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When discussing the world’s most visited place, it seems that whether you are talking about the past, present or future the city doesn´t change. Paris you say, or perhaps London or Rome?

Not by a long way. Recently Hong Kong again took the title of the world’s most visited city in Euromonitor’s annual Top 100 City Destinations Ranking – for the ninth consecutive year.

Hong Kong has claimed the title with 30 million international visitors in 2018. London hangs is in third place, with just under 21 million international tourists expected, Paris, with 16.9 million, and Rome, with 9.7 million are far behind and must make do with sixth place and 15th place, respectively.

How can this be? In part Hong Kong remains the top city in the world as it benefits from its strategic geographic location and relationship with China, boosting not just leisure tourism but also business vistors with commercial trading links.

It will be helped too by a uptick in visitor numbers expected, especially from the mainland, due to two new cross-border transport links that opened last year, making access between mainland China and Hong Kong even easier. The first of these transport links is the world’s longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macau. The second is an express rail link to Guangzhou (a city with a mere 13 million residents).

Generally though it is obvious why tourists might be attracted to the city. Hong Kong is known for its incredible atmosphere – it really is an Eastern New York, a city that never sleeps. Combining Eastern and Western cultures across 263 islands, this exotic blend of marine culture, rural greenery, mountains and impressive skyscrapers helped make Hong Kong the world’s most visited city last year.

Despite standing still in the rankings, in many respects Hong Kong is actually achieving that by evolving. The ranking showed that six out of the top 10 most visited cities are in Asia, with Hong Kong and Bangkok as the top two performers and with Singapore, Macau, Kuala Lumpur and Shenzhen in the global top 10. More generally, Asia continues its rise, accounting for 41 out of the top 100 cities globally in 2018, up by four.

This is why at Hotelbeds we have been had a deep presence in Asia Pacific for many years, with a hub office in Singapore and over 200 employees just in China. In fact, the Chinese source market for us is our fourth biggest globally – and many of those Chinese travellers are visiting Hong Kong.

Let’s see what new things this forthcoming year is bound to bring us in the world of tourism. But if the past is a reliable indicator of the future, it really would seem that for some years to come all paths will lead to Hong Kong.&nbsp;


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Somehow in the fast moving world of tourism the world’s most visited city stands still

By Sam Turner, Wholesale Sales &amp; Sourcing Director, Hotelbeds&nbsp;(article first published as an opinion piece by Travolution on 25 January)

Language barrier or cultural differences: which of these is the single biggest challenge for a European or North American hotel chain trying to attract Chinese travelers?

This week in China marks the Year of the Pig and perhaps hoteliers should give more thought to a fatter problem: technology.

Technology is a major barrier for hoteliers when dealing with the Chinese market. 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). And they don´t have Uber anymore, instead they use something called Didi.

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.

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.

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;

For inspiration on what to do for your own channels, Western hoteliers should have a close look at what the leading Chinese hotel groups such as Mandarin Oriental and Wanda are doing on their social media channels.

To discover how not to do things, we only need look at the Dolce &amp; Gabbana advertising campaign that backfired massively last year. As consumers boycotted their goods, retailers withdrew them from sale. An important lesson must be learned here: local cultural sensitivities must be respected at your peril – so getting local support and advice is key before conceiving, let alone launching, any campaigns.

For us at Hotelbeds we´ve been deeply involved in the Chinese market for many years and have over 250 local employees, including an operations team. In fact, already China has become our fourth biggest source market globally and is still growing fast.

Our success has in part been achieved by embracing these technology changes and working with our hotel partners to help them adjust their offering accordingly – almost 3% of all Chinese inbound hotel reservations for the American market now flow via our platform, thanks to an internal team we have dedicated to sourcing ‘China-ready’ hotels for this corridor. By partnering with us we allow hoteliers a quick and cost-effective route into the Chinese market, without having to create their own local sales teams, social media presence or customer support teams.

These challenges will only get worse as Chinese travelers begin to travel less in groups and on pre-paid package trips, and instead travel alone – a trend which Japanese travelers followed from the 1980s onwards. Technology could enable this, and right now it is not in many cases.

Last year in China it was the Year of the Dog, and whilst some Western tourism organisations continued to make a mess of the situation, signs of improvement have been noticed. For example in Spain travellers can now claim their Duty Free Tax Refund at the airport using AliPay.

This time round it is the Year of the Pig and I truly believe that if more hoteliers continue adapting to Chinese technology they’ll be able to bring home the bacon, year after year. &nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

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Will Chinese technology give hoteliers a fat problem this Year of the Pig?


	
	Top five international countries for Chinese travellers during Chinese New Year 2019 are, in descending order, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States. *
	
	
	Trend for Chinese travellers visiting a wider range of countries continues, with hotels in 102 countries reserved, up from 88 last year.
	
	
	Around 7 million Chinese travellers are expected to venture abroad during this year’s holiday festival.
	


&nbsp;

Shanghai, China – January 30, 2019 – Hotelbeds, the world´s leading bedbank, has today revealed the top international destinations for Chinese travellers during the seven day Chinese New Year holiday period starting on Monday, February 4th.

According to booking data from the Hotelbeds platform for this year’s break, Thailand is the most popular destination, with Japan and Singapore ranked second and thirdly respectively. These are followed, in descending order, by Malaysia, the United States, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, and South Korea.

Whilst Spain and Italy have this year dropped out of the top ten countries, replaced by Vietnam and South Korea, nonetheless the two remain popular with Chinese tourists and come in at eleventh and twelfth place this year.

Additionally, a trend for Chinese travellers visiting a wider range of countries continues, with Chinese travellers booking hotels through the Hotelbeds bedbank platform in 102 countries during the Chinese New Year holiday period, up from 88 last year.

China remains the number one source market in the wholesale channel for Hotelbeds in Asia Pacific and is now the 4th biggest for Hotelbeds globally, where Hotelbeds offers Chinese travel intermediaries – such as tour operators, airlines, points redemption schemes, and retail travel agents – access to over 170,000 hotels, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, available in over 185 countries.

Sam Turner, Wholesale Sales &amp; Sourcing Director at Hotelbeds, said, “Already Chinese travellers have become the number one travel market globally and this is only set to grow significantly as the Chinese economy grows, whilst more and more Chinese people seek travel experiences abroad. Overseas travel during the traditional Chinese New Year is a different form of family festive activity. Many people take advantage of a week-long holiday by booking medium-to long-haul trips to popular international destinations, including Japan, Australia, the US, Southeast Asia and Europe.

“We have worked hard for many years to adapt our hotel portfolio to reflect the preferences of Chinese travellers, whether that be by the types of accommodation they prefer or in the booking process itself, and feel that our success reflects that. On behalf of Hotelbeds, I wish our business partners and colleagues in China a very happy Chinese New Year!”

Hui-Wan Chua, APAC Regional Director for Wholesale Sales at Hotelbeds, said, “I am very satisfied that demand for Chinese outbound travel is being fulfilled by Hotelbeds’ enhanced portfolio with over 170,000 hotels globally in over 185 countries. In fact, already&nbsp;more than&nbsp;2% of all US hotels reserved by Chinese travellers flows via our system and we’re growing rapidly still.

“Understanding Chinese cultural needs is the key to attracting Chinese tourists and we are speaking with our travel intermediary customers in China to explain to them how they will benefit from our ‘China ready’ sourcing strategy. Whilst at the same time we keep communicating with our hotel sourcing teams worldwide to help them understand Chinese customers’ needs.”

The Chinese New Year holiday, also known as ‘Spring Festival’, is a seven-day national holiday in China that takes place from Monday February 4th to Sunday February 10th. The date of the Chinese New Year varies each year, according to China’s lunar calendar, and last year fell on February 16th.

According to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), a total of 6.5 million Chinese mainland tourists travelled aboard during the seven-day Chinese New Year holiday in 2018, with that figure set to increase to 7 million this year.

* All figures quoted in this press release are based on bookings made via the Hotelbeds booking platform. 

&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.

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 contact

Instinctif Partners 

Yuki Yu · yuki.yu@instinctif.com

Tel: +86 21 6441 6701

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Media 

Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Wei Wang · whitney.wang@hotelbeds.com


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Hotelbeds reveals top international destinations for Chinese travellers during Chinese New Year

&nbsp;


	Bedsonline celebrates 15 years of success in a private event attended by 300 agents.
	Spain, the founding market for Bedsonline, is the main market globally for the company with more than 8,000 affiliated clients.
	Bedsonline showcases its new brand identity and a more powerful booking platform to meet customers’ needs.


&nbsp;

Palma, 28th January 2019.- Bedsonline, the leading accommodation and complementary services supplier, celebrated last Thursday 15 years of success in a private event for clients.

The event, held on the fringes of FITUR (the international tourism fair held in Madrid, Spain), brought together more than 300 travel agents from all over the country at a private dinner.

Bedsonline leveraged the occasion to confirm its leadership position in the Spanish source market – its founding market – which still remains the main market globally for the company.

This leading position in the market is due mainly to the large and diverse portfolio – with over 170,000 hotels around the world, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities – offered to its customers, a powerful and easy-to-use technology platform and a specialized knowledge combined with a strong local commercial team.

Alistair Rodger, Retail Travel Agents Director of Hotelbeds, stated: ‘‘Today we celebrate an important milestone for the company: 15 years of history in the retail channel. We started our journey in Spain – which as of today is still our main market – and, after the formula for success was developed in the country, we exported the model to the Dominican Republic in 2004, and Portugal, Mexico and Costa Rica in 2005. Nowadays, more than 50,000 travel agents from over 100 source markets around the world make their bookings through our platform. Today we are showcasing in FITUR our new brand identity and a strengthened product portfolio after the consolidation of Tourico Holidays and GTA (TravelCube and TravelBound) into our platform, and the consolidation of all brands into Bedsonline identity.

Carlos Feliu, Sales Director for Iberia, UK and Ireland of Bedsonline, commented: ‘‘After 15 years of success and growth, we have managed to consolidate our leadership position in the country in the retail niche, confirming once again that Spain is our main source market globally, with more than 8,000 local agents booking through our platform.

‘‘I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our affiliated travel agents for their loyalty and support during all these years. Looking ahead to the next 15 years, our mission is to leverage our strong and powerful product portfolio after the inclusion of Tourico Holidays and GTA into the Bedsonline platform.’’

Likewise, the company used the occasion to showcase the recently renewed brand image – revealed in September– and to offer details on the new and enlarged product portfolio. This strategy has allowed Bedsonline not only to strengthen the offer, but also to provide a new 360º solution that improves the experience of travel agents.

The new Bedsonline platform now offers to travel agents globally the following benefits:


	Diverse and competitive product portfolio: over 170,000 hotels globally available (with over 90,000 of those directly sourced, making the content both unique and competitively priced), 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, PLUS 140,000 cars available for hire – all sourced by a team of over 1,000 contractors globally.
	Powerful and user-friendly technology: 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, including intuitive email and PDF functions – 70% of existing customers cite the platform as a top factor in choosing the service. Bedsonline’s parent Group is the only distributor to operate its own cloud-based, open source data centre and handles up to 3 billion searches per day.
	Local knowledge combined with a global offering: local sales teams in every market with significant local knowledge and industry know-how ready to take care of all the needs of customers.


&nbsp;

About Bedsonline

Bedsonline&nbsp;is the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary travel products that exclusively caters to travel agents. It distributes through its online platform accommodation, excursions, tickets and transfers to more than 50,000 travel agencies with sales teams in over 40 countries covering over 100 markets globally.

The company stands out for its extensive portfolio – over 170,000 hotels in 185 destinations, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities – to offer a personalized local service through an intuitive and easy-to-use online booking tool. In this way, Bedsonline guarantees high availability and competitive prices to the great satisfaction of its clients.

The business-to-business online provider 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 position of advantage in the industry.

Bedsonline is part of Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, and is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Media Relations and Corporate Affairs

Anna Monreal

amonreal@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;

&nbsp;


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Bedsonline celebrates 15th anniversary

&nbsp;


	The world’s leading bedbank offers new connectivity features on its MaxiRoom extranet
	Increase of users of more than 100% in the last three years, with more than 60,000 hotels connected to Hotelbeds through technological platforms or integrations
	This launch is part of global strategy of Hotelbeds, aimed at increasing value for hotel partners
	MaxiRoom is a Hotelbeds extranet, aimed at hotel providers to maximize distribution
	&nbsp;


Palma, January 24, 2019. Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, has today at FITUR (the international tourism fair held in Madrid, Spain), the launching of new features for MaxiRoom, the free hotel extranet designed to maximize hotel occupancy through Hotelbeds’ distribution channels.&nbsp;

Hotelbeds will now be the first bedbank offering on its hotelier extranet functionalities that allow the visualization of fares and availability in real time for any hotel, be it a hotel chain or an individual hotel, which is linked to Hotelbeds through connectivity. This functionality will ease and speed up product communication and optimization.

This new functionality is a step forward in the relationship with hotels since it offers greater visibility of their inventory, which allows them to detect opportunities and make adjustments through connectivity. This improvement, together with all the functionalities offered by the tool, allows Hotelbeds to work hand-in-hand with hoteliers to have better and more competitive conditions for customers.&nbsp;

Today more than 60,000 out of the 170,000 hoteliers who work with the bedbank have been connected to Hotelbeds through either technology platforms or direct integrations. The figure of 60,000 has been doubled in the last three years, which reflects, once again, Hotelbeds’ commitment to connectivity by becoming a crucial part of the business.

Following the integration of Tourico Holidays and GTA in 2017, Hotelbeds focused part of its strategy on expanding the value proposition offered to its hotel partners. Hotelbeds is focused more than ever on supporting the distribution needs of hoteliers connected to its platform to sell its rooms to a more international client profile formed by a portfolio of more than 60,000 travel intermediaries worldwide, including airlines, loyalty programs, travel agencies and tour operators.

Adam Krzciuk Kuna, Head of Supplier Connectivity Partnerships, comments: “In recent years connectivity has become a key part of the business, and as a leading bedbank we are firmly convinced that connectivity is a vital part of the future of the tourism sector. That’s the reason why we have worked on numerous developments and improvements like the ones we are announcing today.

“We are the first distributer to offer a screen where hoteliers can check the availability and connectivity rates that have with us at every moment. That is a great milestone for hotels that work according to the supplier integration model, and with it Hotelbeds continues leading the way. Our hotel partners, both large global chains, such as Hilton, or independent hotels, who have relied on us and have been connected to our system, will benefit from having the information in a more transparent and updated way at any time.”

MaxiRoom is the Hotelbeds free hotel extranet that was launched in 2015 and is designed to control and maximize the distribution of properties in a faster, smarter and easier way. Created to improve usability and functionality, MaxiRoom offers hoteliers greater autonomy and control to help their partners optimize their market performance and Hotelbeds’ distribution channels.

Other features of MaxiRoom include:

• Interactive calendar where hoteliers can make rate and room type changes.

• An intuitive content management system designed to easily update the quality of information, images and offers.

• A tool that allows to quickly and easily make massive changes in availability and price by product range or by room type.

• Smart alerts that notify hotel partners about dates that have been left unavailable, incomplete descriptions or lack of images so they can improve their showcase on the platform.

• A promotions manager that allows hoteliers to launch their own offers directly any time and in a dynamic way.

MaxiRoom helps hoteliers to be more competitive, since it offers information about their performance in comparison with their local competitors, and allows them to make decisions to improve their offer and their contents in order to optimize their productivity. In addition, the platform also provides hoteliers with the necessary information to make decisions about their pricing strategy thanks to the easy access to information on their products by source market and distribution channel.

The hotels that work with Hotelbeds have access to more than 60,000 tour operators, airlines, point redemption programs, loyalty plans, and MICE operators from more than 140 source markets.

In October, the company announced the consolidation of all the brands of the wholesale channel —GTA, Tourico Holidays and Hotelbeds— under the name of Hotelbeds, phasing out the Tourico Holidays and GTA brands. With this, Hotelbeds Group and its wholesale trademark are now simply known as 'Hotelbeds'.

&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.

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 

PR, Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Antonia Aguiló · a.aguilo@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;


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Hotelbeds launches new features on its hotel extranet

By Antonia Aguiló 

Today in Madrid sees the kick-off of the 39th edition of FITUR, the international tourism trade fair that takes place from the 23rd- 27th&nbsp;January.

The three-day exhibition is renowned for attracting the largest global representation of industry professionals due to its strategic position as the first industry event in the calendar each year.

Last year’s official theme was technology, but what’s on the agenda this year? Sustainability is the topic on everyone’s lips this time, and it’s official.

But why is sustainability so important for the travel industry? Well the fact is that tourism represents around 5% of global emissions, with 4% of them generated by transport and 1% by the accommodation sector. And, rightly so, travelers are becoming increasingly aware of this.

From a hotel reservations and booking perspective, ‘travel with a conscience’ will play an ever more important key role in the coming years for those providing and selling hotel accommodation. For sure Millennials and Generation Z will happily spend more on smart destinations, sustainable activities and green hotels.

As Spain’s most important travel trade show FITUR can lead the way on debating an important topic such as this, bringing together thousands of international exhibitors and top decision makers from across the travel industry in the Europe, Latin American and beyond.

This year FITUR expects to generate more than 325 million euros in revenues for the local economy and surpass the 251,000 attendees – with a massive140,000 of them professionals &nbsp;– &nbsp;who attended last year. In total there will be 886 exhibitors, 8.3% more than in 2018, and a total of 10,487 companies attending from 165 countries and Spanish regions.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how FITUR 2019 will bring the sustainability theme to the forefront along with visiting our many industry partners who are exhibiting at the show. Hope to see you there!

&nbsp;


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 This year FITUR is set to be bigger, stronger and greener than ever


	Bookings increases of up to 80% in some countries and requests from customers prompt Bedsonline to extend +3% commission promotion to end of January
	Campaign was originally to celebrate the holidays with a sales boost for customers by offering +3% commission campaign on all accommodation sales
	Promotion follows recent news that sister brands TravelCube, TravelBound and GTA’s retail offering will join the Bedsonline platform


&nbsp;

Palma, Spain, 23rd January 2019. Bedsonline, the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary products exclusively for travel agents, has today announced the extension of its +3% commission campaign for customers worldwide

Following substantial year-on-year increases in sales volumes of up to 80% in some countries and an overwhelmingly positive reaction from customers, Bedsonline has taken the decision to extend the promotion until the end of January.

The campaign originally began on 17th December to celebrate the holiday period and was intended to finish on New Year’s Eve, but was initially extended until 17 January due to unanticipated and enormous popularity.

The promotion is open to all travel agents worldwide that work with Bedsonline on a commissionable basis. These eligible agents will receive an extra 3% commission, on top of their regular commission, for all accommodation bookings made via the Bedsonline website for any date on any destination worldwide.

This news comes after Bedsonline’s decision that all the retail platforms (GTA, TravelCube and Travelbound) would be discontinued by the end of January in nearly all of its markets following the decision announced in September 2018 that Bedsonline’s sister companies will join the Bedsonline platform and brand.

Alistair Rodger, Retail Travel Agents Director at Hotelbeds, said: “In the last week there has been a significant jump in bookings – in some cases as high as 80% – in markets that were closed for the Christmas period, such as Spain, and only reopened in the second week of January.

“As such markets do not have the same peak booking period that agents in northern Europe see immediately following Christmas, we have now become convinced of the genuine popularity of this initiative and felt duty bound to continue it until the end of January.

“Additionally, I´m very pleased to confirm that this promotion has prompted the last remaining travel agents from our legacy brands – TravelBound, TravelCube and GTA – to move over to the Bedsonline platform during the last few weeks.

“In nearly all of our markets we will shut down booking capabilities at the end of January. &nbsp;So ensuring that all agents from TravelBound, TravelCube and GTA have smoothly transitioned onto the new Bedsonline platform is essential for us. Old bookings will be modifiable, of course, but all new bookings have to take place on the new Bedsonline website.

“We’re almost complete now, but for those few agents who have not yet made the change, contact your account manager and they´ll explain how get the incentive available for the first three bookings.”

The new and enchanced Bedsonline platform – which incorporates the accommodation portfolio and best features of the TravelCube, TravelBound and GTA retail brand offering – provides travel agents globally with the following benefits:


	Diverse and competitive product portfolio: over 170,000 hotels globally available (with over 90,000 of those directly sourced, making the content both unique and competitively priced), 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, PLUS 140,000 cars available for hire – all sourced by a team of over 1,000 contractors globally.
	&nbsp;
	Powerful and user-friendly technology: 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, including intuitive email and PDF functions – 70% of existing customers cite the platform as a top factor in choosing the service. Bedsonline’s parent Group is the only distributor to operate its own cloud-based, open source data centre and handles up to 1.5 billion searches per day.
	&nbsp;
	Local knowledge combined with a global offering: local sales teams in every market with significant local knowledge and industry know-how ready to take care of all the needs of customers.


&nbsp;

&nbsp;

About Bedsonline

Bedsonline&nbsp;is the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary travel products that exclusively caters to travel agents. It distributes through its online platform accommodation, excursions, tickets and transfers to more than 50,000 travel agencies with sales teams in over 40 countries covering over 100 markets globally.

The company stands out for its extensive portfolio – over 170,000 hotels in 185 destinations, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities – to offer a personalized local service through an intuitive and easy-to-use online booking tool. In this way, Bedsonline guarantees high availability and competitive prices to the great satisfaction of its clients.

The business-to-business online provider 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 position of advantage in the industry.

Bedsonline is part of Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, and is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Media Relations and Corporate Affairs

Anna Monreal

amonreal@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


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Bedsonline further extends +3% commission promotion due to unprecedented demand

&nbsp;


	Tras confirmar su recuperación, Turquía consigue escalar cuatro posiciones hasta posicionarse como el décimo destino europeo más demandado por los españoles.
	El mercado doméstico sigue siendo la primera opción para el emisor español.
	Internacionalmente en 2018 Bedsonline renovó su oferta y plataforma con la inclusión del alojamiento de TravelCube, TravelBound y GTA


&nbsp;

Palma, 17 de enero de 2019. Bedsonline, el proveedor líder de viajes exclusivo para agentes de viajes, ha dado a conocer hoy, a pocos días de la feria internacional de Turismo FITUR, sus datos de reserva del emisor español a cierre de 2018. 

La compañía confirma el afianzamiento de Turquía como destino para los turistas españoles, tras anunciar su recuperación hace poco más de un año. Según datos del mayorista, Turquía ha conseguido recuperar cuatro posiciones en el ranking global de reservas de Bedsonline hasta posicionarse como el décimo destino europeo más reservado por los españoles.&nbsp;

Los datos de reserva de la plataforma también confirman que, una vez más, el mercado doméstico es el número uno de los españoles para viajar siendo la zona occidental y las islas canarias los lugares más reservados. Le siguen en el ránking del top cinco, por orden, Estados Unidos, Francia, Italia y el Reino Unido.

Carlos Feliu, director de Bedsonline para Iberia, Reino Unido e Irlanda comenta: “Tras confirmar hace poco más de un año signos de recuperación de Turquía como destino, encaramos FITUR confirmando su plena recuperación como lugar vacacional. De hecho, este año ya es el décimo destino europeo más demandado por los españoles a través de la plataforma de Bedsonline y el catorceavo a nivel mundial.

“Este año ha sido, también, un año de grandes éxitos para Bedsonline, donde hace apenas medio año consolidamos la oferta de Bedsonline, TravelCube, TravelBound y GTA bajo una nueva identidad de marca a la vez que integramos todo el producto de GTA y Tourico Holidays en la plataforma de Bedsonline. Encaramos FITUR con una marca más potente, un portfolio de producto más extenso y una plataforma tecnológica acorde con las necesidades de nuestros clientes.”

La nueva plataforma&nbsp;Bedsonline&nbsp;–que ahora incorpora el portfolio de alojamiento y las mejores características de la oferta de&nbsp;TravelCube,&nbsp;TravelBound&nbsp;y GTA– ofrece&nbsp;actualmente&nbsp;a las agencias de viajes&nbsp;de todo el mundo&nbsp;los siguientes beneficios:&nbsp;


	Cartera de productos variada y competitiva: más de 170.000 hoteles disponibles a nivel mundial (90.000 de ellos contratados directamente, lo que permite que sea contenido único y con precios competitivos), 24.000 rutas de traslados y 18.000 actividades, además de 140.000 vehículos de alquiler disponibles —todo ello gracias a un equipo de más de 1.000 personas encargadas de contratar en todo el mundo.&nbsp;
	Tecnología potente y de fácil uso: el mejor motor de búsqueda diseñado específicamente para satisfacer las necesidades de las agencias de viajes. Permite a los usuarios filtrar y comparar resultados de una manera flexible y práctica, incluyendo funciones intuitivas de correo electrónico y PDF —el 70% de los clientes menciona que la plataforma es uno de los factores principales a la hora de escoger Bedsonline. El grupo matriz de Bedsonline es el único distribuidor que opera su propio centro de datos de código abierto basado en la nube y gestiona hasta 1.500 millones de búsquedas al día.&nbsp;
	Conocimiento local combinado con una oferta global: equipos de ventas locales en cada mercado con un profundo conocimiento tanto a nivel local como de la industria, y con el objetivo de atender todas las necesidades de sus clientes.


&nbsp;

Sobre Bedsonline

Bedsonline es el proveedor global líder de acomodación y productos complementarios exclusivo para agencias de viaje. A través de su plataforma online distribuye su producto -acomodación, excursiones, tickets y traslados- entre una cartera de clientes compuesta por más de 50.000 agencias de viajes con equipos de ventas en más de 40 países y que cubren más de 100 mercados en todo el mundo. En España, 8.000 agencias confían en Bedsonline para hacer sus reservas.

La compañía destaca por su extenso portfolio –más de 170.000 hoteles en 185 destinos, 24.000 rutas de traslados y 18.000 actividades– para ofrecer un servicio personalizado local a través de una herramienta de reserva online intuitiva y fácil de usar. De esta manera, Bedsonline garantiza una alta disponibilidad, precios competitivos y una elevada satisfacción de sus clientes.

La mayorista, líder de la distribución online, ha centrado su estrategia en los últimos años en la expansión por nuevos mercados de Europa, América y Asia, como Alemania, República Checa, México, Estados Unidos, Colombia, China, Japón o Filipinas. Esta visión estratégica ha llevado a la compañía a ocupar una posición de ventaja en la industria.

Bedsonline forma parte de Hotelbeds Group, el banco de camas líder mundial, con sede en Palma de Mallorca.

&nbsp;

Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Anna Monreal

amonreal@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


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Turquía se consolida como destino para los turistas españoles

For those not involved in the world of commerce, B2B sounds like a boy band or brand of headphones. So if you work in the B2B travel sector, small talk at a Sunday lunch with your mother-in-law can be daunting.

Using the term ‘travel technology’ can get even more confusing. Someone who designs suitcases or the seating on airplanes? Or maybe fixing the broken radar or computers on jumbo jets?

But when you try another tack and say ‘behind-the-scenes’, they imagine something physically behind-the-scenes – perhaps working on the luggage conveyer belt behind the check-in, or at best someone in accounts payable back in the head office of a hotel.

Even when they work out that you aren´t a bell boy or tour guide, friends and family still keep asking you for holiday tips or, worst of all, discounts for flights or hotels.

It’s perhaps understandable that the average person can only conjure up images of consumer brands. But why do business people, and even people in the travel industry, still focus on this one area?

From an economic perspective, they couldn´t be more wrong. B2B services are where the money is at. For example, did you know that the market capitalization of many of the biggest hotels or airlines in Europe is still way less than travel technology firms such as Amadeus?

A well-known venture capital investor for the travel space once commented on how frustrating it was that 9 out of 10 ideas pitched to them were for consumer services, despite such businesses tending to be much lower profit margins than B2B.

Even when you look at the speaker line-ups for industry conferences, you would have the impression too that B2C is really the more dominant sphere.

Nonetheless, opinions on B2B are starting to shift as technology is creating more B2B opportunities than ever before.

Recently at World Travel Market (WTM) in London they recognized this shift and created a whole new area called Travel Forward, with its own conference stage too, dedicated to technology. Step forward hundreds of channel managers, API connectivity, GDSs, payments processors, inventory systems, revenue management tools and most importantly, of course, our sector: bedbanks. There was a whole world of successful technology companies to be found.

That’s why at Hotelbeds we are 100% focused on the B2B market only: we know our strengths and focus on our core offering. It gives us a great sense of achievement to have built the world’s largest and best bedbank. Since Tourico Holidays and GTA joined us in 2017, we’ve been busy bringing the companies together into one offering for our travel intermediary clients and hotel suppliers.&nbsp;

Late last year we announced that from now on we´ll be just one brand and we’ve launched a new brand image to match this.&nbsp; This reflects that at Hotelbeds we are proud to be behind-the-scenes, dedicated to helping our B2B partners increase margins and allowing them to focus on what they in turn do best: managing the relationship with travellers.

Consumers might be the final stop on the travel industry journey. But as the growth of B2B players and travel technology partners shows, consumers are not the only destination along the way.


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Are travellers the only destination on the travel map?


	Overwhelming success of the promotion obliges Bedsonline to remind customers that only one week is left to enjoy the +3% extra commission
	To celebrate the holidays with a sales boost for customers, Bedsonline recently extended until 17 January its +3% commission campaign on all accommodation sales
	The campaign has also driven more customers of Bedsonline’s sister brands to transition over – following recent decision to consolidate onto one platform&nbsp;


&nbsp;

Palma, 11th January 2019. Bedsonline, the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary products exclusively for travel agents, has today provided an update on the overwhelming success of its holiday season +3% commission campaign for customers worldwide.

Due to enormous popularity the campaign, which began on 17th December, was recently extended until 17th January 2019 and overall has exceeded all expectations, increasing year-on-year sales substantially across markets globally.

All travel agents worldwide that work with Bedsonline on a commissionable basis are eligible and receive an extra 3% commission, on top of their regular commission, for all accommodation bookings made in any destination worldwide for any dates via the Bedsonline website.

The company can additionally confirm that, as a result of this drive, the number of travel agents from Bedsonline’s sister brands registering for the platform has increased significantly.

This follows news announced in September 2018 that Bedsonline’s sister companies, TravelCube, TravelBound and GTA’s retail brand would all become part of the Bedsonline platform and brand, with customer migration now almost complete.

Alistair Rodger, Retail Travel Agents Director at Hotelbeds, said: “We always expected a positive reaction to this +3% commission campaign, but the reaction has been simply overwhelming. But all good things must come to an end, so we just wanted to remind everyone that less than a week is now left – and it really will end!

“However, there has also been an even more important additional aspect to this campaign. By offering an additional 3% to commissionable clients, we were hoping to incentivise those travel agents who hadn´t yet switched-over to Bedsonline from using the old TravelBound, TravelCube and GTA website platforms. So I´m very pleased to confirm that there has been a very significant jump in the number of travel agents moving over during the last few weeks. 

“Making sure that every last agent from TravelBound, TravelCube and GTA has smoothly transitioned onto the new Bedsonline platform is doubly important to us, as by the end of the month we´ll close the old websites to new bookings. Whilst they´ll still be available to modify old bookings, all new bookings must be done on the Bedsonline website. 

“We’re almost there now, but for the last few agents out there who have not made the switch yet, contact your account manager to help support you – and they´ll explain how you can benefit from an incentive we’re offering for your first three bookings on the platform.”

The enchanced Bedsonline platform – which now incorporates the accommodation portfolio and best features of the TravelCube, TravelBound and GTA offering – offers travel agents globally the following benefits:

1)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Diverse and competitive product portfolio: over 170,000 hotels globally available (with over 90,000 of those directly sourced, making the content both unique and competitively priced), 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, PLUS 140,000 cars available for hire – all sourced by a team of over 1,000 contractors globally.

2)&nbsp; Powerful and user-friendly technology: 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, including intuitive email and PDF functions – 70% of existing customers cite the platform as a top factor in choosing the service. Bedsonline’s parent Group is the only distributor to operate its own cloud-based, open source data centre and handles up to 1.5 billion searches per day.

3)&nbsp; Local knowledge combined with a global offering: local sales teams in every market with significant local knowledge and industry know-how ready to take care of all the needs of customers.

&nbsp;

About Bedsonline

Bedsonline&nbsp;is the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary travel products that exclusively caters to travel agents. It distributes through its online platform accommodation, excursions, tickets and transfers to more than 50,000 travel agencies with sales teams in over 40 countries covering over 100 markets globally.

The company stands out for its extensive portfolio – over 170,000 hotels in 185 destinations, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities – to offer a personalized local service through an intuitive and easy-to-use online booking tool. In this way, Bedsonline guarantees high availability and competitive prices to the great satisfaction of its clients.

The business-to-business online provider 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 position of advantage in the industry.

Bedsonline is part of Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, and is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Media Relations and Corporate Affairs

Anna Monreal

amonreal@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


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Success of Bedsonline’s +3% commission worldwide bonanza exceeds expectations


	Since 2010 Hotelbeds has successfully replaced holiday season ‘corporate gifts’ with a digital greeting that represents a charity donation.
	Funds raised this year go to Care International, for its fight to empower girls and women worldwide through education.
	In total around €9,000 have been donated and will be earmarked to support Women’s Economic Empowerment. &nbsp;


Palma, 10th January 2019. Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, has announced that the money raised through its policy of replacing holiday season corporate gifts with a charity donation will this year go to Care International, a humanitarian agency that&nbsp;tackles the underlying causes of poverty and social injustice to bring lasting change to the lives of poor and vulnerable people.

For each digital Christmas card sent by Hotelbeds to its partners around the globe, the company will donate 20 euros to Care International. Thus far in total 9,000 euros have been donated to support this important cause.

Care International provides intensive schooling for girls and helps overcome the gap between the education of boys and girls. This area has been identified as one of the most critical barriers, not only to female empowerment, but also to the economic growth and prosperity of developing countries.

Haley White, Corporate Fundraiser at Care International London, commented “Hotelbeds’ generosity will help us provide clean water, food, access to healthcare and education, and emergency assistance when vulnerable families need it the most. Supporters like Hotelbeds make our work possible and we cannot thank them enough for this. Their support means a great deal to us and to each and every individual they are helping around the world. We really want to thank them for their kindness.”

Teresa Laso, Corporate Sustainability Manager at Hotelbeds, explained: “We are very pleased to be able to help communities who need support. As a leading company serving the travel trade, with more than 5,000 employees around the globe, we have a great responsibility to raise awareness about important issues and promote good practices amongst our employees.”

Since 2010, Hotelbeds has been making donations for Christmas instead of purchasing corporates gifts. In previous years the donations have been aimed at other charities and humanitarian agencies, such as Le Passage Travel Foundation in India and UNHCR.

This initiative is aligned with the Corporate Social Responsibility approach of Hotelbeds and the company’s commitment to make a positive impact on its local communities.

&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.

The company is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Follow us on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds-group&nbsp;

Twitter: @Hotelbeds

Facebook: Hotelbeds

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds 

PR, Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Antonia Aguiló · a.aguilo@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


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Hotelbeds to donate 9,000 euros to Care International


	To celebrate the New Year and to kick off 2019 with a sales boost for its travel agent customers, Bedsonline is extending its campaign to offer an additional 3% commission on all accommodation sales worldwide.
	Offer is valid for any destination and booking period for reservations made by 17th January in the Bedsonline booking engine, and is available to all travel agents&nbsp;&nbsp; that work with Bedsonline solely on a commissionable basis.
	This news follows the announcement in September to consolidate the retail brands and platforms under Bedsonline.


&nbsp;

Palma, 2nd January 2019. Bedsonline, the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary products exclusively for travel agents, has announced today the launch of a special New Year +3% commission campaign for its customers worldwide.

The campaign, which has been active since 17th December, will now be extended until 17th January 2019 for hotel bookings made via the Bedsonline platform.

All travel agents worldwide that work with Bedsonline on a commissionable basis will be eligible for the campaign and will receive an extra 3% commission, on top of their regular commission, for all accommodation bookings made in any destination worldwide for any dates.

This follows news announced in September 2018 that Bedsonline’s sister companies, TravelCube, TravelBound and GTA’s retail brand would all become part of the Bedsonline platform and brand, with customer migration now well underway.

Alistair Rodger, Retail Travel Agents Director at Hotelbeds, said: “For the first time in Bedsonline’s history we are temporarily adding three percentage points to the commission received from each hotel booking made through our platform for any destination and any travel window. No strings attached. This means that, until 17th January, all travel agent customers worldwide that work with Bedsonline solely on a commissionable basis&nbsp; –of which there are an enormous amount – will have the opportunity to increase their profits significantly, while benefiting from our global portfolio of more than 170,000 hotels, 18,000 activities and 24,000 transfer routes.”

“Our new, value proposition, following the consolidation of Bedsonline, Travelcube, Travelbound and GTA’s retail offering, is fully focused on helping travel agents boost sales and margins. To better communicate our consolidated proposition we decided to launch a new brand identity in September –under the Bedsonline brand&nbsp; – along with a more powerful booking platform. Now, in celebration of the new year, we consider this to be&nbsp; the perfect moment to thank our clients for their loyalty, by offering them this additional bonus.”

The new Bedsonline platform – which now incorporates the accommodation portfolio and best features of the TravelCube, TravelBound and GTA offering – now offers travel agents globally the following benefits:

1)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Diverse and competitive product portfolio: over 170,000 hotels globally available (with over 90,000 of those directly sourced, making the content both unique and competitively priced), 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, PLUS 140,000 cars available for hire – all sourced by a team of over 1,000 contractors globally.

2) &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Powerful and user-friendly technology: 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, including intuitive email and PDF functions – 70% of existing customers cite the platform as a top factor in choosing the service. Bedsonline’s parent Group is the only distributor to operate its own cloud-based, open source data centre and handles up to 1.5 billion searches per day.

3)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Local knowledge combined with a global offering: local sales teams in every market with significant local knowledge and industry know-how ready to take care of all the needs of customers.

&nbsp;

About Bedsonline

Bedsonline&nbsp;is the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary travel products that exclusively caters to travel agents. It distributes through its online platform accommodation, excursions, tickets and transfers to more than 50,000 travel agencies with sales teams in over 40 countries covering over 100 markets globally.

The company stands out for its extensive portfolio – over 170,000 hotels in 185 destinations, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities – to offer a personalized local service through an intuitive and easy-to-use online booking tool. In this way, Bedsonline guarantees high availability and competitive prices to the great satisfaction of its clients.

The business-to-business online provider 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 position of advantage in the industry.

Bedsonline is part of Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, and is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Media Relations and Corporate Affairs

Anna Monreal

amonreal@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


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Bedsonline celebrates the New Year, continuing its +3% commission bonanza worldwide 

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