B2B Travel Solutions: Mobility & Experiences

In a 2023 report, the Skift senior research team called Experiences “one of the most opportunistic and untapped markets in the travel industry.” At HBX Group, we share this view.
 

Often positioned as ancillary services, Mobility & Experience products cover a broad range. Some examples are car rentals, transfers, museum entrances, theme park tickets, guided tours, and many other travel experiences.  

Why sell ancillary products? 

Ancillary products have many business benefits. Below, we rounded up the top six:

1. Increasing revenue

According to McKinsey, the global travel experiences market presents an opportunity of over $1 trillion. By adding ancillaries, you can grow revenue without raising the price of your main product.

2. Improving customer experience

Travellers increasingly plan trips around experiences. This means they might choose a destination thanks to an excellent tour, a theme park, a concert, or a museum. Offering these experiences as ancillary products helps improve their travel experience, thus satisfaction.

3. Cross-selling

A client booking a trip to Paris may also be interested in skip-the-line tickets for Disneyland, guided museum tours, or a Seine River cruise. By cross-selling these products, you earn more while solving your client’s problem. What’s more, the client sees you as the trusted expert with great recommendations.

4. Building relationships with clients and partners

You provide clients with a more complete travel experience, strengthening your brand reputation. They will know you have relevant ancillary services in addition to your core product, so they may choose you over a competitor who only provides the basics. On the B2B side, you broaden your network and build stronger partnerships in the travel ecosystem.

5. Expanding into new customer segments

Younger travellers are especially experience-driven. In a McKinsey survey, 52% of Gen Z travellers said they’d prefer spending money on experiences, while only 29% of baby boomers said so. If you offer travel experiences that directly appeal to your target segment, they may be more likely to book with you.

6. Standing out in a crowded market

If your core product is similar to your competitors, you can use ancillaries to differentiate your offering. Ancillary services for travel providers can include skip-the-line tickets, car hire options, or tour add-ons. Non-travel businesses can also include travel-related ancillaries. For example, at HBX Group, some of our partners are companies that want to offer holiday discounts (ancillary) as a part of their employee benefit programmes (core product).
 

How can your business benefit from ancillary products? 

Using HBX Group and its brands, businesses can sell travel ancillaries and broaden their network. Here is how we help different types of travel businesses:

Retail travel agents

HBX Group supports retail travel agents with two dedicated platforms: Bedsonline and The Luxurist.
 

Bedsonline offers a global portfolio with over 250,000 hotels, 500 car hire providers, and 23,000 travel activities in various niches. With the cross-selling module in the Bedsonline Booking Engine, agents can easily add transportation, car rentals, insurance, and activities to their bookings.
 

The Luxurist is exclusively for luxury travel clients. In addition to more than 5000 high-end hotels, it offers luxury ancillaries, such as 24/7 concierge services and bespoke tours. Using The Luxurist’s Itinerary Builder, agents can manage all luxury trips in one place.
 

Wholesalers, tour operators, and OTAs

For wholesalers, tour operators, and OTAs, the go-to HBX Group platform is Hotelbeds.
 

Hotelbeds offers over 23,000 travel experiences, including theme parks, tours, sporting events, museum entrances, cooking classes, sightseeing activities, and more. It also has an extensive mobility portfolio, offering car hire, shuttle transfer, and chauffeur services.
 

800 wholesalers, 3500 tour operators, and many OTAs already use Hotelbeds to strengthen supplier relationships, improve their value, and stay competitive.

eCommerce solutions for airlines, employee benefits, and banks

With HBX Group’s eCommerce solutions, institutions can seamlessly offer Mobility & Experiences as ancillary services. Here is how we help different partners:
 

• Airlines: Increase revenue by offering holiday packages, including high-demand experiences, transfers, and car hire services that travellers will need.
• Employee benefits programmes: Increase employee satisfaction by offering unique benefits through HBX Group, including exclusive deals, holiday packages, and discounts.
• Financial institutions: Create a new revenue stream by offering HBX Group’s travel products through a white-label solution, fully integrated under your own brand. Available for banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and more.  
   

Are you a Mobility & Experience provider?

Whether you offer transport services or cultural activities, partnering with HBX Group puts your products in front of 60,000+ travel partners across the globe.

Sign up now to reach new audiences today.

Proven partner results in Mobility & Experiences 

Here are some results our partners achieved by incorporating HBX Group’s Mobility & Experiences into their offerings.

eSky Group experienced triple-digit growth in two years

"When we added varied products, we managed to improve very much – it turned into triple-digit growth over the last two years, in trading and merchandising. We managed to capture the right momentum between seasonality in source markets, and this approach gave us the opportunity to be, at the same time, a global provider and a local supplier to our end customers who are booking from us online."

Jaroslaw Grabczak, Head of Commercial Product

ID90 Travel has continuously hit revenue goals as an HBX Group partner

"Every year that we have worked with Hotelbeds, we have achieved our revenue goals that we had set forth. Hotelbeds has always come to us with the right kind of supply solutions, which have helped us achieve those goals."

Vishal Singh, Head of Hotels and Activities

HBX Group: Your TravelTech partner for ancillary revenue

If you’re not offering Mobility & Experiences, you might be leaving significant revenue on the table. Ancillary solutions create a win-win: you boost your revenue with relevant add-ons, while your clients enjoy a more complete travel experience. Connect with HBX Group today to make it happen! 
 

If you’re a Mobility & Experience provider, HBX Group can help you grow in a similar way. By joining our network, your products become accessible to thousands of B2B travel partners, including agents, advisors, wholesalers, hoteliers, and institutions. Get in touch with us to learn more.