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	Travel intermediaries can now offer their travellers enriched in-destination experiences delivered by knowledgeable local assistants
	Punta Cana, Cancun, Riviera Maya, Bangkok, Phuket, Malta &amp; Bodrum are the first destinations to offer this service
	Travellers once in destination able to access service 24/7 to receive information on local services and transport, plus cultural, sport and lifestyle activities


Palma, 21st August 2018. Hotelbeds Group, the world’s leading bedbank, has announced today that its Ancillary Bank will launch a concierge service for use by the end traveler of its travel intermediary customers.

This new product offering will be available in Hotelbeds Group booking platforms - aimed at Fully Independent Travelers (FIT) - and will be available in both the Wholesale and Retail channels of the Group&nbsp; – including the Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays, GTA and Bedsonline brands.

Travelers will be able to access a&nbsp;personal assistance hotline operated 24 hours per day, seven days per week&nbsp;by local people in both English and Spanish. This service will enrich in-destination local experiences for travelers through the expertise of local assistants offering services such as:


	Meet your concierge in person on arrival (on request)
	Interpretation / translation services
	Information on local infrastructure, services and transport
	Arrange, book and buy tours, tickets, attractions, events, transfers and car rentals
	Information on culture, lifestyle, sports and local traditions.


Hotelbeds Group is now offering this service in its key Latin American destinations&nbsp; – Punta Cana, Cancun and Riviera Maya – as well as in key destinations&nbsp; in Thailand such as Bangkok and Phuket and in popular Mediterranean &nbsp;destinations like Malta and Bodrum. These locations are mainly visited by travelers on holiday. Additionally the Group is also planning to launch this service in many others geographies in the following months.

Javier Arévalo, Ancillary Bank Director, Hotelbeds Group, commented “We are very pleased to announce another strategic product offering that helps keep Hotelbeds Group’s Ancillary Bank as a leading in-destination services specialist – and help give our travel intermediary clients an additional competitive edge with their customer, the end traveller.

“This allows us to offer the first service focused on Fully Independent Travelers (FIT), with the goal to offer advice and personalized attention by local experts from the very beginning of the stay. This service brings together a very complete value proposition for the traveler, allowing not only assistance during all the stay (solving doubts or covering any need), but also gives the possibility to improve the travel experience&nbsp;in-destination by adding additional and relevant services. All this through our local Hotelbeds Group trusted experts that will be available 24/7 via telephone. ”

&nbsp;

About Hotelbeds Group

Hotelbeds Group is the world´s leading bedbank and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally.

The Group’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 mainly under the Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, Tourico Holidays and GTA brands, 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 Group, followed by GTA also joining the Group in October; both companies remain independent brands whilst they are being integrated into the Group.

The Group is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds-group

And Twitter: @HotelbedsGroup

Follow APItude on Twitter: @Hotelbeds_API

Follow us on Facebook: HotelbedsGroup

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Group Media contacts

Arenalia Comunicación&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 

Laia Jardí · ljardi@arenalia.com

Cristina Vilà · cvila@arenalia.com

Tel. +34 660 201 020&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Group 

PR, Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Anna Monreal · amonreal@hotelbeds.com

Tel.&nbsp; +34 971 624 687


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Hotelbeds Group’s Ancillary Bank launches concierge service for travel intermediaries  

The time has arrived for the last Grand Slam of the year! That’s right, the world acclaimed US Open Tennis tournament is just a week away and fans from all over the world are getting ready to travel to New York City for this special event.

As a Mallorca based company, naturally we are expecting our very own homegrown talent to win in the Men’s final: Rafael Nadal hails from our local town of Manacor!

But the real champion has long since been crowned. Year-in, year-out the local travel &amp; tourism is by far the real winner. Last year alone, the US Open drove over 700,000 tennis fans from across the globe and employed approximately 7,000 people: its economic impact across the New York Metropolitan area is estimated to be around $800 million, according to the New York Times.&nbsp;

For hoteliers this event accounts for close to 16% of all New York City hotel bookings during the two weeks of tennis play, according to AM New York. That’s 16% of bookings in a city with one of the highest amounts of hotel accommodation in all of America.

The chosen date for events such as the US Open are often influenced by tourism boards, who are keen to boost low- or shoulder-season tourist arrivals; in this case, August in New York is definitely the shoulder-season and helps to give a head start to one of New York City’s busiest travel seasons of the year.&nbsp;

For Hotelbeds Group, New York City is the second most booked destination through the Group’s platform and falling second only to Orlando, the home to Walt Disney World©, Universal Orlando Resort™ and SeaWorld® Orlando - and also the home to Hotelbeds Group’s regional offices, where we employ over 500 employees.

New York City is also home to some of our top products provided by our world class Ancillary Bank, whose leadership structure was recently confirmed. Big Bus Tours, Multiple Attraction City Passes (CityPASS, Explorer Pass, New York Pass), Broadway Shows, Statue of Liberty Tours, and the One World Observatory, are just a few of the numerous products available through our combined platform, as a result of the integration of the ancillary offerings coming from our Tourico Holidays, GTA, and Hotelbeds brands.

But the benefit to the travel &amp; tourism sector is not just about the fans, tennis professionals, or business executives using the event for corporate entertainment. This year the US Open Tennis is celebrating its 50th year and it is without a doubt one of the most watched tennis events worldwide.

That’s 50 years of promoting New York as a desirable destination. How many people has the tournament inspired to plan a visit? No doubt there is a spike in visitors from nations whose players lift a trophy.


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A world-class tennis tournament translates into millions for the travel space 

Mid-Atlantic at 30,000 feet and catastrophe strikes. Slowly the fuel supply counts down to zero. Only minutes are left for last minute messages to loved ones. Regret turns to grief and grief turns to blame.&nbsp;

Sounds like a film scenario? This is so much worse. Not only is it happening to you, it is happening right in the middle of your favourite Netflix drama. Yes, you´ve just become another battery failure statistic.

Despite setting off on their journey with a 100% charged battery, every day tens of thousands of travellers have this most frustrating of experiences. How can something so simple and so plentiful evaporate the minute you pack your suitcase?

This is a classic example of how the needs of consumers have adapted faster than the infrastructure of the travel &amp; tourism industry. Should the right to power-up whilst on the move be inalienable? Politicians might win a few votes if they proposed it.

But until then travel &amp; tourism industry operators can gain a considerable competitive edge by fulfilling this simple need for electricity. Charged-up smart phones also mean potential customers for in-flight and in-destination services sold via Wi-Fi.

Perhaps the difficulty of retrofitting airplanes and trains with plugs for every passenger partly explains why they are almost always power-supply deserts. Slowly this could change. But there is really little excuse for why airports and train stations don´t have plentiful charging points.

Resorts, theme parks and conference centers have also fallen behind too. The latter is often even more frustratingly, given you can spend all day or more at a conference. Hotel rooms of course come with a plug or two, but more plugs are needed (including dedicated USB ports) and they are needed in more useful positions: too often they are on the floor or far from the desk space.

Surely this is a business opportunity for travel tech entrepreneurs? A moving charging station is simple to set up in any public place and the station could be branded or sponsored – as well as used for up-selling travellers a coffee, in-destination experience or more.

All this is why at Hotelbeds Group we are sponsoring power-supply charging stations at the upcoming Skift Global Forum in New York City and the Phocuswright Conference in Los Angeles. We already power hotel distribution, so the opportunity to power the whole industry seemed a logical next step!&nbsp;

When John Lennon sang Power to the people back in 1971 he wanted nothing short of a revolution. All these years later could it become a protest song for frustrated travellers? Download the song now and next time your phone or laptop is on death row whilst in transit, go out with a very loud public statement. Or just write an angry letter. Either way, future generations will thank you.

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Power to the people! Should plugging-in whilst travelling be an inalienable right? 


	Program promotes 15 different destinations in the Americas each week with unbeatable hotel discounts
	Exclusive deals negotiated via Group’s extensive sourcing team across the continent
	Group’s access to network of wide range of travel intermediaries globally used to distribute the offering and boost incremental sales for hotel partners participating&nbsp;&nbsp;


Orlando, Florida– August 9, 2018 - Hotelbeds Group, the world’s leading bedbank and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally, has today announced the recent launch of its latest strategic sales initiative to boost sales for hotels in the Americas market until September.

As part of Hotelbeds Group’s commitment to boosting growth for its hotel partners and travel intermediary clients, the LATAM Origins program promotes top destinations in the Americas market via unique and discounted accommodation offerings in each of the chosen destinations.

Each week 15 destinations will become part of LATAM Origins for one week only, with clients informed in advance about the destinations and the specific offers available in order to prepare. The exclusive deals are sourced via the Group’s 230 strong dedicated sourcing and sales teams in Latin America.

The deals are available to all Hotelbeds Group’s Wholesale customers globally – whether via more niche channels such as an airline or points redemption scheme, or more traditional channels such as a tour operators or online travel agents – across the Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays and GTA bedbank brands. This outstanding campaign focusses on offering aggressive discounts, to one destination each week, of up to 40% for the booking window period.

Recent destinations included in the launch campaign for LATAM Origins were:

July 2 – Santiago

July 9 – Las Vegas

July 16 – New York City

July 23 – Cancun

July 30 – Orlando

Aug 6 – Buenos Aires

Lauren Volcheff Atlass, Regional Director of Wholesale Sales in the Americas said, “To mark the recent formation of our new Wholesale Sales team for the Americas and to thank our clients for their business, we recently kicked-off a major sales initiative for South American destinations that we are referring to as LATAM Origins. &nbsp;This blowout sale is made with one objective in mind: to drive significant sales for both our hotel partners and travel intermediary clients via offering travelers unmissable deals.”

Matias Elisavetsky, Regional Director of Sourcing in the Americas said, “Our Latin American hotel partners are looking to us for unique channels of distribution, which is our strength globally: we have airlines, banks, point redemption companies, and more – as well as the traditional tour operator and travel website sales routes. Working together with these clients we can additionally help hotels to generate incremental business by offsetting seasonality, increasing the average number of room nights, reducing cancellations, and targeting segments that spend more and rebook, such as families.”

&nbsp;

About Hotelbeds Group

Hotelbeds Group is a business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally and the leading bedbank worldwide.

The Group’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 mainly under the Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, Tourico Holidays and GTA brands, the company connects over 60,000 travel intermediaries across more than 140 source markets globally with travel providers in 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 Group, followed by GTA also joining the Group in October; both companies remain independent brands whilst they are being integrated into the Group.

The Group is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Follow us on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds-group

Twitter: @hotelbedsgroup

Facebook: @HotelbedsGroup

Hotelbeds Group Media contact

Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Alicia Orta Stanford

alicia.ortastanford@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


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Hotelbeds Group launches ‘LATAM Origins’ a strategic sales promotion to Latin American source markets

If Benidorm were listed as a country, where might it stand on the world tourism stage?

&nbsp;

To place its pulling power into perspective, in 2015 more people visited the city than visited Egypt. Despite having much less than 100,000 permanent residents, according to Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) in 2015 over 11 million people visited Benidorm.

&nbsp;

In fact Benidorm is the fourth most popular destination in Spain – itself the third most visited country on the planet – with Barcelona and Madrid in the top two slots.

&nbsp;

Such vast numbers of tourists are met with around 40,000 beds available every night in its 150 or so hotels. According to the website Statista, by available rooms the city ranks in the nations leagues just behind Cyprus but above Slovakia, with more than double the accommodation of Malta (based on 2016 figures).

&nbsp;

With over 140 buildings more than 20 floors high, the area competes with Frankfurt or London for number of skyscrapers. Spain’s tallest residential building, called Intempo, comes in at almost 200m high.&nbsp; No surprise then that ‘Beniyork’ is how some locals call the area.

&nbsp;

The above are more than just grand claims for the records book. Every visitor brings money to spend and the skyscrapers reflect just what that money can do. By some estimates Benidorm makes up 1% of the nation’s GDP. That all means jobs, taxes for schools and hospitals, and more investment in the local economy.

&nbsp;

What can explain this phenomenon? Basically it is the original package holiday destination. In the 1960s the mayor of the city persuaded the government to give them permission to let tourists wear bikinis (something frowned upon by locals at the time). The rest is history.

&nbsp;

In 2015 the town even applied for UNESCO World Heritage status! Whilst that might seem comical to some, the bid attracted considerable media attention for the resort globally, all no doubt driving further tourism.

&nbsp;

Over the years the resort has taught the travel &amp; tourism industry globally a great deal. For better and worse, how to do things properly has often been learnt the hard way right there on those golden sands. Everything that worries and inspires destinations today – infrastructure developments, permits and regulation, local taxes and investment decisions, and coping with over-tourism – all this and more the city had survived before even 1980.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Whatever you think about the city of Benidorm, if you work in the travel &amp; tourism industry you really must visit the city where it all started. There´s nothing like first-hand market research to know your customers better: 11 million visitors can´t be wrong.

&nbsp;

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The Republic of Benidorm? The former fishing village outranks many nations 


	With this partnership Hotelbeds Group will increase its activity portfolio, particularly in fast growing Asia Pacific market, as well as across 100 countries globally.
	Suppliers and clients of Group will benefit from simplified contracting process and more opportunities for last minute &amp; in-destination bookings.


Palma, 24 July 2018. Hotelbeds Group, the world’s leading bedbank, has unveiled a strategic partnership with Rezdy, the Sydney-based independent booking software provider specialising in tours &amp; attractions, to increase further the volume of real-time bookings for experiences globally on the Group’s platform and expand the Group’s global portfolio of tours &amp; activities.

The partnership will immediately bring an additional&nbsp;1,000 plus&nbsp;activities to Hotelbeds Group´s Ancillary Bank business, with that number increasing progressively over a one year period to integrate a percentage of the 65,000 total number of activities available on the Rezdy platform globally.

As a first stage of the integration the Group has already integrated activities from Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm and Barcelona. As the integration progresses, the Group will include more destinations in its platform, expanding to include Asia Pacific – where Rezdy has a particularly strong product base, having originally been founded in Australia. The high proportion of Asia Pacific content presents a significant opportunity for Hotelbeds Group given its high-growth potential, where recently year-on-year growth has been strong.

Director of Ancillary Bank at Hotelbeds Group, Javier Arévalo, said “We are very pleased to announce our partnership with a leading company such as Rezdy, whose real-time booking solutions are transforming the industry at a time when offering mobile booking tools is absolutely critical. This has come about as a result of our listening to the needs of the market, where we hear people talking about an ever-increasing demand for better technology to manage efficiently tours &amp; activities bookings – as well as increasing distribution opportunities. This alliance with Rezdy in particular boosts our presence in the Asia Pacific region, one of the most important and fastest growing marketplaces worldwide. ”

Chris Atkin, CEO of Rezdy added: “This partnership with the world’s leading bedbank will grow our distribution network of travel intermediaries, giving our customers access to new distribution channels and a variety of booking segments that might otherwise be difficult to reach. This is great news for the tour, attraction and activity companies we work with, as every business is naturally always looking for ways to increase their bookings and grow their business without greatly increasing their workload.”

The Australia-based company specializes in online booking integration with suppliers, including the ability to handle increasingly important mobile bookings, resource allocation, customer details and payment gateways. Its intuitive software enables improved management of tours, activities, rentals, charters, shuttles, and tickets. Thanks to this integration the Group will be able to offer to their clients a real time availability for products. This alliance will also enhance the overall sales process and will offer a more scalable contracting model, reducing the time to market for all new products available on Hotelbeds Group’s distribution channels – which includes Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, Tourico Holidays and GTA along with local expert channels.&nbsp; It will also open up more opportunities for last minute, in-destination bookings and will enable a better guest experience for ticket validation.

Hotelbeds Group’s Ancillary Bank is responsible for the distribution of in-destination and in-origin ancillary products (excursions, attraction tickets, theme parks &amp; resorts, cruises, rent-a-car products) for the independent traveller through online platforms to retail travel agents, wholesalers, tour operators, airlines, OTAs and hospitality industry partners such as tourism boards and other in-destination points of sale. Ancillary Bank provides a global portfolio to travel industry players aiming to leverage their customer base to gain additional revenues from cross-selling ancillary products; it also distributes through two sub-brands: Carnect, the car rental distribution specialist that offers 500+ car rental suppliers, and Isango!, a leading B2C tours and activities website.

About Hotelbeds Group

Hotelbeds Group is a business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally and the leading bedbank worldwide.

The Group’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 mainly under the Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, Tourico Holidays and GTA brands, the company connects over 60,000 travel intermediaries across more than 140 source markets globally with travel providers in 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 Group, followed by GTA also joining the Group in October; both companies remain independent brands whilst they are being integrated into the Group.

The Group is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Follow us on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds-group

Twitter: @hotelbedsgroup

Facebook: @HotelbedsGroup

Hotelbeds Group Media contacts

Arenalia Comunicación&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 

Laia Jardí · ljardi@arenalia.com

Cristina Vilà · cvila@arenalia.com

Tel. +34 660 201 020&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Group 

PR, Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Antonia Aguiló · a.aguilo@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;

&nbsp;


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Hotelbeds Group announces ‘real-time’ booking partnership with Rezdy


	Lauren Volcheff Atlass appointed to lead Wholesale Sales for the Americas
	Regional management team reporting to Atlass also confirmed
	Progress towards complete integration of the three brands: Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays and GTA continues


Orlando, Florida– July 18th, 2018 - Hotelbeds Group, the world’s leading bedbank and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally, has today provided a further &nbsp;update on the appointment of senior management positions across its Group.

Lauren Volcheff Atlass has been appointed the Regional Director of Wholesale Sales for the whole of the Americas, reporting directly to Sam Turner, the Wholesale Sales &amp; Sourcing Director with global responsibility. In this role, she will be responsible for managing relationships and driving growth with wholesale clients, including tour operators, airlines, points redemption schemes, online travel agents, and re-sellers. Previously, Atlass had been with Tourico Holidays, which joined Hotelbeds Group in the summer of 2017, for over 10 years and was most recently the Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing.

The Group has additionally confirmed the regional management positions that will report into Atlass, combining the best talent from across the three bedbanks, Tourico Holidays, GTA, and Hotelbeds. Deborah Kenton will be the Regional Manager for North America – East, Sevil Arnavutoglu Le will cover North America – West, Emmanuel Labstida has been appointed to Central Latin America, and Alexandre Vanzella for Latin America – South, all as Regional Managers; meanwhile Lev Koutamonov will take the role of Regional Manager of Client Technical Solutions in the Americas.

Sam Turner, Wholesale Sales &amp; Sourcing Director at Hotelbeds Group said, “I am very pleased to see Lauren taking the lead for Wholesale Sales in the Americas, her expertise and close relationships with the leading players in the region will be pivotal to further the development of our Group’s market footprint in the Americas. I am also excited to see such a strong new integrated team representing our Group in the region and look forward to working with them.”

Lauren Volcheff Atlass, Regional Director of Wholesale Sales in the Americas said, “This is a hugely exciting time for our clients, suppliers and industry. We already have positive results from the integration of our three bedbanks to benefit our clients and suppliers. We are proud to say we are now able to connect over 60,000 travel intermediaries with over 170,000 hotels, 22,000 transfer routes, 16,000 activities and 16 cruise lines worldwide via our enlarged Group’s technology platform.”

Since the beginning of this year, Hotelbeds Group has been in the process of selecting the best profiles across the three companies, at both senior management and management levels, with the objective to better cater for the needs of the Group’s expanded operations as a result from the integration among Tourico Holidays, GTA, and Hotelbeds.&nbsp; So far around 350 appointments have been made.

Following the decision announced late last year of the selection of the IT platform and architecture for the enlarged organization, recently the Group confirmed that all of its bedbank brands – Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, Tourico Holidays, and GTA – will all be transitioned onto the same technology platform by the close of this year.

&nbsp;

About Hotelbeds Group

Hotelbeds Group is the world´s leading bedbank.

The Group’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 mainly under the Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, Tourico Holidays and GTA brands, the company connects over 60,000 travel intermediaries across more than 185 source markets globally with travel providers in over 200 countries representing more than 170,000 hotels, 22,000 transfer routes and 16,000 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 Group, followed by GTA also joining the Group in October; both companies remain independent brands whilst they are being integrated into the Group.

The Group is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds-group

And twitter: @HotelbedsGroup

Follow APItude on twitter: @Hotelbeds_API

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Group Media contact

Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Alicia Orta Stanford

alicia.ortastanford@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;

Pete Bahrenburg

pete@tailwindpr.com


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Hotelbeds Group confirms Americas appointments for Wholesale Sales team

Long before the World Wide Web was a twinkle in the eye of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, almost everybody accepted that ‘connections make the world go round’. But the digital revolution has given a whole new significance to this saying. Nowadays if you are selling sherry, software or sunglasses, ´connectivity’ is the talked-about term.

Despite being essentially a pre-internet, commodifiable thing – a hotel room remains a physical experience (or at least until Virtual Reality revolutionizes everything) – in the modern world accommodation ultimately gets converted into something digital for sales purposes. Leaving aside the remaining old-school hotels who still accept a traditional contracting of allotments and rates with the inky reservation ledger sat in the reception, the majority of the hoteliers nowadays look for electronic systems that allow them to be totally dynamic with their pricing and availability in order to maximize their results.

And this is where the world of hotels meets the world of connectivity. Like it or not, the hotel must connect dynamically with the outside world to sell the room: revenue management systems, payments, cancellation fees, amendments, loyalty schemes and more. This all requires very sophisticated processes – and far too often this is where the wires started to get crossed, both technically and commercially. In the beginning connectivities were still using physical bookings that were delivered with the help of technological partners such as channel managers. Today the connectivity is purely virtual, with bookings being a digital message between two connected systems.&nbsp;

In fact a successful connection today is less about the messages themselves and more about a company’s ability and willingness to match business practices and philosophies. More often the specifications match but the business rules are very different. In our case, where the role we play is as a distributor, the challenge is to convince our clients to adapt its way of working, its systems, and its way of distribution into fully digital connectivity bookings.

Recently, due to my new role working in the Suppliers Connectivity Partnerships team, I was delighted to have been chosen as Hotelbeds Group’s representative for HEDNA, the Hotel Electronic Network Association. HEDNA is the only global forum exclusively dedicated to the advancement of hospitality distribution through strategic collaboration and knowledge sharing.

HEDNA works to optimize the use of technologies while influencing the development of current and emerging distribution channels. My goal is to make Hotelbeds Group a very active member of HEDNA, since we have a lot to say in this debate.

Among the multiple forums they organize I recently attended HEDNA Lisbon, where many perspectives on the state of global distribution were featured across three days of keynotes and deep-dive panel discussions.

During many conversations hoteliers shared their thoughts on how hotels and vendors can work together better to emphasize the mutual benefits of a successful relationship and how together we could improve the distribution channel.

Whilst as connectivity evolves it brings a whole new set of issues and challenges, the end-consumer is always the primary beneficiary. We all benefit from an easy to review and wide online product offering, as well as from the cost savings and efficiencies generated through automation.

All these benefits certainly make it more worthwhile than ever before to take the trouble to connect. After all, what is the opposite of being connected? Isolation is not an answer in a world where even your fridge and lawnmower are now connected to each other.&nbsp;


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Crossed wires won´t solve the hotel sector’s connectivity challenge 


	España, debido a la importancia y tamaño del mercado,&nbsp; se ha divido en tres zonas de la mano de tres directores regionales: Paolo Boiano, Cosme Maíz y Esmeralda Coll
	Junto a los Regional Managers y con el fin de ofrecer a las agencias una mayor atención comercial y más cercana, se han creado tres posiciones: los Strategic Account Managers, Key Account Managers y Sales Executives


&nbsp;

Palma, 12 de julio de 2018. - Bedsonline, el proveedor global líder de acomodación y productos complementarios exclusivo para agencias de viaje, ha anunciado hoy su nueva estructura comercial en España.

Debido a la importancia y tamaño del mercado español, la región se ha divido en tres zonas de la mano de tres directores regionales de perfil senior. Se trata de Paolo Boiano, que ha sido nombrado Regional Manager de España Centro y a su vez gestiona los clientes estratégicos –además de ser responsable del mercado portugués-; Cosme Maíz, Regional Manager de la zona Norte, Sur y Este de España; y finalmente Esmeralda Coll, que se ha unido al equipo de Bedsonline tras varios años como Regional Manager de Hotelbeds para el Centro y Este de Europa, será responsable del equipo de Sales Executives de la región de Iberia.

Los tres Regional Managers cuentan a su vez con un equipo comercial sólido formado por Strategic Account Managers (SAM), Key Account Managers basados localmente y Sales Executives, que se encuentran en la oficina central situada en Palma.

Para gestionar las cuentas estratégicas y grupos de gestión, Bedsonline ha tomado la decisión de promocionar a Javier Galí y a Dídac Camps, anteriores comerciales de la zona de Madrid y Barcelona respectivamente, como nuevos Strategic Account Managers.

Con esta nueva estructura, la empresa persigue acercarse a su amplia cartera de clientes, formada por más de 8.000 agencias de viajes en el territorio español, ofreciendo un asesoramiento íntegro, aumentando las visitas comerciales, y de esta manera ofrecer a las agencias una atención mucho más personalizada.

Carlos Feliu, director de ventas de Bedsonline de Iberia y UK, ha destacado: “Es un placer dar a conocer nuestra nueva estructura en España y querría dar la enhorabuena a Javier y a Dídac pos sus nuevas posiciones como Strategic Account Managers. Ambas promociones se suman al objetivo de Bedsonline de ofrecer la máxima cobertura comercial a clientes estratégicos en España pudiendo así focalizarnos a la labor de consultoría. Gracias a la ampliación de nuestro equipo durante los últimos años, podemos ofrecer un servicio personalizado a cada cliente y proporcionar las soluciones que más se ajusten a sus necesidades.”

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 32.000 agencias repartidos entre 30 países. 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 200 destinos, 24.000 rutas de traslados en 140 países y 18.000 actividades en 120 países–, por un servicio personalizado local y 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 proveedor global de servicios para la industria del turismo a nivel mundial, con sede en Palma de Mallorca.


Síguenos en Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds-group

https://www.linkedin.com/company/bedsonline

Y Twitter: @HotelbedsGroup

&nbsp;

PR, Media &amp; Corporate Affairs

Antonia Aguiló

a.aguilo@hotelbeds.com

Tel.&nbsp; +34 638 874 038&nbsp;


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Bedsonline anuncia su nueva estructura comercial en España


When it came to travel, the question of ´business or pleasure´ used to have a binary answer. Not anymore.&nbsp; Nowadays two out of three travelers whose&nbsp;primary&nbsp;purpose is business&nbsp;seek&nbsp;to find some space&nbsp;for a bit of&nbsp;pleasure,&nbsp;according to the&nbsp;UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.&nbsp;

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Those&nbsp;outraged by&nbsp;the&nbsp;marketing-influenced invention of new words should turn away now: this new trend is known as “bleisure”. Yes, that’s a Frankenstein version of&nbsp;business+leisure,&nbsp;almost certainly invented by (or for) a&nbsp;millennial.&nbsp;
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This trend can be partly explained by the steady increase in&nbsp;urban tourism,&nbsp;as we all want just more than&nbsp;the&nbsp;traditional&nbsp;sun and beach options.&nbsp;As cities become more desirable as destinations it´s only logical that those&nbsp;passing through on business might want to take advantage.&nbsp; The formula is&nbsp;as&nbsp;simple as it is attractive: work by day,&nbsp;then&nbsp;after work see a few sights and enjoy the local culture.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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Unsurprisingly, perhaps for this very reason&nbsp;New&nbsp;York, London, Toronto, Paris,&nbsp;Stockholm, San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kong, Chicago and&nbsp;Tokyo&nbsp;are the preferred cities for&nbsp;business travelers according to&nbsp;the&nbsp;‘Cities of Opportunity’&nbsp;study&nbsp;carried out&nbsp;by Price Waterhouse Cooper.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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But&nbsp;has&nbsp;the travel industry&nbsp;been&nbsp;able to adapt its product portfolio&nbsp;to this new&nbsp;breed of&nbsp;traveler’s&nbsp;needs?&nbsp;Hotels seem&nbsp;to have&nbsp;quickly&nbsp;understood&nbsp;this new trend: urban hotels are now more focused on offering exclusive and tailor-made experiences, have adapted&nbsp;their&nbsp;menus to&nbsp;more&nbsp;sophisticated palates, and&nbsp;now&nbsp;include sports&nbsp;facilities.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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In this sense, ancillary&nbsp;product&nbsp;offerings&nbsp;play a key role.&nbsp;Our Group&nbsp;has also rapidly adapted its ancillary portfolio&nbsp;to help hoteliers to adapt their urban&nbsp;property offerings. The most recent&nbsp;example&nbsp;has been&nbsp;the City&nbsp;Expert&nbsp;partnership&nbsp;agreement,&nbsp;which will allow both companies to offer a specialized concierge service within hotels.&nbsp;
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This model for the distribution of tourist products and services comes in addition to those that the Group’s&nbsp;bedbank&nbsp;already offers to the hotel industry:&nbsp;Hotelextras&nbsp;B2B for hotel receptions, along with widgets and white label solutions for hotels&nbsp;working&nbsp;in the direct channel.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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The World Travel &amp; Tourism Council (WTTC)&nbsp;and Travelport&nbsp;estimate that&nbsp;business&nbsp;travel sector&nbsp;will grow by&nbsp;3.7% annually&nbsp;to&nbsp;2027&nbsp;as new tech fuels take-up&nbsp;rates.&nbsp;This means that&nbsp;the&nbsp;whole travel&nbsp;sector, both hoteliers and&nbsp;distributors but also intermediaries, must&nbsp;adapt its DNA&nbsp;–&nbsp;just&nbsp;as&nbsp;business+leisure&nbsp;travellers&nbsp;morphed into one&nbsp;creature – to respond to the needs of this new traveler segment.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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Those who don´t adapt their offering may well find themselves losing their place on the travel map. And if there is one industry in which being on the map (and in the guide!) is essential, it is travel &amp; tourism.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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What adjective best describes a business traveler on their afternoon off?  

Happy 242nd birthday to the United States! Tomorrow is a national holiday as America celebrates one of its most important days of the year, the Fourth of July (also known as Independence Day).

But whilst the focus for Americans of all ages across the States is to celebrate by hosting parades, holding barbeques, attending picnics or concerts, and of course &nbsp;enjoying fireworks, travel plays an integral part in achieving that – and for some travel is an objective in itself.

This year alone, 46.9 million Americans are expected to travel over 50 miles away from home in celebration of Independence Day. That’s 5% more than last year and the highest number recorded for over 18 years, according to the American Automobile Association. That appears to be simply because many are taking advantage of the holiday falling on a Wednesday, allowing people to extend this weekend passed all the way up to Thursday morning with just two days of annual vacation allowance.

As a matter of fact many Americans will be travelling much further than just 50 miles from home. According to travel expert Patrick Surry, 14 million seats are scheduled to depart from domestic airports for the four busiest travel days over the period, which are between Friday June 29 through to Monday July 2nd; each ticket bought averages at about $374 for a round-trip, meaning that roughly $5.2 billion will have been spent on flights alone as a result of the 4th of July. What a great time for the travel space!

At Hotelbeds Group, we have identified that the most frequented destination booked via our platform for this Fourth of July continues to be, at both a domestic and international level, Orlando, FL. Our beloved city of Orlando – where the Hotelbeds Group regional offices have over 500 staff – each year hosts some of the most beautiful firework shows from all over the States.

The Red Hot &amp; Boom, which is Orlando’s most popular fireworks show attracts over 100,000 people each year, and let’s not forget our Disney World Fireworks, the Magic Kingdom is very popular for hosting beautiful fireworks shows with music on both July 3rd and July 4th.

Plus, this year we have great news for our travelers coming to Orlando: Walt Disney World just this past weekend opened its newest attraction, Toy Story Land, at its Hollywood Studios park.

Orlando isn’t the only place where travelers who have booked using our Group’s platform are going. Las Vegas, Paris, Rome, and New York, in descending order, are also filling-up with American travelers during these dates.

Only when you start to look at the complete journey of a tourist experience – and realize that not every tourist experience involves a beach, or even a flight – do we begin to see how big the travel &amp; tourism industry really is.&nbsp; That firework bang or gasoline going into that car could explain why 10% of the world’s GDP and jobs comes directly from travel &amp; tourism – and why America makes up such a big part of that. What better way to celebrate this Fourth of July than doing your bit for the economy?


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Stars, Stripes, and Travel – many celebrations represent a journey this 4th July  

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	Group increases reservation of Russian hotels by 100% compared to same period last year – with some source markets increasing by up to factors of seven
	Spain, Mexico and the UK are the top source markets using the Group´s platform to book Russian accommodation during the FIFA World Cup 2018
	However, domestic bookings from Russian nationals during World Cup period have decreased


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Palma, 26th June 2018. Hotelbeds Group, the world´s leading bedbank, has announced a surge in reservations of over 100% for Russian hotels via its bedbank platform due to the FIFA World Cup tournament from June 14 to July 15.

According to Hotelbeds Group’s latest figures for bookings made via its bedbank brands – Hotelbeds, GTA, and Tourico Holidays – the Mexican and Brazilian source markets have experienced the biggest growth, with both having increased seven-fold the overall number of reservations for Russia[1].

Based on these same figures Spanish nationals are the top market travelling to Russia during this period, followed by Mexicans, Britons, United States nationals, Israelis, Chinese, Indians and Brazilians.

Meanwhile it should be noted that the number of reservations from Russian nationals during this World Cup period has decreased 26% compared to the previous year.

Moscow, which will host twelve of the games, has proved the most popular destination for reservations made via the Group´s platform, almost tripling bookings in this period compared to the same period last year.

Sam Turner, Wholesale Sales &amp; Sourcing Director at Hotelbeds Group commented: “We are very pleased to announce that we have increased by 100% our room night reservations in Russia for this World Cup, exceeding our expectations by some way – particularly for source markets like Brazil and Mexico where we have grown Russian bookings by a factor of seven.

“The Russian government has lived up to expectations by putting into practice very thorough and organised protocols for this event. We have noticed an increase in investment in the main Russian cities, mainly by refurbishing and upgrading the overall standard of properties. It can also be noted that there have been significant investments in construction. Additionally many investments in infrastructure have been made such as highways, airports and points of interests, amongst others.

“Russia has more than 5,000 hotels, a figure that increases as hotel chains inaugurate new establishments every year and we consider it a promising and growing market for both inbound and internal hotel reservations.”




[1] These figures are measured by room nights and are based on bookings made only via Hotelbeds Group’s bedbank platform, which includes the brands Hotelbeds, GTA, and Tourico Holidays.

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About Hotelbeds Group

Hotelbeds Group is the world´s leading bedbank and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally.

The Group’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 mainly under the Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, Tourico Holidays and GTA brands, the company connects over 60,000 travel intermediaries across more than 185 source markets globally with travel providers in over 200 countries representing more than 170,000 hotels, 22,000 transfer routes and 16,000 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 Group, followed by GTA also joining the Group in October; both companies remain independent brands whilst they are being integrated into the Group.

The Group is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

&nbsp;

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotelbeds-group

And twitter: @HotelbedsGroup

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Group Media contacts

Arenalia Comunicación&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 

Laia Jardí · ljardi@arenalia.com

Cristina Vilà · cvila@arenalia.com

Tel. +34 660 201 020&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Hotelbeds Group Media contact

PR, Media Relations &amp; Corporate Affairs

Antonia Aguiló · a.aguilo@hotelbeds.com

&nbsp;


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