Articles tagged “bedbanks”

Hotel companies pay billions a year to online travel agencies and other distributors. Our estimate of how much is eye-opening. So is hoteliers' naiveté about how sustainable their level of spending is.

Few believed Hopper's statement in July that losing the Expedia partnership would have no impact. Now we know that Hopper began working on hotel deals to make itself whole and expand.

There is a reference to artificial intelligence by nearly all the startups listed. It is being used to strengthen the services for even the seemingly most basic types of consumer apps.

A Shenzhen, China-based hotel bedbank that does a big chunk of its business outside the country is seeing travel agency and tour operator clients increasingly opt for both non-refundable rates…

Breaking down the tour operator supply chain reveals interesting insights about why some tour operators succeed — and others don't — and how so many seemingly different companies all fit together under one big tent.

The hotel room bedbank Hotelbeds confirmed on Thursday that it had received a loan of about $435 million (€400 million), boosting its cash cushion. But will cautious travelers be as interested in the company's typically non-refundable rates and otherwise typically restricted offers during months of uncertainty about possible travel restrictions?

In an I-just-saw-an-elephant-fly moment, Marriott International will be directing businesses to Expedia Group to access certain Marriott wholesale rates. Bedbanks, tour operators, and smaller online travel agencies that play games with room rates are put on notice.

Consumers often wonder where they can find the lowest rate for a hotel room online. Oddly enough, a hotel's managers may not know the answer. Mysteriously discounted rates from small sites and apps are popping up more often online, even in markets like the U.S. where a few hotel groups dominate.

Hotel chains and airlines have formed alliances, why not bedbanks? The first bedbank alliance by four Asian players may be the first of its kind, but what’s more important is whether it can work. After all, if it looks so logical and easy, why didn’t anyone do it sooner?

The acquisition of Destinations of the World seals WebBeds as the second largest B2B bedbank player, but incumbent Hotelbeds need not worry – for a very long time.