- North American source market sees nearly 25% growth in room night sales in the wholesale channel during the financial year. [1]
- Following Tourico Holidays and GTA joining Hotelbeds in 2017, North America has become the second largest wholesale source market for the company worldwide.
Hotelbeds has confirmed today strong growth for its North American source market wholesale business during the 2017/18 financial year.[2]
Throughout the year, the Hotelbeds wholesale business has increased the number of hotel room nights sold in the North American market, comprised of the United States and Canada, by almost 25% on a year-on-year basis.
Since the acquisition of the Tourico Holidays and GTA bedbank brands in 2017 by Hotelbeds, the North American source market has emerged as the second largest for the company worldwide.
This strong growth and the number two source market status has been achieved by focusing on two core factors that differentiates the Hotelbeds offering. Firstly, Hotelbeds’ commitment to driving mutual incremental sales growth and boosting margins for partners by offering the most attractive and unique hotel content at the best possible prices; and secondly by providing partners with cost effective and cutting edge, revenue generating technology such as APItude, the Hotelbeds API that offers faster response times to drive conversions.
The Hotelbeds wholesale business line works with tour operators, airlines, points redemption programmes, loyalty schemes, MICE operators, and online travel agencies to provide them with accommodation and ancillary solutions via API connectivity.
Lauren Volcheff Atlass, who was confirmed as earlier this year as Regional Director of Wholesale Sales in the Americas, commented “It has been a very exciting journey over the last 18 months as we have overcome many challenges to create the world’s leading bedbank for the benefit of our partners everywhere.
“It’s incredibly exciting to be able to offer partners our expanded portfolio of unmissable deals – with over 170,000 hotels now available, most directly contracted – and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
“This strong growth acts as confirmation of the faith our partners have placed in us and I’d like to thank them for that trust, as well as everyone in the North American sales and global sourcing teams who have worked so hard to make this happen.”
This news also follows the recent announcement that Hotelbeds will acquire HolidayTaxis Group, a leading provider of high quality, cost-effective transfer and wider mobility solutions. The acquisition emphasizes the company’s commitment to growing its ancillary offering for its Beyond the Bed business line, the area of Hotelbeds that includes the sourcing and distribution of transfers, activities, tickets, theme parks, car hire, travel insurance, and specialist tours.
In October, the company announced the consolidation of all wholesale brands, GTA, Tourico, and Hotelbeds under the Hotelbeds name, ultimately phasing out the Tourico Holidays and GTA brands. Moreover, Hotelbeds Group and its commercial wholesale brand will both simply go by the name of ‘Hotelbeds’.
[1] These booking figures are comprised of the United States and Canada.
[2] All figures refer to bookings made via the company’s wholesale bedbank platforms – made up of Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays and GTA – during the 2017 / 18 financial year ended 30 September.
