Articles tagged “wholesalers”

Hotels aren't doing enough to keep their wholesale rates off of smaller retail travel sites. That is damaging to Expedia's effort to gather the best prices online.

The whole airline consolidator business model lends itself to cutting corners and difficulties in enforcing contractual rules.

Hotelbeds, which reportedly hired bankers a couple of months ago to ready an initial public offering, has appointed a new general counsel, and the hotel wholesaler touted her experience in…

It's an occasion to pause and appreciate the accomplishment of Joan Vilà, who created Hotelbeds and led it to become the world's largest bedbank. But looking ahead, Hotelbeds must rev up its digital metabolism.

Private equity firm Certares is leveraging its brand assets the way a Booking Holdings might do when Booking.com shares inventory with sister company Priceline. This isn't the usual private equity playbook.

Will Airbnb continue on its magic carpet ride after it reports its first earnings as a public company? Does the Airbnb brand beat Booking Holdings' real-world businesses, including hotels, flights and metasearch? Or has the market already decided that question?

Hoteliers sent about $50 billion of rooms a year through wholesalers in normal times. Expedia Group and WebBeds want to take larger shares of that market. But private equity-backed companies like Hotelbeds and Fastpayhotels see an opportunity, too.

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?

Mondee's acquisition of fast-growing CTS (Cosmopolitan Travel Service) makes the group North America's largest airfare wholesaler by market size. Notably, Mondee could afford the deal thanks to fresh backing by TCW Group, a giant asset management firm. Lots of institutional money is seeking opportunities in travel this year.

The collapse last week of Amoma suggests that an industrywide crackdown on online travel agencies that violate hotel contracts is getting serious. For example, many hoteliers have wanted Hotelbeds to crack down on bad behavior by some agencies. The distributor of wholesale rates has responded by taking action.