ISTANBUL - Hotelbeds, the B2B bedbank, has confirmed today at MarketHub Europe event, which takes place in Istanbul from 28th to 31st May, an increase in the number of European hotel partners available for its B2B travel buyers globally.
During the last year Hotelbeds has increased in Europe by 5,000 the number of unique hotels available on its platform to its global network of over 60,000 B2B travel buyers such as retail travel agents, tour operators, airlines and points redemption schemes.
Currently a total of 70,000 unique hotels are available on the Hotelbeds system in Europe, of which 40% of them are directly contracted under exclusive terms and conditions – whilst at a global level over 180,000 unique hotels are available on the platform.
In Turkey, where the MarketHub Europe event is taking place, the number of hotels contracted increased by 300 during the last year reaching a total of 4,500 hotels available to book.
This follows Hotelbeds recently confirming a strategic partnership with Kilit Hospitality Group, Turkey’s largest leisure hotel company and the owners of Crystal Hotel Chain, Amara World Hotels and Nirvana Lagoon Luxury.
Carlos Muñoz, Bedbank Managing Director at Hotelbeds commented: “This significant increase in the number of European hotels in our portfolio reflects the demand for access to our B2B travel buying customers, such as retail travel agents and tour operators, or airlines and points redemption schemes – all of which offer guests that pay more, cancel less, book further in advance, spend more at the hotel and come back more often."
“Because of this over the last year we have been successful in signing strategic partnerships with key hotel chains and preferred agreements with channel managers worldwide. This has in part been supported by the expansion of the contracting workforce to over 1,100 contractors based around the world in popular local destinations.”
The MarketHub Europe event is an invitation-only, three-day event attended by some of the most important Hotelbeds partners from all the key markets across Europe. Attendees are senior executives and decision makers from tour operators, airlines, loyalty and point redemption businesses, leading travel agency chains and online travel agencies.
A key and regular industry fixture since 2009, MarketHubs are one of the leading events for bringing the travel industry together, with eight previous events held in the Americas, five in Europe, and one in Asia. The first MarketHub Europe was held in Seville back in 2013 and since then Hotelbeds has held the event in several top Spanish destinations, such as Tenerife and Ibiza.
The MarketHub Europe event kicked-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.
