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By Roman Townsend&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 

For those of you who haven´t had the pleasure of visiting our global headquarters in Mallorca, we are based near to Palma airport in a building called ‘Mirall’.

And so I have the pleasure of writing another year’s missive from the vantage point of our offices overlooking the runway. What could be more travel central than a frontline view of the 20 million passengers who pass through the airport every year?

A year might not sound so long, but some years count more than others and this one has been transformational for Hotelbeds. When I look back at everything that has happened, I realise this really is a massive missive (to use a rather laboured alliteration).

Following Tourico Holidays and GTA joining us in 2017, this year we’ve been integrating them into our business and that process is now close to being completed. In fact in late October we announced a new brand architecture and identity for the company under a refreshed Hotelbeds brand. As part of this, we launched our new integrated retail travel agent offering under a refreshed Bedsonline brand too.

Over the year we have put in place a strong leadership team, starting with the executive level and more recently moving down to mid-level management. Combining the best talent from across our organization, we now have fantastic sales, sourcing, retail, marketing and product management teams confirmed across all of our regions globally.

As part of our clear strategy to focus on our bedbank core, in March we announced the sale of our Destination Management division – which focused on the provision of in-destination services – to TUI for 110 million euros.

Even more recently, in November, we confirmed that we have acquired HolidayTaxis, the transfer bookings company. This acquisition is a reflection of our desire to expand our Beyond the Bed product line, where we offer ancillary services such as transfers and tours.

There have been many other great highlights too, such as the launch of our Corporate Volunteering Program, the continued growth of China as a source market, and the partnership with Singapore Airlines.&nbsp;

Our achievements have been reflected by an increased industry presence for Hotelbeds. Whether it has been on the podium at leading events such as Skift, Phocuswright, ITB Berlin, and WTM London, or in the pages of leading publications such as Skift, Travolution, Phocuswire, or more, I´m proud to say that we are leading the distribution debate.

But as John Lennon sang in Happy Christmas in 1971, “another year over, a new one just begun”. Epic as the year has been, our New Year’s resolution to the travel industry remains once more unchanged: to be the world’s leading bedbank.

Happy New Year from all of us at Hotelbeds: may all your distribution dreams come true and technology resolutions remain resolute!&nbsp;


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Another year over? This year the missive from Mirall is massive

By Wei Wang, Media Relations &amp;Corporate Affairs—APAC

Everybody knows about how important a festival the Lunar New Year is for all Chinese people. But what happens at Christmas and the western New Year’s Eve period? And what do travel industry professionals need to know about it?

The good news for Christmas aficionados is that even though the country does not celebrate Christmas officially, you will hear carols in the streets and shops throughout the month!

Whilst almost everyone in China has heard of Christmas, or Sheng Dan Jie (圣诞节) as we call it in Chinese, most people in China don’t celebrate it in quite the same way as people do in the western countries.

Christmas is not an official holiday in mainland China and Taiwan. But Hong Kong and Macau celebrate it in a more European fashion, with each having two days off work.

In a family or home setting, few people will celebrate Christmas and only a limited number will have their house decorated. Nonetheless, more and more young people are celebrating the commercialized aspect of Christmas in the main cities by making the most of the joyous holiday spirit.

For example, many department stores, hotels, and theme parks (especially Disneyland in Shanghai and Hong Kong) are decorated with Christmas displays, trees, and lights. People enjoy the typical light displays, artificial snow, and Christmas music.

Hoteliers too really capitalize on the season to celebrate Christmas as one of the top events of the year.&nbsp; It’s not uncommon to see a Santa Claus, who is known locally as Sheng Dan Lao Ren (圣诞老人), at a hotel.

Hotels here usually hold the Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the first week of December to promote their seasonal specials, festive hotel packages, including cocktail receptions, meals and entertainment. All the guests watch Santa Claus light the Christmas tree and kids write down their wishes on cards, then hang them on the Christmas tree. Chinese children don’t prepare milk and cookies for Santa like in America, but an apple is a popular gift here because ‘apple’ sounds like ‘Christmas Eve’ in Mandarin.

Many of those in Hong Kong and Macau, and those in mainland China who work in western companies that close their offices for a few days, do take advantage to go on short breaks either within China or to nearby Asia-Pacific destinations such as Bangkok, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul and Phuket.

And with more and more Chinese people having relatives in western countries, not least the United States, some are taking advantage to visit their relatives during this period to sample an authentic western Christmas.

Of course, overall December is the low travel season in most places in mainland China and western hoteliers and destinations shouldn’t be expecting a Christmas boost in Chinese tourists just yet.

But Santa has a great way of working his magic on consumers, so who knows maybe in five or ten years the most desirable Christmas gift amongst Chinese consumers will be a New Year’s holiday in Europe or America? Now could be a great time to attract the early trend-setters and lay the foundations for future success. &nbsp;


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What do Christmas celebrations mean for the Chinese travel sector?   

By Lauren Volcheff Atlass 

Everybody knows that there is no such thing as a free lunch, right? But somehow when it comes to Holiday Season planning and the offer of staying for free with a relative, suddenly we forget.

Disclosure alert: clearly, we at Hotelbeds benefit from the sale of every extra hotel room and this is an attempt at persuading you to book a hotel room for every trip….and a fun read!

Let’s start with accommodation rule #1: always establish the terms and conditions well in advance of ‘booking’ your accommodation.

And this is where the problem starts. When you accept to stay with your in-laws or relatives over the Holiday Season, there’s no terms &amp; conditions agreement, no guarantee of quality, not even a star rating!

Please don’t get me wrong, visiting family is always nice and even more over the holidays. Quality time together is where it’s at, no doubt about it. But I would put forward an argument for quality over quantity – meaning, you don’t actually have to stay at your in-laws’ home, or anyone else’s.

Firstly, consider that you can have too much of a good thing. Spending 24 hours a day together can turn into a stress-filled trip and cause you to evoke that cheesy-Monday-water-cooler-phrase ‘I need a vacation from my vacation’. And no one wants to be ‘that guy or girl’.

Secondly, consider all the benefits of having your own space. Some pleasures in life money cannot buy, but this, yes you can. Your hotel is judgement free zone. Leave your bed unmade, leave the toilet seat up, socks on the floor. It’s your hotel room! If you stay at a relative’s house, get mentally prepared to be on your best behavior until the day you leave. But when you stay at a hotel, leaving a pile of damp towels in the bathroom is not a problem.

Next, convenience and comfort benefits. Sleep better knowing you don’t need to worry about Uncle Harry snoring next door. Much better than sleeping at an air mattress or a basement pullout – your very own hotel mattress! No need to worry about sharing a bathroom or waiting until your niece or nephew is done fighting over who gets to go first.

And then there are all the wonderful luxuries a hotel can offer you that it would be a bit unfair to ask of your relatives: “Hey Aunt Julie, can you overnight my dry cleaning?”; “Grandpa, I’ll have my eggs over medium with a side of turkey bacon…sorry it’s 3am but I´m hungry”; “Where’s my warm cookie at check-in mom?!”. Concierge services for tickets or transfers, and much more are all available in a good hotel.

Ultimately, by booking a hotel you remain the boss, in charge of your own agenda. Feeling the need to flee? No problem, your hotel will give you an escape route.&nbsp; Whether you need to get away from your super cute nieces all under the age of 4, or avoid that guilt trip, you will have a hotel room to call your own.

Worried about hidden costs or poor service? Don’t worry, every Hotelbeds booking is part of a contract we have with our hotel partners. Plus, good luck complaining about your lumpy bed at Uncle Joe’s and Aunt Judy’s on social media. &nbsp;

But when it comes to relatives, even if you are brave enough to speak up, often the ultimate court of appeal is the eldest member of the family, and their impartiality could be massively affected by what present you bought them, or even worse, didn´t.

My colleagues in Spain often remind me of a great Spanish phrase when we are considering our budgets: if you buy cheap, it will cost you a lot. So if you’re being offered a free room this year from relatives, ask yourself: can I really afford this? When you look at the real price, you may decide it’s going to be a whole lot cheaper to pay out for a decent hotel.


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Can you afford the real price of staying with relatives this Holiday Season?


	North American source market sees nearly 25% growth in room night sales in the wholesale channel during the financial year. [1]
	Following Tourico Holidays and GTA joining Hotelbeds in 2017, North America has become the second largest wholesale source market for the company worldwide.


&nbsp;

Palma, Spain, 19 December 2018. Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, has confirmed today strong growth for its North American source market wholesale business during the 2017/18 financial year.[2]

Throughout the year, the Hotelbeds wholesale business has increased the number of hotel room nights sold in the North American market, comprised of the United States and Canada, by almost 25% on a year-on-year basis.

Since the acquisition of the Tourico Holidays and GTA bedbank brands in 2017 by Hotelbeds, the North American source market has emerged as the second largest for the company worldwide.

This strong growth and the number two source market status has been achieved by focusing on two core factors that differentiates the Hotelbeds offering. Firstly,&nbsp; Hotelbeds’ commitment to driving mutual incremental sales growth and boosting margins for partners by offering the most attractive and unique hotel content at the best possible prices; and secondly by providing partners with cost effective and cutting edge, revenue generating technology such as APItude, the Hotelbeds API that offers faster response times to drive conversions.

The Hotelbeds wholesale business line works with tour operators, airlines, points redemption programmes, loyalty schemes, MICE operators, and online travel agencies to provide them with accommodation and ancillary solutions via API connectivity.

Lauren Volcheff Atlass, who was confirmed as earlier this year as Regional Director of Wholesale Sales in the Americas, commented “It has been a very exciting journey over the last 18 months as we have overcome many challenges to create the world’s leading bedbank for the benefit of our partners everywhere.

“It’s incredibly exciting to be able to offer partners our expanded portfolio of unmissable deals – with over 170,000 hotels now available, most directly contracted – and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

“This strong growth acts as confirmation of the faith our partners have placed in us and I’d like to thank them for that trust, as well as everyone in the North American sales and global sourcing teams who have worked so hard to make this happen.”

This news also follows the recent announcement that Hotelbeds will acquire HolidayTaxis Group, a leading provider of high quality, cost-effective transfer and wider mobility solutions. The acquisition emphasizes the company’s commitment to growing its ancillary offering for its Beyond the Bed business line, the area of Hotelbeds that includes the sourcing and distribution of transfers, activities, tickets, theme parks, car hire, travel insurance, and specialist tours.

In October, the company announced the consolidation of all wholesale brands, GTA, Tourico, and Hotelbeds under the Hotelbeds name, ultimately phasing out the Tourico Holidays and GTA brands. Moreover, Hotelbeds Group and its commercial wholesale brand will both simply go by the name of ‘Hotelbeds’.




[1] These booking figures are comprised of the United States and Canada.

[2] All figures refer to bookings made via the company’s wholesale bedbank platforms – made up of Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays and GTA – during the 2017 / 18 financial year ended 30 September.

&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 booking figures are comprised of the United States and Canada.



[2] All figures refer to bookings made via the company’s wholesale bedbank platforms – made up of Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays and GTA – during the 2017 / 18 financial year ended 30 September.




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Strong booking growth for Hotelbeds North American source market

When you look at many of the biggest travel industry companies in the world, most of them were founded in the locations where people either travel from or travel to. And in many cases some of them still remain in the same location, for instance like Hotelbeds and our global headquarters in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

As the tourism industry has expanded way beyond anyone’s wildest expectations over the last thirty years, many of the most popular destinations have started to think about how to manage the welcome dollars in a more sustainable fashion.

Equally many travel companies have begun to think about what responsibility they have ensuring that today’s most popular cities and locations remain conserved for the next generation to visit.

And that’s why earlier this year Hotelbeds introduced its Corporate Volunteering Program, which had its initial rollout in Orlando and was finally launched worldwide last month. Through the implementation of the program, around 50 NGOs from all over the globe are now able to benefit from the company’s support.

We particularly believe in giving back to the local communities we work in and what more important city to focus on than Los Angeles, where millions or people stay in hotels booked via the Hotelbeds system every year?

Last Friday, me and my colleagues from the JBS team, a division with Hotelbeds, deployed its first volunteering initiative at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Our whole local team of 12 were busy helping the facility with its food sorting activities all afternoon.

We wanted to select a charity work that would help us get closer as a team, so members can go together and contribute together and be proud of the work we were doing, and this charity is very close to our heart. We firmly believe that for any team to be truly successful it has to engage in activities that bring them closer as a group and charity work is the perfect format for us.

Going forward, the plan is to volunteer on a quarterly basis as part of JBS team building activities and to start giving back to the local community.

As a result from the integration of GTA and Tourico Holidays brands into Hotelbeds over the last year, the JBS team has now become part of Hotelbeds and we are responsible for developing the China-US Corridor. Already we are responsible for over 2.5% of all inbound Chinese hotel reservations into the US market, but have plans to expand that even further!

Given our US and China focus, in the future we’d like to find some volunteering initiatives that combine these two great cultures. Does anyone have any suggestions for a charity event we can become involved with for around the Chinese New Year period?

&nbsp;


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If volunteering were a travel destination, which location would you sign up for? 

Ever stopped to wonder where life’s journey is taking you? Perhaps you’ve thought of taking a mind-blowing trip, climbing Machu Picchu or meeting Mongolian goat herders, to reflect on correcting your course.

Today is International Volunteer Day and at Hotelbeds we’d like to ask all our travel industry colleagues to think about taking the ultimate trip: giving back.

Those of us lucky enough to work in this sector dedicate our whole lives to making sure that other people’s journeys go smoothly, from pre-booking to post-trip. But over the last few years many travel industry companies have begun to think about how they can help the wider community on their daily trek through the peaks and troughs of life.

That’s why recently at Hotelbeds we launched our very own Corporate Volunteer Program. We are encouraging all of the company's employees to participate actively in volunteer opportunities around the world, so as to contribute significantly to the communities where Hotelbeds employees work and live around the globe.

There are already more than 48 NGOs from all over the world that can benefit from the Hotelbeds Corporate Volunteer Program. The participating NGOs cover areas such as supporting children in need, the environment, fighting hunger, supporting people with disabilities, helping refugees and the elderly.

So far this volunteer program has also been launched&nbsp;in the offices of Hotelbeds in Orlando, Singapore, Bangkok, Cancun, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Palma, London, Shanghai and Beijing. It has&nbsp;reached a total of 3,000 of the 5,000 employees worldwide, with the participation of 1,051 employees so far.

In this program, there are many international NGOs such as Give Kids the World or United Against Poverty in Orlando; Waterways Watch Society in Singapore; the Thai Red Cross or the Lumphini Park in Bangkok, and Food for Life in Tel Aviv; AECC (Asociación Española contra el Cancer) or Cruz Roja.

We might just be starting on our journey as a volunteering organisation, but so far this year we have carried more than 150 activities around the world and we hope to have thousands ahead of us yet.

Give some thought to where giving back might help your organization to travel to this International Volunteer Day?



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Journey of a lifetime? Giving back could be the ultimate trip this International Volunteer Day

When is a consumer not a customer? This needn't be a philosophical challenge. Rather it should be an observation perhaps for many in the travel sector. Despite all evidence being to the contrary, everyone seems to always assume that all travel brands work directly with consumers.&nbsp;

At Hotelbeds we see things differently as we are focused on the B2B market. For us there’s a big difference between consumers and our customers: one of them is on holiday, the other is busy working to make that holiday perfect.

So if you are not a travel agent, or you don't care about the travel agent sector, then you may want to stop reading right now.

Why? Because our retail offering to travel agents, which we operate under the Bedsonline brand, only works with travel agents. That’s right, no consumers, no travellers: 100% B2B. Capiche?

You could understandably think that with a catchy name like Bedsonline and a sexy brand image, we do work directly with consumers. However, nothing could be further from the truth, we are not a consumer brand: we do not deal with the traveler directly. Ever. And have no plans to!

If it seems that I am labouring the point, it is because recently it has been brought to my attention that some of our customers (travel agents, remember?) were under the misapprehension that we also compete with them to offer services directly to consumers. We have one focus and that is to provide the best content, platform and booking experience, both pre and post for our travel agent partners, and that is more than enough to keep us busy and happy.

Surely by excluding the end consumer you are limiting sales, I hear you say? Frankly, no. Instead this liberates us to focus on creating a service that is 100% designed expressly for the professional travel seller. We’ve developed tools and technology best suited to travel agents, for example search functionality, filtering tools, comparison options, PDF functions, vouchers and much much more; we’ve contracted special hotel rates and deals available for travel agents only; and we’ve deployed teams with local knowledge across the globe, who speak the local language and know the local culture.

In short, a 360 degree travel agent offering. And the business model is working out just fine, thank you. If you are one of the lucky chosen ones who have the delight of selling travel face-to-face to consumers, and you don’t yet work with us, then we’d love to hear from you. Click here to find out more on how to sign up.

Needless to say, if you are a consumer wanting to book your next holiday, we’d still love to hear from you as we can perhaps recommend you to our network of more than 60,000 (and growing) travel agents globally.&nbsp;


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Consumers aren't the only customers in the travel journey

Cross-selling travel products such as a transfer or car rental might be a secondary source of revenue for intermediaries, but their importance is increasingly becoming far from secondary.

Traditionally accommodation sales have played the protagonist role in the theatre of travel sales, with complementary sales playing a mere walk on part – quite literally ancillary to the main show.

But as the travel plot evolves in the digital age, so too do the roles played and cross-selling is taking a more central role – and one that is handsomely paid due to the high margins that products such as theme parks, tours and tickets can generate for intermediaries.

At Hotelbeds we have been following the lead of the airline industry, which in 2017 earned an estimated $82 billion worldwide from the sale of ancillaries. Last year our conversion rate for accompanying a hotel sale with a complementary product was roughly 20-25%.

Nonetheless, the road ahead remains long as the full potential of this product offering has not yet been realized. One of the big challenges is the personalization of content to make ancillaries more localized (including translation into local languages!); plus more digital loyalty and marketing strategies are needed in order to reach customers during the whole travel cycle.&nbsp;

Recently some of these very topics were the starting point of a panel which I conducted as a representative of Beyond the Bed – what we at Hotelbeds call our ancillaries product line – at the World Travel Market trade fair in London.

The panel was focused on ‘Distribution of ancillaries in the B2B environment: challenges and expectations', and I had the pleasure to count on the participation of Lydia Massoon, Global Strategic Business Developer of Prioticket; Olan O’Sullivan, CEO of Trekksoft; Abbas Datoo, Interim Head of Commercial Strategy at Major Travel; and Beatriz Motta, Head of International Hotels at Hotel Urbano.

Together we explored the value proposition of B2B solutions, both from the point of view of the supplier (such as channel managers / tech platforms) and the B2B buyer (OTAs, tour operators and travel agents). Alongside discussing the opportunities, it also covered the difficulties and technological challenges, and looked ahead to possible future scenarios.

The half hour discussion led to four main conclusions:&nbsp;


	The activities market, in contrast to accommodation, is very fragmented: in this context, B2B technology partners play a key role giving access to smaller players such as travel agents to a global inventory of local activities all over the world, that otherwise they would not have ever had access to.
	The distribution of such services in the B2B space represents a fast growing opportunity for the accommodation sector to boost benefits and client loyalty:&nbsp; &nbsp;they represent a huge opportunity to widen revenues of accommodation providers and also to increase customer loyalty and improve guest experience.&nbsp; But there are still lots of challenges in terms of distribution and selling.
	Transforming execution is key: when it comes to contracting, uploading product and reaching final consumer by content, technology will play the definitive role in this scenario. The end user must be approached locally, with the product in their own language.&nbsp;
	Advanced technology is one of the main ingredients to success in the B2B arena: whilst technology can create great content and give access to a huge range of great products, it has to do more than this to also manage operational challenges and after sales care too.&nbsp; End user clients are more reticent to use technology than they are with accommodation products – call centers receive more calls, asking questions about vouchers, conditions, and more. Technology reduces these manual interactions to a minimum.


Perhaps one of the best things about the travel industry is that the end destination in the travel journey is continuously changing. But for better or worse, it is now clear that technology will be our travel partner for the coming decades and nowhere is this more obvious than in the area of ancillary sales.

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Optional add-on or travel essential? Activies purchases are no longer an afterthought 


	The program has recently been launched at the company's headquarters in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where more than 1,650 employees are able to collaborate with around 20 local NGOs.
	The initiative has also been implemented in the Bangkok, Beijing, Cancun, Dubai, London, Orlando, Shanghai, Singapore and Tel Aviv offices, reaching a total of 3,000 of the 5,000 employees worldwide.
	Around 50 NGOs from around the globe are benefiting from the program.


&nbsp;

Palma, 22nd November 2018. Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, has today announced the launch of a global Corporate Volunteering program.

The initiative, which forms part of Hotelbeds’ Corporate Sustainability plan, encourages the company’s global workforce to actively participate in volunteering opportunities throughout the globe, making meaningful contributions to the communities where Hotelbeds employees work and live.

Around 50 NGOs from around the globe are able to benefit from the Hotelbeds Corporate Volunteering program, with the NGOs covering the following areas: the environment, health, people at risk of social exclusion, poverty and childhood.

The program has recently been launched at the company's headquarters in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where more than 1,650 employees will be able to collaborate with around 20 local NGOs such as the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC), the Spanish Red Cross, the Balearic Association of people with physical disabilities (ASPROM), Mallorca against hunger (Mallorca Sense Fam), among others.

The volunteering program has also been implemented in the Hotelbeds offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Cancun, Dubai, London, Orlando, Shanghai, Singapore and Tel Aviv, reaching a total of 3,000 of the 5,000 employees of the company worldwide.

Many international NGOs such as Give Kids the World or United Against Poverty in Orlando; Waterways Watch Society in Singapore; The Thai Red Cross or the Lumphini Park in Bangkok, and Food for Life in Tel Aviv, among many others, will be able to benefit from the contributions of employees.

Teresa Laso, Corporate Sustainability Lead at Hotelbeds, commented: “As a leading company in the B2B tourism sector, and with more than 5,000 employees around the globe, we are increasingly aware of our impact on the communities in which we are present and, therefore, we have a great responsibility to be an example of change and to share these values ​​with our employees. With these kinds of initiatives, we intend to improve the local communities in which our employees are present. We listened to employees in order to offer different proposals close to their hearts and within our corporate sustainability strategy.”

So far, 150 group volunteering activities have been organized around the globe and over 1,000 employees have already signed up.

&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-group

Twitter: @Hotelbeds

Facebook: Hotelbeds

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds 

PR, Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Antonia Aguiló · a.aguilo@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


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Hotelbeds launches Corporate Volunteering program globally 


	
	Stuart Dale to be the Bedsonline Regional Sales Director for Asia.
	
	
	News follows recent announcement of Bedsonline consolidation, with GTA retail customers migrating onto Bedsonline’s class-leading booking platform used exclusively by travel agents.
	
	
	Inclusion of GTA’s retail product portfolio significantly enlarges range of exclusively contracted content available to travel agents only – increasing hotels from 55,000 to 170,000.
	


Singapore, November 19th, 2018. – Bedsonline, the global provider of&nbsp;accommodation&nbsp;and complementary&nbsp;travel&nbsp;services&nbsp;designed&nbsp;exclusively for travel agents only, has today announced the appointment of Stuart Dale as the Bedsonline Regional Sales Director for the Asia market.

Stuart Dale will be responsible for providing Bedsonline’s clients – made up solely of travel agents only – in the local market with the highest standards of customer service along with further expanding and diversifying the number of travel agent subscribers. Previously Stuart was the Interim Vice President Europe &amp; Beach-Hotel Sourcing for GTA.

Additionally, the senior team in regional manager roles reporting to Stuart Dale has been confirmed, with Elif Esen covering Singapore &amp; Indonesia, Jin-Young Jun leading South East Asia &amp; Korea, Tatsuo Masumoto is in charge of Japan, and Vincent Zha is appointed to the Greater China.&nbsp;

This news follows the recent announcement that the parent company of both GTA and Bedsonline, Hotelbeds Group, will consolidate its retail product portfolio and offering globally under the newly refreshed Bedsonline brand and platform – establishing the world’s leading provider of accommodation and complementary services designed exclusively for use by travel agents only.

The strategic milestone followed extensive consultation with customers since Tourico Holidays and GTA – along with its retail brands TravelBound and TravelCube – joined Hotelbeds Group in 2017.

Alistair Rodger, Director of Retail Travel Agents at Hotelbeds Group, comments: “As part of the recent rebranding and launch of our new value proposition, we’re dedicated to continually improving the customer experience, beyond simply our highly sophisticated booking platform with its advanced functionalities. Essential to this is having in place strong teams with unbeatable local knowledge and commitment to the best service possible for our purely travel agent only customer base. I´m certain that in Stuart and his team we have the best line-up available in the market.”&nbsp; 

Stuart Dale, Asia Regional Sales Director, at Bedsonline, comments: “It gives me great pleasure to take on this exciting new role at such a key stage in the development of the Bedsonline brand – and I´m even more pleased to have such a strong team in place. Already we are reaching out to our customers – who are made up solely of travel agents – locally to explain how they will benefit from the new, enhanced offering of Bedsonline. This includes improvements we have made by cherry-picking the best-of-class functionalities from the old GTA platform, as well as the expansion of our product portfolio to over 170,000 hotels and strengthened position to negotiate the best deals for our customers.” 

Following the consolidation of GTA’s brand portfolio and offering, the Bedsonline platform now offers to travel agents only 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 1.5 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.
	


A migration plan is already underway to speak with the travel agent customers of the GTA retail brand about the benefits of moving onto Bedsonline’s booking platform – where the combination of the GTA retail brand’s content will increase from 55,000 to 170,000 the number of hotels available to customers. Clients will have sufficient time to transition at their own pace and both workshops and technical support will be on hand to support a seamless migration.

&nbsp;

About Bedsonline

Bedsonline&nbsp;is the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary travel ancillary 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 -&nbsp; 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 Group, the world’s leading bedbank and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally, and is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

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Hotelbeds Media contact

Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Wei Wang · whitney.wang@hotelbeds.com

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Bedsonline confirms sales team for Asia region

What better way for a city to exponentially increase its visitor numbers than to hold an Expo?

If you were a foreign visitor to Shanghai last week it was almost certainly to attend the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) as the expo had 800,000 visits. With over 3,600 companies exhibiting and over 4,000 reporters in attendance, it was always going to be a sure fire way to boost inbound tourism.

Nearly 8 years after the 2010 Shanghai Expo, last week’s event was held in the city’s National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) from Monday 5 to Saturday 10 November.

The six-day event consisted of two main attractions, the Country Pavilion for Trade and Investment and the Enterprise &amp; Business Exhibition. Additionally, during the Expo the first Hongqiao International Trade Forum was held, an event that gathers government officials, well known business leaders, and international organizations from several countries.

Shanghai’s hotel infrastructure is well-prepared for just such a world-class expo. The Municipal Tourism Administration of Shanghai provided a recommended hotel list that included 1,711 hotels in Shanghai, with more than 256,607 rooms and 411,000 beds combined. In addition, hotels in nearby cities provide another 50,000 rooms to ensure accommodation availability.&nbsp;

The city holds a very special place in the heart of Hotelbeds, not just because it is an important destination in terms of the hotel bookings from inbound tourists worldwide, but also because we have an office of 100 employees in the city.

Over the last few years the enormous growth – exponential even – in China outbound travel has drawn the attention of the world. We all know now that China is the the largest outbound travel market in the world. But the inbound travel of foreign tourists into China has increased much more slowly. Last week’s event aimed to proactively open up the Chinese market to the world. And with a total of 172 countries, regions, and international organizations attending the show it certainly has achieved its objective.

I myself have worked and lived in China for over 3 years. Shanghai is a very charming city, famous for its unique culture, long history, tasty food, and modern city skyscraper views. These selling points as a tourism destination are boosted further by the fact that the city is a safe destination and as of recently it has introduced more convenient visa policies. Now, visitors from 53 countries can enjoy a 144-hour visa-free transit in certain cities, including Shanghai.

According to our booking data building up to the Expo last week we achieved a significant increase in room night sales for the city, which can only lead to one question from me: when is the next Expo?


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In the hotels sector the word ‘Expo’ is not just short for exposition – it can also be short for exponential 


	Acquisition emphasises Hotelbeds commitment to fast growing ancillary space
	News follows recent decision to rename ancillary unit ‘Beyond the Bed’
	HolidayTaxis Group will operate as independent brand within Beyond the Bed unit


Palma, 14 November 2018. Hotelbeds, the world’s leading bedbank, has today announced the acquisition of HolidayTaxis Group, a leading provider of high quality, cost-effective transfer and wider mobility solutions.[1]

The acquisition will further complement the existing portfolio of content offered by Hotelbeds and reinforces the company’s commitment to growth in the rapidly expanding ancillary distribution space.

HolidayTaxis Group, which operates as ‘HolidayTaxis’, is headquartered in the United Kingdom and was founded in 2002. It operates 21,000 transfer routes, spanning 150 countries.

Today’s news follows Hotelbeds recent decision to rename its ancillary product line as ‘Beyond the Bed’. The business unit already has a successful track record in the sourcing and distribution of transfers, activities, tickets,&nbsp;theme parks, car hire,&nbsp;travel insurance&nbsp;and specialist&nbsp;tours, making HolidayTaxis a strategic fit.

The HolidayTaxis brand will remain separate and independent from Hotelbeds, but will form part of the Beyond the Bed business unit and the CEO of HolidayTaxis, Ian Coyle, will report to Javier Arévalo, Director of Beyond the Bed.

Joan Vilà, Executive Chairman of Hotelbeds comments: “We look forward to working with Ian and all his colleagues in helping our travel partners everywhere to drive incremental sales and boost profit margins.

“In recent years our ancillaries business has grown substantially as the strength of our technology platform and global distribution network has positioned us effectively to take full advantage of the increasing demand for in-destination activities worldwide.

“We already offer a wide range of revenue enhancing products to our partners, including transfers, tours, activities, car hire, theme park tickets, and more – but the addition of HolidayTaxis significantly strengthens our portfolio, underlining our commitment to provide greater choice to our travel trade partners.”

Ian Coyle, CEO of HolidayTaxis responds: “We are enormously excited to be joining Hotelbeds as it continues to push the boundaries of travel distribution.

“This is a unique opportunity that was unmissable, allowing us to share additional ancillary revenue generating solutions with the 60,000 travel selling partners that Hotelbeds works with globally – many of whom are very hard to reach otherwise. I’m convinced that our supplier and distribution partners, across our respective businesses, will benefit from the strengths of something very special that is about to happen.”

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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.

Follow us on:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds-group

Twitter: @Hotelbeds

Facebook: Hotelbeds

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Hotelbeds 

PR, Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Antonia Aguiló · a.aguilo@hotelbeds.com

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[1] This deal is subject to the completion of the standard necessary regulatory processes.

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