Hotelbeds Group brings travel Big Data to IE University’s Datathon

Palma de Mallorca, June 21, 2016. Yesterday the winning team of the Datathon organised by IE Business School was announced, in which Hotelbeds Group provided sample data and expertise. 60 students from the Master in Big Data & Analytics participated. 

An expert jury of the TAB (Transfer & Activity Bank) business unit representatives had the honour of evaluating the projects and choosing the winning team.

Hotelbeds Group launched the challenge to the Masters students in April. It consisted of applying Big Data technologies and advanced analytics to a sample of TAB business data to segment clients in a way to better serve them.

The winning team stood out for its capacity to take critical decisions, providing clear documentation and using a logical selection of data and variables. Along with two other teams, they’ve earned the opportunity to work on an analytics project in which they will make the most of the huge amount of data available in order to improve the way the company works with suppliers and clients.

TAB’s Managing Director, Paul Anthony, Miguel Iza (Head of Data & Analytics for Hotelbeds Group) and Paul Randles (Head of TAB Commercial Strategy) were on hand to congratulate the winners and all the rest of the participants for all their effort.

The Master’s Director, Juan José Casado, highlighted that it had been a real challenge for students. In 2 months they managed to develop original business ideas, putting into practice the knowledge acquired during the programme, despite its demanding nature.

Álvaro de Nicolás, Hotelbeds Group CTO affirmed “Big Data is business as usual for us. Hotelbeds is the world’s largest bedbank. Every second we receive more than six thousand requests. All this information is very valuable, both for us and for our clients and suppliers, given that we can see the evolution of worldwide tourism markets months in advance – both in terms of destinations and prices.”

Paul Anthony, TAB’s MD emphasized the importance the Group gives to talent: “In TAB we’re constantly innovating and iterating and we strive to attract the brightest and best people to help us consolidate our business.”

Hotelbeds Group commits to technology

Hotelbeds Group’s support to a wide range of technological initiatives, together with its collaboration with the IE University in its Business Analytics & Big Data Master, responds to the company’s firm quest to reshape the global travel industry.

One of this initiatives is the Hotelbeds Group Tourist Innovation Professorship, a collaboration agreement signed with the University of Balearic Islands (UIB), focused on developing an innovative culture in the touristic distribution and contracting processes.

As a result of this collaboration and together with Tnooz (the American online technology magazine) Hotelbeds organized THack Mallorca last May. Over 60 developers had access to the company’s API and developed new applications to provide solutions and a new approach to the tourism industry. 

Likewise in June the company participated in the AWS (Amazon Web Service) Summit in Madrid, where Hotelbeds Group presented its Big Data Platform.