We offer a very wide ancillary offering – via our Beyond the Bed portfolio – such as transfers, tours, activities, theme parks and car hire. In fact we have the largest B2B portfolio available anywhere in the world.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

If you would like find out how your hotel can become more profitable by becoming a dynamic travel retailing platform we’d be pleased to share our insights with you today.&nbsp;&nbsp;


header-activities.jpg

Can hoteliers cross-sell guests ancillary services before they even arrive?

Did you know that there were around four billion passengers carried on airplanes last year? But with profit margins so low many airlines are trying to increase margins by cross-selling their customers hotel accommodation – and this represents a huge opportunity for hoteliers.

Ancillary revenues for airlines – extra leg-room, baggage, in-flight sales and more – were around 100 billion US dollars last year according to Idea Works Company, a leading consultancy in this area.

But how much of that was accommodation spend? Whilst many of those flying already had plans for where to stay when booking their flight, many did not – and they bought their hotel via the airline.&nbsp;

The same study values the hotel, car, and insurance elements of ancillary revenues to be around 3 billion dollars in total, and at Hotelbeds we estimate the hotel part to be worth around two billion dollars and growing fast! This shows that the B2B airline sales channel is a huge opportunity for hoteliers worldwide to maximize their distribution reach and increase RevPAR.

Now, not all airlines have the right customer profile to be relevant in this space : from the 700 or so commercial airlines existing in the world today, we estimate that only about 120 are offering accommodation sales. But that still represents a sizeable opportunity.

But why should hoteliers distribute their rooms via the B2B airlines sales channel? Customers booking a flight will often look to reserve accommodation right after they book a flight, or in the case of packaging at the same time they book a flight. When better to be present than right at the moment when the intent to purchase is highest?

Ultimately airlines are able to attract high-value bookings that are hard to get via another channel, including the hotel’s own dot com (no matter the price or uniqueness of the offer).

What is more, typically airline customers are high-value guests with low cancellation rates, that return more often, spend more in destination, pay more per night, book further in advance and additionally are more likely to be from international source markets. All in all, airlines are able to help a hotel increase RevPAR.

As a result, more and more, airlines are acting as a retailer rather than just only selling airline tickets via their websites. This also means that airlines don´t just sell accommodation to clients who purchase a flight, but also through loyalty programs, their call centre and even via employee benefits programmes. The result? An airline can sell accommodation not just to destinations it services, but anywhere in the world.

At Hotelbeds we are currently working with more than 40 airlines worldwide such as easyJet, Ryanair, British Airways, Virgin, Finnair and Jet2&nbsp;in Europe, Spirit, Air Canada, LATAM, Volaris and Azul in the Americas. &nbsp;More recently in Asia, we launched a partnership with Singapore Airlines to use our dynamic packaging platform for Singapore Airline holidays in around 20 of its key source markets.

Hotelbeds currently works with the majority of the world´s largest airline carriers, providing full access to our hotel portfolio, and we have more customers due to go live this year. This is one of our fastest growing customer segments, so we would like to feel that we represent the best opportunity for hoteliers to maximize their reach via this route.

In the airline sector the sky is quite literally the limit and we feel that accommodation sales opportunities are only just taking off! Get on board the journey today.


header-Hotelbeds-airlines.jpg

The two-billion dollar airline opportunity for hoteliers 

Saying goodbye to disposable items is not news in the hospitality industry. As a Chinese person travelling to the United States and many European countries, I have long since noticed that there are very few hotels providing toothbrushes or slippers anymore. Travelers have become used to bringing their own toiletries.

But in my native China the use of disposable toiletries is still standard practice in hotels everywhere. And when many of us travel abroad we are surprised to not find these available in our rooms – and mildly inconvenienced as we hadn´t packed many of these items in our bag.

Given that China now has more outbound tourists than any other country – and the number of nights abroad and the average spend per trip are increasing rapidly too&nbsp; – the Chinese traveller’s preference for disposable toiletries poses a serious challenge for hoteliers. And for the environment too!

The good news is that change is happening.

As of July 1, new trash management regulations came into effect in Shanghai that are very progressive. This regulation also bans hotels from automatically offering in the room six disposable necessities such as toothbrushes, combs, razors, bath scrubs, emery boards, and one-time use shoe polish.

A small measure? Not really, small actions make big differences. According to Meadin Tourism Institute, this new regulation would impact more than 13,000 hotels in Shanghai that together host millions of guests per year.

But understandably Hoteliers in China do have some concerns about the inconvenience that this is bringing to travelers and increasing operational costs for hotels. Firstly, because the front desk needs to explain this new regulation to customers – many of whom come from regions of China unaffected by the new law – to make sure customers understand there won’t be these six disposable necessities in their room.

Meanwhile, the hotel then has to respect the needs of guests and provide these necessities on request – which they are allowed to do, provided the guest requests them at the reception. This has increased labor costs.

How should Western hotel chains react to this challenge? They could take some lessons from the Shanghai hotels going through this problem for the first time: communication is key – and guests need to be told in advance, possibly even within the booking flow.

At Hotelbeds have been working with our hotel partners around the world for many years to help them make their products ‘China ready’. Doing so is about so much more than just food or language, as this issue around disposables demonstrate.

We at Hotelbeds take environmental protection issues very seriously and encourage our colleagues in offices all around the world to do so too. In China last year we joined a local beach cleanup program organized by HandsOn Shanghai, a non-profit organization.

Together we picked up 137.6 kilos of trash at beach, a great deal of which turned out sadly to be disposable items.

This has made us more determined than ever to resolve this issue and we feel that as a distributor we can influence this by helping our partners to understand and set expectations in the booking process. Whilst we recognize that different markets evolve at different speeds, we are convinced that together we can bin disposables!


toiletries_news_room.jpg

Many travellers don't yet want to give up disposable toiletries: how should hoteliers react?

&nbsp;

ABS braking revolutionized car safety decades ago, but could a very different type of ABS be about to revolutionise the hotel industry?

Yes, we are talking about ‘attribute based selling’, the slightly confusing label that is the latest buzzword in hospitality circles.

In fact, there were several discussions around this topic during the recent HEDNA Conference in Madrid last month, where I participated as guest speaker on stage.

But what does the term really mean? Attribute-based selling is the idea that instead of selling hotel rooms by room category, guests can instead take a ‘pick and mix’ approach to control their own purchase path.

For example, they could put together features they care for most and not purchase elements they don’t really wish to pay for – such as choosing a basic room for €50with no breakfast included, but adding a king size bed for an extra€50 along with a sea view for another €20.

This seems nothing short of revolutionary in hotel circles. But is it really such a groundbreaking idea? The airline industry shifted to this model well over a decade ago. Low-cost carriers in particular have mastered the art of unbundling services that used to come with the ticket, such as baggage fees, travel insurance, speedy boarding, onboard meals or seat selection.

Whilst at first passenger reactions to this new approach were negative, eventually most of us have grown used to only paying for what we use.

Already some hoteliers are starting to recognize the two core benefits for our industry: offering guests products that better match their individual needs (or ‘personalization’ as many call it) and the opportunity to further maximize revenue.

But how should hotels adapt to offer consumers such a choice? And how should the hotel distribution chain in turn adapt accordingly?

Right now the hotel distribution ecosystem is beginning a journey of transformation that will fundamentally change the way inventory is mapped, categorized, priced and sold – all in a standardized fashion. This will no doubt require new technologies and protocols, not least for third parties such as travel agents or bedbanks.&nbsp;

At Hotelbeds we are committed to leading the industry through innovation and for some time we have been helping our hotel partners to cross-sell their guests ancillary services such as transfers and activities, via our Beyond the Bed product line; and already we are firmly supporting the important development of ABS, as we know this will help our hotel partners to increase profitability and remain competitive.

To find out more about this and how we can help your hotel increase its RevPAR contact your contracting manager today.


cabecera_blog_02.jpg

Attribute-based selling: the future of hotel distribution?

Did you know that there are literally billions and billions of pounds, dollars, euros and other currencies laying around in unspent loyalty and reward scheme points cards across the globe? Imagine if some of that money could be spent on booking your hotel.

Well the good news is that almost all of these schemes offer members the chance to buy travel with their points: trains, planes, automobiles and most importantly for you…hotels.

We all know the most famous cards for our respective home geographies. But beyond the top household name cards in each country or region there are thousands of smaller such programmes that range from credit card schemes and air miles points, right through to employer benefits schemes – that’s where employees get discounts on products or vouchers as part of their pay, or simply for a Christmas bonus.

But why should you start priorisiting guest bookings from this channel? A guest is a guest, after all? Firstly you should keep in mind that such bookings don’t compete with your dot com or existing online travel agency partner. Rather these are complementary bookings from a channel that has no overlap with any other sales source: someone purchasing via these platforms is generally speaking not considering other alternative routes to purchase. And if you work with overseas schemes, guess what, they give you non-domestic bookings too.

Secondly, keep in mind that those booking via such platforms are not so sensitive about the price. This means higher yields for your hotel. Why would that be? They are not booking in pounds but instead in ‘points’ – in an environment where one point doesn’t always equal one pound – thus making the conversion and association with hard cash value difficult; additionally, often they simply wish to spend their points before they expire, and people in a hurry are not so concerned by value; and finally, because the choice of hotels is normally much more limited, meaning you have much less competition.

Overall our research – based on analysing the 50 million room nights we helped hoteliers sell last year around the world via our business-to-business channel – shows that bookings made via points and loyalty schemes also generally deliver higher value guests, when compared to the online travel agency channel or even the dot com. What do we mean by that? Basically such guests book further in advance, cancel less, stay for longer, and spend more once in the hotel.

Can you imagine a better customer? Yes, you might say, one that comes back again! Loyalty is the name of the game if you are a reputable hotelier. But it turns out that guests who book via niche channels, such as a reward scheme, are also more loyal: they come back more often.

So how does a hotel go about actually getting bookings from this channel? Can an independent hotel do this alone, or is this really just for big chains only? Like any distribution channel you need to dedicate time and resources to do this properly. But the good news is that you don’t need to be a big chain, or even have multiple properties. At its most simple you contact the big scheme providers and start from there, no doubt they´ll all be pleased to hear from you. But clearly that would be time-consuming and complex, plus without experience of negotiating such deals you are unlikely to get the best arrangement.

An easier alternative however is to work with a business-to-business distribution partner such as a bedbank or channel manager that offers access to many points’ redemption, loyalty and employee benefits schemes. As mentioned before, there are tens of thousands of points schemes in the UK alone and perhaps millions across the globe – so you are never going to come close to dealing with them all.

Not only should such a bedbank or channel manager partner be able to negotiate the best deal on your behalf, they should also have the technology solutions in place to implement this. This route would simplify matters for you and allow you to focus on what you do best: providing the guests with a memorable experience upon arrival.

Either way, the next time you hand over your reward card give some thought to the bigger reward on offer for your hotel: points don’t just win prizes, they also earn you guests.


monthly_news_head3 (003).jpg

Hoteliers don’t need a reward programme to benefit from loyalty bookings 

Did you know that Hotelbeds consolidates access to the world’s largest portfolio of travel agent customers?

Yes, that’s right: Bedsonline, part of Hotelbeds, gives you access to over 50,000 travel agents around the world, a channel that is fully compatible and incremental to your direct distribution strategy.

But why does the travel agency channel of Hotelbeds operate under a different brand? 15 years ago we established the Bedsonline brand to focus exclusively on one segment: travel agents.

By keeping this exclusive focus and separate brand identity the Bedsonline team is able to provide the best content, platform and booking experience, both pre and post for our travel agent partners, creating a service that is 100% designed expressly for the professional travel agent.

We’ve developed the best tools and technology designed to meet the needs of the modern day travel agent, including leading search functionality, filtering tools, comparison options, specialist PDF export functionality and so much more. In addition, we’ve deployed teams with local knowledge across the globe, who speak the local language and know the local culture to support our travel agent customers globally.

Over the years – and with the recent merger of TravelBound and TravelCube into the Bedsonline brand – we now have over 50,000 travel agency partners in over 100 markets globally.

This means that our hotel partners around the world have access to this valuable&nbsp; channel of travel buyers that provide bookings from guests who book further in advance, cancel less, pay more for a room then spend more in-destination, and also come back more frequently.

So what should you do if you are a hotel partner of Hotelbeds that wants to distribute via this channel? Absolutely nothing: you are already available to Bedsonline’s 50,000 customers. But if you’d like to speak with us about providing exclusive rates and deals for this special audience then we’d be pleased to hear from you.


img_Customer.jpg

Access high value guests via the world’s biggest travel agency portfolio

A group of rhinos is a crash and collection of crows is a murder. But what do you call a group of hotel accommodation buyers – tour operators, airlines, and points redemption schemes – when they all huddle-up together in one room?

For our partners at Hotelbeds the answer this year is easy: MarketHub.

That’s right, this year we’re again holding our renowned MarketHub events for our most important customers – and invitations are the most sought after in the travel industry calendar.

As on previous occasions, we´ll be bringing together for a three day event the senior decision makers of the leading tour operator, airline, travel agency, and loyalty and reward partners globally in a dynamic environment of networking, learning and fun.

This year we´ll be hosting three regional MarketHubs and each one will be attended by between 350 and 600 guests. The Americas event will take place in Cancun from Tuesday 7 May 2019, the European event will take place from Tuesday 28 May, and the Asia-Pacific event will take place in Bali from Tuesday 22 October.

All three events will follow a similar format: kicking off with a cocktail dinner on the Tuesday evening, with the Wednesday and Thursday featuring a conference and trade show by day and exclusive entertainment by night.

Top speakers will be in attendance from some of the world’s leading hotel groups, as well as leading journalists and representatives from important industry bodies – all discussing the theme for this year: Distribution Re-Defined.

We are privileged to have as our hosts for the Americas event the new, luxurious Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres Resort, located in Costa de Mujeres, only a short journey from Cancun.

Additionally we are proud to confirm that our platinum partners for the event will be Disney Destinations, The Leading Hotels of the World, Wynn Encore Las Vegas, RCD Hotels, Accor Hotels, and Hilton.

Interested in finding out how to position your brand with the key decision makers of leading travel trade players at each event? Visit the website to find out about sponsorship opportunities.

Watch this space for more news as we confirm speakers and more details on the activities that will take place.


header-MarketHub-1600x350.jpg

MarketHub returns. Be a part of it! 

Social media is a major barrier for hoteliers when trying to attract Chinese guests – and the fact that all their social media channels, including the support and technical side, are in the Chinese language is only the beginning of the problem.

Just like in the West, Chinese travelers are heavily influenced by social media and the lifestyles promoted on them. Just like in the west content is king, in particular of the video and user generated type. And just like in the west, ‘influencers’ with millions of followers can make or break a destination or travel brand.

There is only one small but vital difference: all of the platforms or tools they use are completely different from ours.

At the core of the problem is the fact that the technology platforms they are used to using are all entirely different from ours. They can´t access Google, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even WhatsApp.

Instead they use three main social media channels: Baidu (a search engine), WeChat (WhatsApp on steroids) and Weibo (similar to Twitter).

This creates two headaches for hotels, or any inbound tourism service provider. Firstly how to market to Chinese audiences; and secondly for handling customer services via social media.

All of this means marketers don’t just have to create Chinese language content, the content has to be actually on Chinese only social media channels too. Often this requires different formats, a whole different way of thinking even.&nbsp; To make matters worse, they aren´t always so easy to set-up, as in some cases to start an official account you need to be a registered company in China.

Western hoteliers need to embrace the whole range of Chinese tools, Apps, websites and platforms that make up the travel ecosystem.&nbsp; In particular they should look closely at Qyer, with over 80 million subscribers, or the similarly popular Mafengwo. They are both comparable to TripAdvisor in that they feature user-generated content (UGC) and offer travel tips and advice – but additionally they actually sell travel content such as hotels and flights, so it is essential to have your accommodation available via their platforms.&nbsp;

Another popular site is Xiaohongshu, a cross between a shopping and lifestyle App popular with young travelers; it doesn´t yet have a hotel booking function but they can heavily influence the choice of destination for travel, so gaining a presence in its content is essential (again, video is key).&nbsp;

At Hotelbeds we have been deeply involved in the China market for over a decade and it is now our fourth biggest source market globally – mostly providing hotel bookings for our American and European hotel partners from our network of Chinese B2B accommodation buyers such as travel agents, airline websites and tour operators.

To engage with these local B2B audiences in China we too are present in Chinese social media channels and you can follow us on Weibo (‘Hotelbeds’) and WeChat (‘Hotelbeds Official’). Follow us to find out more?

&nbsp;

&nbsp;


article5.jpg

Can ‘WeChat’ with you? Engaging the Chinese travel trade online 

No one can deny that Asia has become the most important driving force when it comes to outbound tourism. To put this in numbers, outbound trips from Asia increased by 8% in 2018, according to World Travel Monitor – at a time when the world’s economy is barely in the low-digits .

A key contributor of this rapid growth has clearly been China, with an increase of outbound trips by 13% last year.

But the&nbsp;success story of&nbsp;Asia&nbsp;in the world of tourism&nbsp;is not only about&nbsp;Asians visiting other countries, but also&nbsp;about Westerners visiting Asia.&nbsp;Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos&nbsp;are&nbsp;already top destinations&nbsp;for travellers everywhere.

Therefore&nbsp;it should not be a surprise that this&nbsp;year at ITB Belin – which will take place from&nbsp;Wednesday&nbsp;6 to&nbsp;Sunday10 March – Malaysia will be the Official Partner Country.

Lots of travel experts will support me in saying that Malaysia is still a rough diamond in terms of tourism potential. But how closely should travel industry professionals keep an eye on it?

Very closely is the answer, the polishing is underway. According to data from our very own Hotelbeds booking platform, Malaysia is already the sixth biggest Asian source market.&nbsp; This year it is registering impressive growth rates, a trend that is expected to keep–up during the coming months.

Moreover, Malaysia aims to position itself as a top winter holiday destination and further develop the luxury market. Considering the favorable exchange rate it seems to be easy for the country to position itself a value-for-money destination.

As part of this drive, the government has focused on improving scheduled air services and chartered flights by partnering with various airlines, as well as building impressive tourist attractions. All in all, the country has fixed an ambitious target to attract 30 million tourists by 2020. Already no one doubts they´ll accomplish this.

Since Tourico Holidays and GTA became part of Hotelbeds we have become even stronger in the Asian markets, not least because this was a real strength for GTA. We know the market inside out and Malaysia is no exception, where we have access to travel buyers such as airline websites, tour operators, high-street travel agents or points redemption schemes.&nbsp;

As Malaysia becomes more important as a source market, we are able to offer our network of over 170,000 hotels around the world access to this hard-to-reach segment in order to attract non-competing books that complement their distribution mix (without needing to employ local sales teams). Next week we will be at ITB Berlin in Hall 9, Stand 110 with many of the Hotelbeds senior leaders from all over the globe. Drop by for further details about our renewed value proposition for hoteliers and our enhanced product portfolio not only in Asia but also worldwide.

Compared to some markets Malaysia might seem a rough diamond, but we know that it’s a real gem and look forward to watching it sparkle at ITB. See you all next week!


thumbnail_ITB_1600x350.jpg

Is Malaysia the rough diamond of Asia? Next week in the ITB spotlight it is set to sparkle

News menu page Hbxgroup

Blog

Travel solutions for wholesalers, supply partners and destinations

Direct distribution specialists for hotels

Suite of products digitalising every front desk process

Full-service solutions to boost revenue through travel.

Services to inspire and convert travel audiences.

Smart B2B solutions to power, protect and finance your travel business

Our Products & Services from Hotelbeds, Bedsonline and Roiback

Blog

Search