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	Tomeu Gili recruited as Bedsonline’s Regional Sales Director for Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
	News follows the September announcement of the consolidation and migration&nbsp;&nbsp; of GTA’s travel agency customers over to the Bedsonline’s brand and class-leading booking platform.


Dubai, March 14, 2019. – Bedsonline, the global provider of accommodation and complementary travel services designed exclusively for travel agents, has today announced the strengthening of its senior leadership team.

Tomeu Gili has been recruited as the Director of Sales for Bedsonline’s Asian, Middle Eastern and African source markets, a new position created combining both regions under one leader. In this role Tomeu will be based in Dubai and will lead a team of seventy people.

He will be responsible for supporting Bedsonline’s existing travel agency customers in the local markets to drive growth while further expanding and diversifying the number of agencies working with Bedsonline’s class leading booking platform.&nbsp;

Tomeu brings with him over 20 years of experience in the travel industry, most recently in leadership positions for companies such as Destinations of the World, RTS and Gowaii Corp.

Previous to this Tomeu worked for Bedsonline in senior leadership roles for 12 years, since the brand’s launch in 2003. During this time he held a range of positions including Head of Sales for Middle East and Asia Pacific and Head of Sales for South Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean and Africa.

This news follows the announcement that the parent company of both GTA and Bedsonline, Hotelbeds, has consolidated its travel agency product portfolio and platform globally, under the refreshed Bedsonline brand – establishing the world’s leading provider of accommodation and complementary services designed exclusively for travel agents.

Carlos Muñoz, Bedbank Managing Director at Hotelbeds, comments: “We are delighted to welcome Tomeu back into the Bedsonline team. He brings an incomparable wealth of experience that will play a pivotal role in further enhancing the expertise of our commercial teams as we continue to build on our position as the worlds’s leading booking platform for travel agents. I, along with the rest the teams, look forward to working closely with Tomeu to continue our rapid expansion in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.”

Tomeu Gili, Bedsonline’s Regional Sales Director for Asia, the Middle East &amp; Africa, adds: “It’s an honor to be coming back to Bedsonline. I was privileged to be part of the team that launched the brand over 15 years ago in Spain and witness its rapid expansion at that time. Now, with a portfolio of over 50,000 travel agency customers worldwide backed by a class leading booking platform that has gone from strength to strength, this is an exciting time indeed to be returning to the business. I can´t wait to get out there, meet our customers and discuss how we can help them to grow their business.”

Following the consolidation of GTA’s brand portfolio and offering, the Bedsonline platform now offers travel agents globally the following benefits:&nbsp;

1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Diverse and competitive product portfolio:&nbsp; 180,000 hotels available globally (with over 90,000 directly sourced, creating a highly competitive portfolio with unique offers), 24,000 transfer routes, 18,000 activities, and 140,000 cars available for hire – all sourced by an expert team of over 1,000 contractors around the world. &nbsp;

2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Powerful and user-friendly technology:&nbsp;Best-in-class search engine designed specifically for the needs of travel agents allows users to filter and compare results in a flexible and practical way – 70% of existing customers cite the platform as a top factor in choosing the service.&nbsp;Bedsonline’s&nbsp;parent Group is the only travel trade wholesaler to operate its own cloud-based, open source data&nbsp;centre&nbsp;handling 1.5 billion searches per day.&nbsp;

3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Local knowledge combined with a global offering:&nbsp;Our experienced local sales teams in every market provide significant knowledge and industry know-how adapted to the specific needs of each market.

&nbsp;

About Bedsonline

Bedsonline&nbsp;is the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary travel products exclusively catering to travel agents. Through its online platform, it distributes accommodation, excursions, tickets and transfers to more than 50,000 travel agencies backed by local sales teams in over 30 countries covering over 100 markets globally.

The company offers an extensive portfolio of over 180,000 hotels, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities in 185 destination countries worldwide, guaranteeing high availability, competitive prices and unique offers. This portfolio is backed by personalized local service and a powerful yet intuitive booking engine making Bedsonline the defacto partner for many travel agencies around the world.&nbsp;

Bedsonline has focused its strategy in recent years on the expansion of new markets in Europe, America and Asia, such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Mexico, the United States, Colombia, China, Japan and the Philippines. This strategic vision has led the company to occupy a leadership position in its segment.

Bedsonline is part of Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally, headquartered in Palma, Spain.

Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Antonia Aguiló

a.aguilo@hotelbeds.com


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Bedsonline strengthens leadership in Asia, the Middle East and Africa



	Hotelbeds platform data reveals the top destinations for Spring Breakers this year fall within the United States, Italy, France, Spain, United Kingdom, and Mexico markets.[1]
	Orlando is most booked destination by Americans for the March Spring Break in 2019.
	Chinese travellers continue to favour the United States and register a year-on-year booking growth of nearly 40% into Orlando.


&nbsp;

Orlando, FL 13 March 2019. Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, has announced today the most booked destinations for Americans based on its booking platform data for the March 2019 Spring Break season.

As per the latest data report from the Hotelbeds booking platform – which is used by travel buying intermediaries such as travel agents, tour operators and points redemptions schemes – for this year’s March Spring Break, Orlando leads the report as the most visited destination at a worldwide level for Americans during this period.

Orlando is followed, in descending order, by Las Vegas, New York, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, London, Miami, New Orleans, and Cancun as the most visited cities.

Filtering the rankings at an international level, the top five destinations for Americans during the month of March has Rome in the lead, followed by Paris, Barcelona, London, and Cancun.

Looked at from a local level the top five ranking destinations are Orlando, closely followed by Las Vegas, New York, Miami, and New Orleans.


While Los Angeles didn’t make the cut for this year’s top 10 travel destinations and was replaced by New Orleans in Hotelbeds’ latest booking report, L.A. still remains a very popular destination among American travellers, falling behind to New Orleans by only a small amount of bookings, and taking the 11th spot on our ranking this year.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, the biggest source markets for travellers visiting the United States during this March Spring Break period are Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Brazil, and Canada – all in descending order.

According to the U.S. Travel Association China is considered to be the most notable source market in terms of its growth in the international rankings, going from the 22nd largest source market in the year 2000, to third largest currently, and projected to be the second largest in 2019.

According to the booking data from the Hotelbeds platform, Chinese travellers account for almost 3% of all bookings made into the United States[2] – during this Spring Break 2019 period, the company registered an increase of nearly 40% of Chinese outbound bookings into Orlando, the most visited destination for March Spring Breakers this year.

Sam Turner, Wholesale Sales &amp; Sourcing Director at Hotelbeds, commented, “Most notable here for me is the 40% increase in bookings for Orlando from Chinese tourists. &nbsp;This forms part of our commitment to provide our US hotel partners with complementary non-domestic bookings – and where better than from Chinese travellers, already the largest travel segment globally by spend?

“By matching our extensive network of travel buying clients based in China with our competitive inventory of China-ready hotel accommodations in the US, our dedicated sourcing and sales teams have been able to capture almost 3% of all incoming Chinese hotel bookings in the United States and we expect this to increase further.” &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 

Lauren Volcheff Atlass, Americas Regional Director for Wholesale Sales at Hotelbeds, commented, “Five of the top ten destinations we are seeing this spring break are outside of the US, meaning there’s a great opportunity for non-US based hotels to attract spring breakers. But without having a local US based sales team and knowledge, achieving that is very hard.

“With our expanded network of travel buying intermediaries across the United States – including points redemption businesses, traditional travel agents, and tour operators – we can offer our hotel partners across the globe access to one of the biggest travel markets during one of its busiest periods. Our aim is always to help them increase occupancy rates with non-competing incremental bookings from guests that book further in advance, cancel less, spend more and come back more often – and this Spring Break I´m proud to say we’re delivering great value to a great many hotels worldwide by giving them this hard to reach, but important segment.”

&nbsp;

About Hotelbeds 

Hotelbeds is the world´s leading bedbank.

The company’s proprietary technology helps providers of travel services distribute their offering to travel sellers globally via an easy-to-use, advanced technology platform that increases reach, revenue and yield for both the provider and the seller.

Operating under the Hotelbeds brand in the wholesale channel and the Bedsonline brand in the travel agents channel, the company connects over 60,000 travel intermediaries across more than 140 source markets globally with travel providers in over 185 countries representing more than 170,000 hotels, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities.

In September 2016, the company became independent under the ownership of Cinven and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). In June 2017, Tourico Holidays became part of Hotelbeds, followed by GTA also joining the company in October of the same year.

The company is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Follow us on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds-group

Twitter: @Hotelbeds

Facebook: Hotelbeds

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Media contacts

Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Alicia Orta Stanford · alicia.ortastanford@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


[1] These figures refer to bookings made in the United States source market via the Hotelbeds booking platform – which includes the Tourico Holidays and GTA bedbanks – for the month of March 2019.



[2] These figures refer to bookings made via the via the Hotelbeds booking platform for the 2017/2018 financial year.




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Top booking destinations for March Spring Break revealed by Hotelbeds

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;


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

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.


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MarketHub returns. Be a part of it! 

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.


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

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.


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


	Over 10,000 hotels have signed-up for the Hotelbeds platform over the last year, mainly in North America and Asia-Pacific, to reach 180,000 unique hotels.
	Growth driven by renewed focus on providing hoteliers with incremental bookings via expanded B2B network of over 60,000 travel buyers.
	Increase in the number of strategic partnerships with hotel chains and inclusion of preferred channel managers.



Palma, 6th March 2019. Hotelbeds, the world´s leading bedbank, has today confirmed at ITB Berlin an increase in the number of its hotel partners.

During the last year Hotelbeds has increased by 10,000 the number of unique hotels – mainly located in the North American and Asia-Pacific markets – available on its platform.

Currently a total of 180,000 unique hotels are available on the Hotelbeds system and a majority of the hotels are directly contracted under exclusive terms and conditions.

This growth has been driven by the renewed focus of Hotelbeds in providing its hotel partners with complementary bookings via its network of 60,000 travel buyers from both non-domestic source markets and B2B buyers – including tour operators, retail travel agents, airline websites and loyalty and reward points schemes.

In particular there has been an increase in signing strategic partnerships with key hotel chains globally and preferred agreements with channel managers worldwide. This has in part been supported by the expansion of the contracting workforce to over 1,100 contractors based around the world in popular local destinations.

In early February Hotelbeds announced that, following the acquisitions of Tourico Holidays and GTA into its business, now 90% of its hotel partners have access to all of the over 60,000 travel buying intermediaries that use the Hotelbeds platform. Such channels attract guests who book further in advance, cancel less, stay longer, spend more in-destination, and re-book more frequently.

As part of this change Hotelbeds’ hotel partners are now unified under the same terms and conditions, whilst also having access to a simplified and unified billing and account management service.

Carlos Muñoz, Bedbank Managing Director at Hotelbeds, commented: “As part of our plan to build the world’s leading bedbank, we wanted to renew our focus on providing our hotel partners with complementary bookings from non-domestic and niche booking channels that provide them with high-value guests. Today’s news that we’ve increased the number of hotel partners by 10,000 over the last year is confirmation that already we are succeeding.

“This is great news too for our over 60,000 travel buyers around the world – whether they be a travel agent, tour operator or airline website – as the majority of these hotels are directly contracted at the best prices and under the best conditions.

“We look forward to providing our customers and hotel partners with further updates about our evolving service over the coming months, but welcome them to approach us directly here at ITB Berlin to learn more about how we can help them to grow their business even further.”&nbsp;

&nbsp;

About Hotelbeds 

Hotelbeds is the world´s leading bedbank.

The company’s proprietary technology helps providers of travel services distribute their offering to travel sellers globally via an easy-to-use, advanced technology platform that increases reach, revenue and yield for both the provider and the seller.

Operating under the Hotelbeds brand in the wholesale channel and the Bedsonline brand in the travel agents channel, the company connects over 60,000 travel intermediaries across more than 140 source markets globally with travel providers in over 185 countries representing more than 180,000 hotels, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities.

In September 2016, the company became independent under the ownership of Cinven and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). In June 2017, Tourico Holidays became part of Hotelbeds, followed by GTA also joining the company in October of the same year.

The company is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Follow us on:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds

Twitter: @Hotelbeds

Facebook: Hotelbeds

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Media contacts

Antonia Aguiló

a.aguilo@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


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Hotelbeds expands portfolio with 10,000 new hotels


	Germany is the fifth largest source market worldwide – and the third in Europe – for Hotelbeds.
	Majorca, Antalya and Crete remain the most booked destinations on the Hotelbeds platform for Germans this summer.[1]
	New York, Barcelona and London lead international city destinations.



Palma, 28th February 2019. Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, has revealed ahead of ITB Berlin – which will take place this year from Wednesday 6 to Sunday&nbsp;10 march – has confirmed Germany as its fifth largest source market globally and third largest European source market.

Additionally Hotelbeds’ booking data has confirmed that European beach destinations are the most in demand this summer for German tourists, with Majorca remaining the most popular and Antalya remaining the second most popular, followed by Crete.

New York is the most popular international city choice for Germans this summer and the 4th most popular overall proceeded by Majorca, Antalya and Crete.&nbsp; At an international level New York is followed by Barcelona and then London, with Barcelona replacing London as the second choice compared to last year.&nbsp;

For Germans choosing &nbsp;Asian destinations this summer, Bali &nbsp;is for another consecutive year the most visited destination for the Germany source market – and the 14th most popular overall, but down from number 7 last year.

Carlos Muñoz, Bedbank Managing Director of Hotelbeds said: “Ahead of ITB I am proud to confirm that in our new and enlarged business Germany &nbsp;is the fifth largest source market globally for us, and the third in Europe.

“Next week’s ITB will be a particularly exciting edition for us as it will be the first one as one consolidated company. Over the last year we’ve been working hard to create one new and enhanced business: &nbsp;a&nbsp;new and consolidated leadership structure; a much stronger sourcing team that has now increased to over 1,100 employees globally; one single account management and billing point for all partners including travel buyers and hoteliers; the launch of a Product Management department; and an enhanced IT structure that is almost completely migrated onto one, new platform.

“All these changes in our business form part of the long-term strategy we set out in 2017 to be the world’s leading bedbank. In particular I´m looking forward to meeting with our hotel partners to discuss how we have adapted our offering for hoteliers by giving them increased access to hard-to-reach travel buyers such as travel agents, points redemption schemes, airline websites and tour operators – channels that offer higher-value and incremental bookings.”

Hotelbeds will participate&nbsp;at the ITB fair in Berlin, taking place&nbsp;from Wednesday 6 to Thursday 10 March, can be found on stand 110, in hall 9.

&nbsp;



[1]&nbsp;All information included in this press release is based upon year-on-year trends for bookings made via wholesale bedbanks that form part of Hotelbeds – including Hotelbeds, GTA and Tourico Holidays – up to 7 February 2019.

&nbsp;


About Hotelbeds 

Hotelbeds is the world´s leading bedbank.

The company’s proprietary technology helps providers of travel services distribute their offering to travel sellers globally via an easy-to-use, advanced technology platform that increases reach, revenue and yield for both the provider and the seller.

Operating under the Hotelbeds brand in the wholesale channel and the Bedsonline brand in the travel agents channel, the company connects over 60,000 travel intermediaries across more than 140 source markets globally with travel providers in over 185 countries representing more than 170,000 hotels, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities.

In September 2016, the company became independent under the ownership of Cinven and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). In June 2017, Tourico Holidays became part of Hotelbeds, followed by GTA also joining the company in October of the same year.

&nbsp;

The company is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Follow us on:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds

Twitter: @Hotelbeds

Facebook: Hotelbeds

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Media contacts

Anna Monreal

amonreal@hotelbeds.com

(+34) 971 624 687


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 Hotelbeds confirms Germany as fifth largest source market globally

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!


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

Do you remember the excitement of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992? I don’t, I wasn´t born for another three years. But I can relive the opening ceremony via Snapchat on my smart phone. That’s because I am from generation Z, also known as Zillenials.

Don’t confuse us with the those millennial oldies, born before 1994, who might have watched the Barcelona Olympics or the fall of the Berlin Wall live on TV from the comfort of their mother’s arms. We are authentic digital natives for whom Facebook or even Instagram was our first ever interaction with the wider world.

Nowadays, many travel companies are focusing and investigating the habits of the millennial generation, which is of course a big social transformation.&nbsp; But are we prepared for the great change that is already occurring as generation Z now start to spend travel dollars?

Generation Z does not conceive of a world without interconnected devices. We almost have our own language, with a philosophy of #YOLO (You Only Live Once). We’re less ‘mobile first’ and more ‘do I really need a computer?’.&nbsp; Multitasking through many screens doesn’t seem normal, it is normal.

All of this makes us, generation Z, really a different breed from millennials. They seem to me to simply have adapted to modern life quite well, but it’s not in their DNA. So what should travel industry leaders, many of whom were born way before even the millennials, be doing to adapt to this new demographic?

In fairness, the tourism sector has been one of the pioneers in adapting. But there is always room for improvement and travel companies looking to attract audiences under the age of 25 need to consider some of the following points.

First of all, the importance of social media cannot be emphasized enough. When it comes to travelling, social media and blogs are the first tool for inspiration, to learn more about the destination, and to know about the culture.&nbsp; YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest are the most used amongst my friends; Facebook and Twitter come a very clear second.

We also generally use the web as a resource for researching and planning all the logistics of a potential trip: budgets, seasonal variations, schedules and more – and we don’t rely on any one channel or resource.

There are also some important considerations when picking a destination or in-destination activity. We search for destinations where there is a good internet connection: no internet, no trip! We look for places where there is not much crowding so that photographs can be taken, again for sharing. We look for destinations with cultural richness. Many of us are concerned by the environmental impact of our trip too. And we look for couch-surfing opportunities too, not just Airbnb but any opportunity either save money or avoid impersonal hotels.

The habits and trends once we are in the destination are also quite different. We like to get involved in a destination, perhaps by asking for recommendations from the residents themselves. Or maybe doing some voluntary activities. We use of Google Maps and other navigational applications on our mobile to get around – and don’t rely on guides or even public signs, that's why the importance of having good internet connections is essential.

We only do ground transportation or other activities that are available via the collaborative economy, creating an added value to the travel experience – but also just making it easier: your phone does all the work for you.

And, needless to say, we photograph, video record, and then post on social media absolutely every aspect of the experience. This is important as this approach shapes the way we wish to experience something – if there’s not automatic Instagram friendly photo opportunity along the way, many of us will be disappointed no matter how great the experience itself. Equally, for the providers of these travel experiences they need to consider the potential for free marketing offered by all these generation Z customers.

Perhaps more than any other generation, the Gen Z, has a traveling spirit. We want to know new places, have jobs where we are allowed to travel, live new experiences and meet new people. Given the wide gap between millennials and generation Z, and the enormous distance between baby boomers and generation Z, travel industry companies should place much more importance on knowing what they do, how they communicate and where they go.

Maybe consider inviting this age group to come and experience your brand and provide feedback? In some cases, some brands might find that there are no willing participants for even a free experience: concerns about sustainability issues or political objections to the destination are not uncommon amongst some. Now that would be quite revealing, wouldn´t it?

Whilst Z might be the last letter in the alphabet, clearly further generations will come after us. But the moment we are, quite literally, the future. Make your journey our journey and we´ll be happy customers. But if you don’t, we´ll find our own way to travel.

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Travel services for younger audiences are all about Y…and not enough about Z

By Antonia Aguiló

The epic journey of Odysseus to return home after the Trojan wars took a mere 10 years. So what do you call a 15 year journey – one quite literally focusing on nothing more than travel itself?

That’s how old Bedsonline is this year and we’ve certainly not been travelling without moving. But the travel landscape has evolved beyond recognition and only by understanding those changes can we truly understand how Bedsonline came into existence and has developed.

Nonetheless, the concept of going on a holiday hasn’t really changed in the last 15 years. There’s still the aspiration, the need to fund it, planning, book, and travel. Once there, there’s the requirement to eat and sleep and the desire to explore. Sights such as the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum in Rome, or even Disneyland Resort haven’t gone out of fashion. And yet subtle and continual shifts have altered the travel experience in some very big ways.

To understand how it all began, however, we need to go back even further. The introduction of the internet turned an entire industry on its head as new brands emerged to take advantage of it. Going backwards in time, in 1996, inspired in part by US carrier Southwest, in Europe easyJet and Ryanair changed the European airline industry forever with their take on the low-cost airline model.

Then in 1999 some companies known as ‘metasearchers’ appeared on the scene with a different slant on the online travel shopping experience: travel search engines which collected fares from booking sites (agencies, airlines, hotels). In 2000 TripAdvisor was born and it is still by far the biggest social travel site on the web; it was (and still is) incredibly simple – travellers left reviews of hotels, fellow travellers found the reviews and could make a decision on whether to stay at a property based on what they'd read.

Responding to this rapidly changing environment, in 2004 a group of less than ten people within Hotelbeds started an amazing project called Bedsonline. The offering was simple: an intuitive website for travel agencies where they could book any accommodation in just three steps.

Originally Bedsonline was launched for the Spanish market only, focused on those travelling to the Spanish beach resorts. But over time Bedsonline has included more destinations, currently reaching up to 185, and more than 50,000 travel agents from over 100 source markets around the world now make their bookings through the platform. Bedsonline has also included more and more product non-accommodation products and now has 18,000 activities, 24,000 transfers, and +5,000 rent-a-car suppliers on the platform.

Bedsonline’s start wasn’t as smooth and simple as its subsequent success would indicate. Internet usage wasn’t that widespread for travel agencies and most of them still used to send a fax to modify a booking. That was how technology was fifteen years ago!

Nonetheless, after the formula for success was developed in Spain, the company exported the model to the Dominican Republic in 2004, and Portugal, Mexico and Costa Rica in 2005.

Meanwhile, in 2006 Facebook started to become popular and a new concept in the online travel experience began: sharing. Over time travellers turned to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as platforms to show off where they had been or were planning to go on holiday to their community of friends and followers. One year later Apple announced its iPhone and gave&nbsp;users reliable and easy-to-navigate access to the web via their handsets. This had a huge influence on what became the start of travel services on mobile devices.&nbsp;

Whilst it comes as a surprise to many, here and now in 2019&nbsp; the travel agency model still persists. In fact there are those who see its digitalisation as an opportunity, not a threat, and their businesses are flourishing. They embrace the belief that it is the responsibility of travel agencies to empower themselves with the best tools of the trade, and communicate their expertise to those considering the ‘do it yourself’ (DIY) approach.

The travel agencies of tomorrow must be armed with the most powerful travel management technology available. That’s why Bedsonline offers to travel agents globally great benefits to help them to grow: a powerful and user-friendly technology which is a best-in-class search engine, designed specifically for their needs, that allows users to filter and compare results in a flexible and practical way, including intuitive email and PDF functions.

Here’s to the journey the travel industry will make over the next 15 years – and the role that Bedsonline will play making sure travel agents get their customers the best hotels, transfers and activities during every step of the trip!

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 A journey 15 years in the making: Bedsonline’s trip through travel


	Approximately 90% of Hotelbeds’ 170,000 hotel partners have now gained significantly expanded distribution reach – following the acquisitions of Tourico Holidays and GTA.
	Hotelbeds committed to providing complementary and high-value guests for hoteliers through network of over 60,000 travel intermediaries globally.
	Integration of Tourico Holidays and GTA is now almost complete.


Palma, February 12, 2019. Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, has today provided a further update on the final stages of the integration of Tourico Holidays and GTA into its bedbank platform.

As of the close of January approximately 90% of the company’s existing 170,000 hotel partners are now gaining access to all of the company’s 60,000 travel buying intermediaries across the portfolio of Hotelbeds’ brands. This follows a process of unifying all hotel partners onto one new and unique contract. The process began in last year and involved working with hotel partners who were working with one or more of the three bedbank brands – Tourico Holidays, GTA, and Hotelbeds – prior to Tourico Holidays and GTA joining Hotelbeds in 2017.&nbsp;

Under the new contracts hotels are now able to distribute their accommodation under the same terms and conditions, whilst additionally benefiting from standardized and centralized processes for billing and account management.

Bringing all its hotel partners onto one contract forms part of the Hotelbeds strategy to find ever simpler and more efficient means to offer its hotel partners bookings that don’t compete with the direct channel.

Hotelbeds is now able to offer hotels a larger and wider range of travel buying intermediaries that has increased to more than 60,000 worldwide. This includes airlines, loyalty programs, traditional travel agencies and tour operators – all of whom offer high-value guests that book further in advance, cancel less, pay more for a room, spend more in destination, and return more often.

Carlos Muñoz, Managing Director Bedbank at Hotelbeds, comments: “Crossing the 90% threshold is yet another milestone in the creation of the world’s leading bedbank – in fact it is actually a very important landmark, as we are now nearing the end of the whole process of integrating Tourico Holidays and GTA into Hotelbeds: the unified teams are in place, we’ve consolidated the brands, and we’ve almost completed bringing everything onto one technology stack too.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“This means we are now giving our hotel partners access to all of our 60,000 travel buying intermediaries under the same terms and conditions, whilst also simplifying their billing and account management. In short, we now offer – by a significant measure – the simplest and most cost-effective accommodation distribution solution in a market that is very fragmented. “We are committed to proving our hotel partners with complementary bookings and increased value by offering access to non-competing sales channels such as airlines, points-redemption schemes, tour operators, and high-street travel agents – channels that provide guests who book further in advance, cancel less, pay more, spend more in-destination, and come back more often.”

This news forms part of Hotelbeds’ strategy to fully integrate Tourico Holidays and GTA into Hotelbeds to form one enhanced bedbank.

Since acquiring Tourico Holidays and GTA in 2017 the process of integration has now almost finished: &nbsp;


	Throughout 2018 the newly revised management structure was announced, combining the best talent from Tourico Holidays, GTA and Hotelbeds – including the creation of a Product Management department.
	In April Hotelbeds announced that going forward it would focus only on its strategic bedbank core by disposing of its incoming services division, called Destination Management, for 110 million euros.
	During 2018 the company was also transitioning the bedbanks across onto one technology platform and the process is now almost complete.&nbsp;
	In September 2018 the consolidation of the company’s retail brands under Bedsonline was announced, along with the launch of a refreshed Bedsonline identity and updated platform.
	The consolidation of all the brands of the wholesale channel —GTA, Tourico Holidays and Hotelbeds— under the name of ‘Hotelbeds’ was announced in October, phasing out the Tourico Holidays and GTA brands.
	Additionally the decision was announced to phase out the ‘Group’ reference when speaking about the company as a whole, to become simply ‘Hotelbeds’.


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About Hotelbeds 

Hotelbeds is the world´s leading bedbank.

The company’s proprietary technology helps providers of travel services distribute their offering to travel sellers globally via an easy-to-use, advanced technology platform that increases reach, revenue and yield for both the provider and the seller.

Operating under the Hotelbeds brand in the wholesale channel and the Bedsonline brand in the travel agents channel, the company connects over 60,000 travel intermediaries across more than 140 source markets globally with travel providers in over 185 countries representing more than 170,000 hotels, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities.

In September 2016, the company became independent under the ownership of Cinven and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). In June 2017, Tourico Holidays became part of Hotelbeds, followed by GTA also joining the company in October of the same year.

The company is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Follow us on:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds

Twitter: @Hotelbeds

Facebook: Hotelbeds

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Media contacts

Roman Townsend

rtownsend@hotelbeds.com

+34 619988580


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Hotelbeds significantly expands access to high-value distribution for hotel partners

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