Hotelbeds targeting luxury agents in expansion drive
Hotelbeds is targeting travel agents that sell luxury holidays as part of its plans to grow its trade distribution.
Admitting the plans were ‘ambitious’, the bedbank said it hopes to add 14,000 new travel agents in the next three years, taking the total to over 64,000 travel agents globally.
It will focus in particular on ‘luxury travel agents and those specialising in high-value, long-haul bookings’.
"Recently we announced the beginning of a new era for Hotelbeds under a single unified brand and purpose: to support our hotel partners by providing incremental bookings of non-domestic and high-value guests through a network of B2B travel trade buyers formed by travel agents, tour operators, points redemption schemes and airlines," said Carlos Munoz, Bedbank managing director.
"Our three-year plan for the retail channel is to continue to grow the number of travel agents to over 64,000 by 2022 – an increase of 14,000 – especially in niche segments such as luxury and high-end, long-haul oriented and specialty packages.
"The recently refreshed new Bedsonline brand – which is the retail brand used by Hotelbeds – and enhanced value proposition for customers, along with our strong local relevance and presence, improved product offering and tools are going to be the key drivers in achieving this goal."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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