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Did you know that Hotelbeds consolidates access to the world’s largest portfolio of travel agent customers?

Yes, that’s right: Bedsonline, part of Hotelbeds, gives you access to over 50,000 travel agents around the world, a channel that is fully compatible and incremental to your direct distribution strategy.

But why does the travel agency channel of Hotelbeds operate under a different brand? 15 years ago we established the Bedsonline brand to focus exclusively on one segment: travel agents.

By keeping this exclusive focus and separate brand identity the Bedsonline team is able to provide the best content, platform and booking experience, both pre and post for our travel agent partners, creating a service that is 100% designed expressly for the professional travel agent.

We’ve developed the best tools and technology designed to meet the needs of the modern day travel agent, including leading search functionality, filtering tools, comparison options, specialist PDF export functionality and so much more. In addition, we’ve deployed teams with local knowledge across the globe, who speak the local language and know the local culture to support our travel agent customers globally.

Over the years – and with the recent merger of TravelBound and TravelCube into the Bedsonline brand – we now have over 50,000 travel agency partners in over 100 markets globally.

This means that our hotel partners around the world have access to this valuable&nbsp; channel of travel buyers that provide bookings from guests who book further in advance, cancel less, pay more for a room then spend more in-destination, and also come back more frequently.

So what should you do if you are a hotel partner of Hotelbeds that wants to distribute via this channel? Absolutely nothing: you are already available to Bedsonline’s 50,000 customers. But if you’d like to speak with us about providing exclusive rates and deals for this special audience then we’d be pleased to hear from you.


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Access high value guests via the world’s biggest travel agency portfolio

Did you know that there are literally billions and billions of pounds, dollars, euros and other currencies laying around in unspent loyalty and reward scheme points cards across the globe? Imagine if some of that money could be spent on booking your hotel.

Well the good news is that almost all of these schemes offer members the chance to buy travel with their points: trains, planes, automobiles and most importantly for you…hotels.

We all know the most famous cards for our respective home geographies. But beyond the top household name cards in each country or region there are thousands of smaller such programmes that range from credit card schemes and air miles points, right through to employer benefits schemes – that’s where employees get discounts on products or vouchers as part of their pay, or simply for a Christmas bonus.

But why should you start priorisiting guest bookings from this channel? A guest is a guest, after all? Firstly you should keep in mind that such bookings don’t compete with your dot com or existing online travel agency partner. Rather these are complementary bookings from a channel that has no overlap with any other sales source: someone purchasing via these platforms is generally speaking not considering other alternative routes to purchase. And if you work with overseas schemes, guess what, they give you non-domestic bookings too.

Secondly, keep in mind that those booking via such platforms are not so sensitive about the price. This means higher yields for your hotel. Why would that be? They are not booking in pounds but instead in ‘points’ – in an environment where one point doesn’t always equal one pound – thus making the conversion and association with hard cash value difficult; additionally, often they simply wish to spend their points before they expire, and people in a hurry are not so concerned by value; and finally, because the choice of hotels is normally much more limited, meaning you have much less competition.

Overall our research – based on analysing the 50 million room nights we helped hoteliers sell last year around the world via our business-to-business channel – shows that bookings made via points and loyalty schemes also generally deliver higher value guests, when compared to the online travel agency channel or even the dot com. What do we mean by that? Basically such guests book further in advance, cancel less, stay for longer, and spend more once in the hotel.

Can you imagine a better customer? Yes, you might say, one that comes back again! Loyalty is the name of the game if you are a reputable hotelier. But it turns out that guests who book via niche channels, such as a reward scheme, are also more loyal: they come back more often.

So how does a hotel go about actually getting bookings from this channel? Can an independent hotel do this alone, or is this really just for big chains only? Like any distribution channel you need to dedicate time and resources to do this properly. But the good news is that you don’t need to be a big chain, or even have multiple properties. At its most simple you contact the big scheme providers and start from there, no doubt they´ll all be pleased to hear from you. But clearly that would be time-consuming and complex, plus without experience of negotiating such deals you are unlikely to get the best arrangement.

An easier alternative however is to work with a business-to-business distribution partner such as a bedbank or channel manager that offers access to many points’ redemption, loyalty and employee benefits schemes. As mentioned before, there are tens of thousands of points schemes in the UK alone and perhaps millions across the globe – so you are never going to come close to dealing with them all.

Not only should such a bedbank or channel manager partner be able to negotiate the best deal on your behalf, they should also have the technology solutions in place to implement this. This route would simplify matters for you and allow you to focus on what you do best: providing the guests with a memorable experience upon arrival.

Either way, the next time you hand over your reward card give some thought to the bigger reward on offer for your hotel: points don’t just win prizes, they also earn you guests.


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Hoteliers don’t need a reward programme to benefit from loyalty bookings 

A group of rhinos is a crash and collection of crows is a murder. But what do you call a group of hotel accommodation buyers – tour operators, airlines, and points redemption schemes – when they all huddle-up together in one room?

For our partners at Hotelbeds the answer this year is easy: MarketHub.

That’s right, this year we’re again holding our renowned MarketHub events for our most important customers – and invitations are the most sought after in the travel industry calendar.

As on previous occasions, we´ll be bringing together for a three day event the senior decision makers of the leading tour operator, airline, travel agency, and loyalty and reward partners globally in a dynamic environment of networking, learning and fun.

This year we´ll be hosting three regional MarketHubs and each one will be attended by between 350 and 600 guests. The Americas event will take place in Cancun from Tuesday 7 May 2019, the European event will take place from Tuesday 28 May, and the Asia-Pacific event will take place in Bali from Tuesday 22 October.

All three events will follow a similar format: kicking off with a cocktail dinner on the Tuesday evening, with the Wednesday and Thursday featuring a conference and trade show by day and exclusive entertainment by night.

Top speakers will be in attendance from some of the world’s leading hotel groups, as well as leading journalists and representatives from important industry bodies – all discussing the theme for this year: Distribution Re-Defined.

We are privileged to have as our hosts for the Americas event the new, luxurious Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres Resort, located in Costa de Mujeres, only a short journey from Cancun.

Additionally we are proud to confirm that our platinum partners for the event will be Disney Destinations, The Leading Hotels of the World, Wynn Encore Las Vegas, RCD Hotels, Accor Hotels, and Hilton.

Interested in finding out how to position your brand with the key decision makers of leading travel trade players at each event? Visit the website to find out about sponsorship opportunities.

Watch this space for more news as we confirm speakers and more details on the activities that will take place.


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MarketHub returns. Be a part of it! 

Social media is a major barrier for hoteliers when trying to attract Chinese guests – and the fact that all their social media channels, including the support and technical side, are in the Chinese language is only the beginning of the problem.

Just like in the West, Chinese travelers are heavily influenced by social media and the lifestyles promoted on them. Just like in the west content is king, in particular of the video and user generated type. And just like in the west, ‘influencers’ with millions of followers can make or break a destination or travel brand.

There is only one small but vital difference: all of the platforms or tools they use are completely different from ours.

At the core of the problem is the fact that the technology platforms they are used to using are all entirely different from ours. They can´t access Google, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even WhatsApp.

Instead they use three main social media channels: Baidu (a search engine), WeChat (WhatsApp on steroids) and Weibo (similar to Twitter).

This creates two headaches for hotels, or any inbound tourism service provider. Firstly how to market to Chinese audiences; and secondly for handling customer services via social media.

All of this means marketers don’t just have to create Chinese language content, the content has to be actually on Chinese only social media channels too. Often this requires different formats, a whole different way of thinking even.&nbsp; To make matters worse, they aren´t always so easy to set-up, as in some cases to start an official account you need to be a registered company in China.

Western hoteliers need to embrace the whole range of Chinese tools, Apps, websites and platforms that make up the travel ecosystem.&nbsp; In particular they should look closely at Qyer, with over 80 million subscribers, or the similarly popular Mafengwo. They are both comparable to TripAdvisor in that they feature user-generated content (UGC) and offer travel tips and advice – but additionally they actually sell travel content such as hotels and flights, so it is essential to have your accommodation available via their platforms.&nbsp;

Another popular site is Xiaohongshu, a cross between a shopping and lifestyle App popular with young travelers; it doesn´t yet have a hotel booking function but they can heavily influence the choice of destination for travel, so gaining a presence in its content is essential (again, video is key).&nbsp;

At Hotelbeds we have been deeply involved in the China market for over a decade and it is now our fourth biggest source market globally – mostly providing hotel bookings for our American and European hotel partners from our network of Chinese B2B accommodation buyers such as travel agents, airline websites and tour operators.

To engage with these local B2B audiences in China we too are present in Chinese social media channels and you can follow us on Weibo (‘Hotelbeds’) and WeChat (‘Hotelbeds Official’). Follow us to find out more?

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Can ‘WeChat’ with you? Engaging the Chinese travel trade online 

No one can deny that Asia has become the most important driving force when it comes to outbound tourism. To put this in numbers, outbound trips from Asia increased by 8% in 2018, according to World Travel Monitor – at a time when the world’s economy is barely in the low-digits .

A key contributor of this rapid growth has clearly been China, with an increase of outbound trips by 13% last year.

But the&nbsp;success story of&nbsp;Asia&nbsp;in the world of tourism&nbsp;is not only about&nbsp;Asians visiting other countries, but also&nbsp;about Westerners visiting Asia.&nbsp;Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos&nbsp;are&nbsp;already top destinations&nbsp;for travellers everywhere.

Therefore&nbsp;it should not be a surprise that this&nbsp;year at ITB Belin – which will take place from&nbsp;Wednesday&nbsp;6 to&nbsp;Sunday10 March – Malaysia will be the Official Partner Country.

Lots of travel experts will support me in saying that Malaysia is still a rough diamond in terms of tourism potential. But how closely should travel industry professionals keep an eye on it?

Very closely is the answer, the polishing is underway. According to data from our very own Hotelbeds booking platform, Malaysia is already the sixth biggest Asian source market.&nbsp; This year it is registering impressive growth rates, a trend that is expected to keep–up during the coming months.

Moreover, Malaysia aims to position itself as a top winter holiday destination and further develop the luxury market. Considering the favorable exchange rate it seems to be easy for the country to position itself a value-for-money destination.

As part of this drive, the government has focused on improving scheduled air services and chartered flights by partnering with various airlines, as well as building impressive tourist attractions. All in all, the country has fixed an ambitious target to attract 30 million tourists by 2020. Already no one doubts they´ll accomplish this.

Since Tourico Holidays and GTA became part of Hotelbeds we have become even stronger in the Asian markets, not least because this was a real strength for GTA. We know the market inside out and Malaysia is no exception, where we have access to travel buyers such as airline websites, tour operators, high-street travel agents or points redemption schemes.&nbsp;

As Malaysia becomes more important as a source market, we are able to offer our network of over 170,000 hotels around the world access to this hard-to-reach segment in order to attract non-competing books that complement their distribution mix (without needing to employ local sales teams). Next week we will be at ITB Berlin in Hall 9, Stand 110 with many of the Hotelbeds senior leaders from all over the globe. Drop by for further details about our renewed value proposition for hoteliers and our enhanced product portfolio not only in Asia but also worldwide.

Compared to some markets Malaysia might seem a rough diamond, but we know that it’s a real gem and look forward to watching it sparkle at ITB. See you all next week!


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Is Malaysia the rough diamond of Asia? Next week in the ITB spotlight it is set to sparkle

Do you remember the excitement of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992? I don’t, I wasn´t born for another three years. But I can relive the opening ceremony via Snapchat on my smart phone. That’s because I am from generation Z, also known as Zillenials.

Don’t confuse us with the those millennial oldies, born before 1994, who might have watched the Barcelona Olympics or the fall of the Berlin Wall live on TV from the comfort of their mother’s arms. We are authentic digital natives for whom Facebook or even Instagram was our first ever interaction with the wider world.

Nowadays, many travel companies are focusing and investigating the habits of the millennial generation, which is of course a big social transformation.&nbsp; But are we prepared for the great change that is already occurring as generation Z now start to spend travel dollars?

Generation Z does not conceive of a world without interconnected devices. We almost have our own language, with a philosophy of #YOLO (You Only Live Once). We’re less ‘mobile first’ and more ‘do I really need a computer?’.&nbsp; Multitasking through many screens doesn’t seem normal, it is normal.

All of this makes us, generation Z, really a different breed from millennials. They seem to me to simply have adapted to modern life quite well, but it’s not in their DNA. So what should travel industry leaders, many of whom were born way before even the millennials, be doing to adapt to this new demographic?

In fairness, the tourism sector has been one of the pioneers in adapting. But there is always room for improvement and travel companies looking to attract audiences under the age of 25 need to consider some of the following points.

First of all, the importance of social media cannot be emphasized enough. When it comes to travelling, social media and blogs are the first tool for inspiration, to learn more about the destination, and to know about the culture.&nbsp; YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest are the most used amongst my friends; Facebook and Twitter come a very clear second.

We also generally use the web as a resource for researching and planning all the logistics of a potential trip: budgets, seasonal variations, schedules and more – and we don’t rely on any one channel or resource.

There are also some important considerations when picking a destination or in-destination activity. We search for destinations where there is a good internet connection: no internet, no trip! We look for places where there is not much crowding so that photographs can be taken, again for sharing. We look for destinations with cultural richness. Many of us are concerned by the environmental impact of our trip too. And we look for couch-surfing opportunities too, not just Airbnb but any opportunity either save money or avoid impersonal hotels.

The habits and trends once we are in the destination are also quite different. We like to get involved in a destination, perhaps by asking for recommendations from the residents themselves. Or maybe doing some voluntary activities. We use of Google Maps and other navigational applications on our mobile to get around – and don’t rely on guides or even public signs, that's why the importance of having good internet connections is essential.

We only do ground transportation or other activities that are available via the collaborative economy, creating an added value to the travel experience – but also just making it easier: your phone does all the work for you.

And, needless to say, we photograph, video record, and then post on social media absolutely every aspect of the experience. This is important as this approach shapes the way we wish to experience something – if there’s not automatic Instagram friendly photo opportunity along the way, many of us will be disappointed no matter how great the experience itself. Equally, for the providers of these travel experiences they need to consider the potential for free marketing offered by all these generation Z customers.

Perhaps more than any other generation, the Gen Z, has a traveling spirit. We want to know new places, have jobs where we are allowed to travel, live new experiences and meet new people. Given the wide gap between millennials and generation Z, and the enormous distance between baby boomers and generation Z, travel industry companies should place much more importance on knowing what they do, how they communicate and where they go.

Maybe consider inviting this age group to come and experience your brand and provide feedback? In some cases, some brands might find that there are no willing participants for even a free experience: concerns about sustainability issues or political objections to the destination are not uncommon amongst some. Now that would be quite revealing, wouldn´t it?

Whilst Z might be the last letter in the alphabet, clearly further generations will come after us. But the moment we are, quite literally, the future. Make your journey our journey and we´ll be happy customers. But if you don’t, we´ll find our own way to travel.

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Travel services for younger audiences are all about Y…and not enough about Z

By Antonia Aguiló

The epic journey of Odysseus to return home after the Trojan wars took a mere 10 years. So what do you call a 15 year journey – one quite literally focusing on nothing more than travel itself?

That’s how old Bedsonline is this year and we’ve certainly not been travelling without moving. But the travel landscape has evolved beyond recognition and only by understanding those changes can we truly understand how Bedsonline came into existence and has developed.

Nonetheless, the concept of going on a holiday hasn’t really changed in the last 15 years. There’s still the aspiration, the need to fund it, planning, book, and travel. Once there, there’s the requirement to eat and sleep and the desire to explore. Sights such as the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum in Rome, or even Disneyland Resort haven’t gone out of fashion. And yet subtle and continual shifts have altered the travel experience in some very big ways.

To understand how it all began, however, we need to go back even further. The introduction of the internet turned an entire industry on its head as new brands emerged to take advantage of it. Going backwards in time, in 1996, inspired in part by US carrier Southwest, in Europe easyJet and Ryanair changed the European airline industry forever with their take on the low-cost airline model.

Then in 1999 some companies known as ‘metasearchers’ appeared on the scene with a different slant on the online travel shopping experience: travel search engines which collected fares from booking sites (agencies, airlines, hotels). In 2000 TripAdvisor was born and it is still by far the biggest social travel site on the web; it was (and still is) incredibly simple – travellers left reviews of hotels, fellow travellers found the reviews and could make a decision on whether to stay at a property based on what they'd read.

Responding to this rapidly changing environment, in 2004 a group of less than ten people within Hotelbeds started an amazing project called Bedsonline. The offering was simple: an intuitive website for travel agencies where they could book any accommodation in just three steps.

Originally Bedsonline was launched for the Spanish market only, focused on those travelling to the Spanish beach resorts. But over time Bedsonline has included more destinations, currently reaching up to 185, and more than 50,000 travel agents from over 100 source markets around the world now make their bookings through the platform. Bedsonline has also included more and more product non-accommodation products and now has 18,000 activities, 24,000 transfers, and +5,000 rent-a-car suppliers on the platform.

Bedsonline’s start wasn’t as smooth and simple as its subsequent success would indicate. Internet usage wasn’t that widespread for travel agencies and most of them still used to send a fax to modify a booking. That was how technology was fifteen years ago!

Nonetheless, after the formula for success was developed in Spain, the company exported the model to the Dominican Republic in 2004, and Portugal, Mexico and Costa Rica in 2005.

Meanwhile, in 2006 Facebook started to become popular and a new concept in the online travel experience began: sharing. Over time travellers turned to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as platforms to show off where they had been or were planning to go on holiday to their community of friends and followers. One year later Apple announced its iPhone and gave&nbsp;users reliable and easy-to-navigate access to the web via their handsets. This had a huge influence on what became the start of travel services on mobile devices.&nbsp;

Whilst it comes as a surprise to many, here and now in 2019&nbsp; the travel agency model still persists. In fact there are those who see its digitalisation as an opportunity, not a threat, and their businesses are flourishing. They embrace the belief that it is the responsibility of travel agencies to empower themselves with the best tools of the trade, and communicate their expertise to those considering the ‘do it yourself’ (DIY) approach.

The travel agencies of tomorrow must be armed with the most powerful travel management technology available. That’s why Bedsonline offers to travel agents globally great benefits to help them to grow: a powerful and user-friendly technology which is a best-in-class search engine, designed specifically for their needs, that allows users to filter and compare results in a flexible and practical way, including intuitive email and PDF functions.

Here’s to the journey the travel industry will make over the next 15 years – and the role that Bedsonline will play making sure travel agents get their customers the best hotels, transfers and activities during every step of the trip!

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 A journey 15 years in the making: Bedsonline’s trip through travel

When discussing the world’s most visited place, it seems that whether you are talking about the past, present or future the city doesn´t change. Paris you say, or perhaps London or Rome?

Not by a long way. Recently Hong Kong again took the title of the world’s most visited city in Euromonitor’s annual Top 100 City Destinations Ranking – for the ninth consecutive year.

Hong Kong has claimed the title with 30 million international visitors in 2018. London hangs is in third place, with just under 21 million international tourists expected, Paris, with 16.9 million, and Rome, with 9.7 million are far behind and must make do with sixth place and 15th place, respectively.

How can this be? In part Hong Kong remains the top city in the world as it benefits from its strategic geographic location and relationship with China, boosting not just leisure tourism but also business vistors with commercial trading links.

It will be helped too by a uptick in visitor numbers expected, especially from the mainland, due to two new cross-border transport links that opened last year, making access between mainland China and Hong Kong even easier. The first of these transport links is the world’s longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macau. The second is an express rail link to Guangzhou (a city with a mere 13 million residents).

Generally though it is obvious why tourists might be attracted to the city. Hong Kong is known for its incredible atmosphere – it really is an Eastern New York, a city that never sleeps. Combining Eastern and Western cultures across 263 islands, this exotic blend of marine culture, rural greenery, mountains and impressive skyscrapers helped make Hong Kong the world’s most visited city last year.

Despite standing still in the rankings, in many respects Hong Kong is actually achieving that by evolving. The ranking showed that six out of the top 10 most visited cities are in Asia, with Hong Kong and Bangkok as the top two performers and with Singapore, Macau, Kuala Lumpur and Shenzhen in the global top 10. More generally, Asia continues its rise, accounting for 41 out of the top 100 cities globally in 2018, up by four.

This is why at Hotelbeds we have been had a deep presence in Asia Pacific for many years, with a hub office in Singapore and over 200 employees just in China. In fact, the Chinese source market for us is our fourth biggest globally – and many of those Chinese travellers are visiting Hong Kong.

Let’s see what new things this forthcoming year is bound to bring us in the world of tourism. But if the past is a reliable indicator of the future, it really would seem that for some years to come all paths will lead to Hong Kong.&nbsp;


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Somehow in the fast moving world of tourism the world’s most visited city stands still

By Sam Turner, Wholesale Sales &amp; Sourcing Director, Hotelbeds&nbsp;(article first published as an opinion piece by Travolution on 25 January)

Language barrier or cultural differences: which of these is the single biggest challenge for a European or North American hotel chain trying to attract Chinese travelers?

This week in China marks the Year of the Pig and perhaps hoteliers should give more thought to a fatter problem: technology.

Technology is a major barrier for hoteliers when dealing with the Chinese market. At the core of the problem is the fact that the technology platforms they are used to using are all entirely different from ours. They can´t access Google, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even WhatsApp.

Instead they use three main social media channels: Baidu (a search engine), WeChat (WhatsApp on steroids) and Weibo (similar to Twitter). And they don´t have Uber anymore, instead they use something called Didi.

This creates two headaches for hotels, or any inbound tourism service provider. Firstly how to market to Chinese audiences; and secondly for handling customer services via social media.

Just like in the West, Chinese travelers are heavily influenced by social media and the lifestyles promoted on them. Just like in the west content is king, in particular of the video and user generated type. And just like in the west, ‘influencers’ with millions of followers can make or break a destination or travel brand. There is only one small but vital difference: all of the platforms or tools they use are completely different from ours.

All of this means marketers don’t just have to create Chinese language content, the content has to be actually on Chinese only social media channels too. Often this requires different formats, a whole different way of thinking even.&nbsp; To make matters worse, they aren´t always so easy to set-up, as in some cases to start an official account you need to be a registered company in China.

Western hoteliers need to embrace the whole range of Chinese tools, Apps, websites and platforms that make up the travel ecosystem.&nbsp; In particular they should look closely at Qyer, with over 80 million subscribers, or the similarly popular Mafengwo. They are both comparable to TripAdvisor in that they feature user-generated content (UGC) and offer travel tips and advice – but additionally they actually sell travel content such as hotels and flights, so it is essential to have your accommodation available via their platforms.&nbsp; Another popular site is Xiaohongshu, a cross between a shopping and lifestyle App popular with young travelers; it doesn´t yet have a hotel booking function but they can heavily influence the choice of destination for travel, so gaining a presence in its content is essential (again, video is key).&nbsp;

For inspiration on what to do for your own channels, Western hoteliers should have a close look at what the leading Chinese hotel groups such as Mandarin Oriental and Wanda are doing on their social media channels.

To discover how not to do things, we only need look at the Dolce &amp; Gabbana advertising campaign that backfired massively last year. As consumers boycotted their goods, retailers withdrew them from sale. An important lesson must be learned here: local cultural sensitivities must be respected at your peril – so getting local support and advice is key before conceiving, let alone launching, any campaigns.

For us at Hotelbeds we´ve been deeply involved in the Chinese market for many years and have over 250 local employees, including an operations team. In fact, already China has become our fourth biggest source market globally and is still growing fast.

Our success has in part been achieved by embracing these technology changes and working with our hotel partners to help them adjust their offering accordingly – almost 3% of all Chinese inbound hotel reservations for the American market now flow via our platform, thanks to an internal team we have dedicated to sourcing ‘China-ready’ hotels for this corridor. By partnering with us we allow hoteliers a quick and cost-effective route into the Chinese market, without having to create their own local sales teams, social media presence or customer support teams.

These challenges will only get worse as Chinese travelers begin to travel less in groups and on pre-paid package trips, and instead travel alone – a trend which Japanese travelers followed from the 1980s onwards. Technology could enable this, and right now it is not in many cases.

Last year in China it was the Year of the Dog, and whilst some Western tourism organisations continued to make a mess of the situation, signs of improvement have been noticed. For example in Spain travellers can now claim their Duty Free Tax Refund at the airport using AliPay.

This time round it is the Year of the Pig and I truly believe that if more hoteliers continue adapting to Chinese technology they’ll be able to bring home the bacon, year after year. &nbsp;&nbsp;

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Will Chinese technology give hoteliers a fat problem this Year of the Pig?

By Antonia Aguiló 

Today in Madrid sees the kick-off of the 39th edition of FITUR, the international tourism trade fair that takes place from the 23rd- 27th&nbsp;January.

The three-day exhibition is renowned for attracting the largest global representation of industry professionals due to its strategic position as the first industry event in the calendar each year.

Last year’s official theme was technology, but what’s on the agenda this year? Sustainability is the topic on everyone’s lips this time, and it’s official.

But why is sustainability so important for the travel industry? Well the fact is that tourism represents around 5% of global emissions, with 4% of them generated by transport and 1% by the accommodation sector. And, rightly so, travelers are becoming increasingly aware of this.

From a hotel reservations and booking perspective, ‘travel with a conscience’ will play an ever more important key role in the coming years for those providing and selling hotel accommodation. For sure Millennials and Generation Z will happily spend more on smart destinations, sustainable activities and green hotels.

As Spain’s most important travel trade show FITUR can lead the way on debating an important topic such as this, bringing together thousands of international exhibitors and top decision makers from across the travel industry in the Europe, Latin American and beyond.

This year FITUR expects to generate more than 325 million euros in revenues for the local economy and surpass the 251,000 attendees – with a massive140,000 of them professionals &nbsp;– &nbsp;who attended last year. In total there will be 886 exhibitors, 8.3% more than in 2018, and a total of 10,487 companies attending from 165 countries and Spanish regions.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how FITUR 2019 will bring the sustainability theme to the forefront along with visiting our many industry partners who are exhibiting at the show. Hope to see you there!

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 This year FITUR is set to be bigger, stronger and greener than ever

For those not involved in the world of commerce, B2B sounds like a boy band or brand of headphones. So if you work in the B2B travel sector, small talk at a Sunday lunch with your mother-in-law can be daunting.

Using the term ‘travel technology’ can get even more confusing. Someone who designs suitcases or the seating on airplanes? Or maybe fixing the broken radar or computers on jumbo jets?

But when you try another tack and say ‘behind-the-scenes’, they imagine something physically behind-the-scenes – perhaps working on the luggage conveyer belt behind the check-in, or at best someone in accounts payable back in the head office of a hotel.

Even when they work out that you aren´t a bell boy or tour guide, friends and family still keep asking you for holiday tips or, worst of all, discounts for flights or hotels.

It’s perhaps understandable that the average person can only conjure up images of consumer brands. But why do business people, and even people in the travel industry, still focus on this one area?

From an economic perspective, they couldn´t be more wrong. B2B services are where the money is at. For example, did you know that the market capitalization of many of the biggest hotels or airlines in Europe is still way less than travel technology firms such as Amadeus?

A well-known venture capital investor for the travel space once commented on how frustrating it was that 9 out of 10 ideas pitched to them were for consumer services, despite such businesses tending to be much lower profit margins than B2B.

Even when you look at the speaker line-ups for industry conferences, you would have the impression too that B2C is really the more dominant sphere.

Nonetheless, opinions on B2B are starting to shift as technology is creating more B2B opportunities than ever before.

Recently at World Travel Market (WTM) in London they recognized this shift and created a whole new area called Travel Forward, with its own conference stage too, dedicated to technology. Step forward hundreds of channel managers, API connectivity, GDSs, payments processors, inventory systems, revenue management tools and most importantly, of course, our sector: bedbanks. There was a whole world of successful technology companies to be found.

That’s why at Hotelbeds we are 100% focused on the B2B market only: we know our strengths and focus on our core offering. It gives us a great sense of achievement to have built the world’s largest and best bedbank. Since Tourico Holidays and GTA joined us in 2017, we’ve been busy bringing the companies together into one offering for our travel intermediary clients and hotel suppliers.&nbsp;

Late last year we announced that from now on we´ll be just one brand and we’ve launched a new brand image to match this.&nbsp; This reflects that at Hotelbeds we are proud to be behind-the-scenes, dedicated to helping our B2B partners increase margins and allowing them to focus on what they in turn do best: managing the relationship with travellers.

Consumers might be the final stop on the travel industry journey. But as the growth of B2B players and travel technology partners shows, consumers are not the only destination along the way.


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Are travellers the only destination on the travel map?

By Roman Townsend&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 

For those of you who haven´t had the pleasure of visiting our global headquarters in Mallorca, we are based near to Palma airport in a building called ‘Mirall’.

And so I have the pleasure of writing another year’s missive from the vantage point of our offices overlooking the runway. What could be more travel central than a frontline view of the 20 million passengers who pass through the airport every year?

A year might not sound so long, but some years count more than others and this one has been transformational for Hotelbeds. When I look back at everything that has happened, I realise this really is a massive missive (to use a rather laboured alliteration).

Following Tourico Holidays and GTA joining us in 2017, this year we’ve been integrating them into our business and that process is now close to being completed. In fact in late October we announced a new brand architecture and identity for the company under a refreshed Hotelbeds brand. As part of this, we launched our new integrated retail travel agent offering under a refreshed Bedsonline brand too.

Over the year we have put in place a strong leadership team, starting with the executive level and more recently moving down to mid-level management. Combining the best talent from across our organization, we now have fantastic sales, sourcing, retail, marketing and product management teams confirmed across all of our regions globally.

As part of our clear strategy to focus on our bedbank core, in March we announced the sale of our Destination Management division – which focused on the provision of in-destination services – to TUI for 110 million euros.

Even more recently, in November, we confirmed that we have acquired HolidayTaxis, the transfer bookings company. This acquisition is a reflection of our desire to expand our Beyond the Bed product line, where we offer ancillary services such as transfers and tours.

There have been many other great highlights too, such as the launch of our Corporate Volunteering Program, the continued growth of China as a source market, and the partnership with Singapore Airlines.&nbsp;

Our achievements have been reflected by an increased industry presence for Hotelbeds. Whether it has been on the podium at leading events such as Skift, Phocuswright, ITB Berlin, and WTM London, or in the pages of leading publications such as Skift, Travolution, Phocuswire, or more, I´m proud to say that we are leading the distribution debate.

But as John Lennon sang in Happy Christmas in 1971, “another year over, a new one just begun”. Epic as the year has been, our New Year’s resolution to the travel industry remains once more unchanged: to be the world’s leading bedbank.

Happy New Year from all of us at Hotelbeds: may all your distribution dreams come true and technology resolutions remain resolute!&nbsp;


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