Video: Hotelbeds Executive Chairman on Fallout From the Online Booking Battleground


Skift Take

Do hotels really need to be flagged under a big brand if online travel agencies are most effective at selling rooms? Hotelbeds' Joan Vila thinks hotel chains may be forced to wind down some brands that aren't succeeding in the marketplace.

Most of the attention in online booking goes to the trials and tribulations of huge global hotel chains as they move to battle each other and online booking sites. But according to Hotelbeds executive chairman Joan Vila, the movement of hospitality companies into adjacent verticals shows that consolidation and competition have slowed down growth in the hotel sector. Speaking at Skift Forum Europe in Berlin, Vila said that wholesalers have increasing relevance in a space where the long tail of hotels want to sell the