Skift Forum Europe Preview: Hotelbeds CEO on Becoming No. 1 in Bedbanks Sector
Photo Credit: Joan Vilà, executive chairman of Hotelbeds Group. The company recently sold one of business units to TUI Group. Hotelbeds Group
Skift Take
Business-to-business platforms are largely invisible to the traveling public but they have a big role to play behind the scenes. Hotelbeds Group sees an opportunity to consolidate within the sector.
In the back and forth between hotels and online travel agencies, there’s a third party that often gets forgotten about: accommodation wholesalers (also known as bedbanks).
These business-to-business companies operate behind the scenes connecting up travel agencies and tour operators with hotels across the globe.
They are especially important for the long tail of travel agencies and hotels beyond the likes of Expedia, Booking.com, Marriott and Hilton.
In recent years, a series of mergers and acquisitions has brought a sleepy sector to life producing a new number one – albeit with only 15 percent market share – in Hotelbeds Group.
First, its previous owner TUI Group sold the company to private equity company Cinven Capital Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Then the newly independent Hotelbeds group bought up two o
