/ -- Hotelbeds, one of the worlds leading bedbank, has today reported the launch of a partnership with RateGain, the market leader in hospitality and travel technology solutions.
RateGain will provide Hotelbeds with 'Parity+' - an advanced end-to-end rate integrity management solution that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to track integrity issues in real time - to help identify its hotel partners cases of opaque rates intended for offline channels being sold in other channels.
Hotelbeds has chosen to work with RateGain following a competitive RFP to find the world's leading third party provider of rate integrity technology and monitoring tools.
Entering into this agreement is inline with Hotelbeds' commitment to take on responsibility for leading the fight against rate integrity abuse on behalf of the owners of the 180,000 properties that it partners with. As part of this, Hotelbeds has created a team dedicated to monitoring rates and invested in automated technology unavailable elsewhere in the market that uses Data Analytics to track travel sellers' flows. More recently, Hotelbeds has introduced comprehensive measures and technology solutions, including a strict 'three strikes' policy for channels that violate distribution rules; tools that allow full traceability of rates; and the data-driven segmentation of customer channels to more closely align them with the distribution strategies of hotel partners.
As a direct result, Hotelbeds has blocked 800 sales channels of offending sellers and given up 300 million of otherwise profitable sales over the last year, resulting in a 90% reduction of reported incidences over the last six months to just 0.01% of room night production.
Carlos Muoz, Managing Director at Hotelbeds commented, "This year we have made significant progress in fighting rate integrity abuse on behalf of our hotel partners and Im pleased to confirm that incidences are now down to just 0.01%. But, we fully recognize that this is the number one priority for many hoteliers and we are determined to not only reduce incidences further, but to also become the market leader of solutions that offer hotels; distribution capabilities that ensure they can sell the right rate, in the right channel, to the right guest, at the right time."
He added, "We want to provide transparency on the state of distribution with both Hotelbeds and other players to our hotel partners. Therefore, recently we put out an RFP to find the best third-party provider of rate integrity technology and monitoring solutions, and it gives me great pleasure to confirm that after carefully assessing all available providers, well be working with RateGain to track down rogue sellers that violate agreements by selling opaque rates originally intended for offline channels."
Apurva Chamaria, Chief Revenue Officer, RateGain technologies said: "We feel this partnership is a watershed moment for our sector as Hotelbeds sets a fantastic example to the whole hospitality sector as to how bedbanks can confront rogue sellers violating rate integrity. Naturally then the opportunity to work together to fight this cause was unmissable as no other bedbank takes this issue as seriously. Hotelbeds has a winning formula, not seen elsewhere in the market, that takes accurate client segmentation through its access to the largest data pool available of client data-points and behavior, and combines it with a commitment to investment into cutting-edge distribution technology and automated processes."
Highlighting about the Parity+ solution, Apurva further added, "Parity+ will provide Hotelbeds with an overall parity score, giving information on availability and rate violations by both property and meta-channels - as well as helping understand violation causes, all in an easy to navigate single view dashboard. Additionally, the 'On Demand Data Refresh' feature will assist Hotelbeds to be on top of issues across 500+ distribution channels and the 'Test Reservation Module' called 'Closed Loop Service' will uncover the rogue operator behind the leaked rates."
About Hotelbeds:
Hotelbeds is the world's leading bedbank. In a fragmented and complex travel landscape, Hotelbeds provides over 180,000 hotels properties across the globe with access to high-value, complementary distribution channels that significantly increase occupancy rates and optimise RevPAR - whilst not competing with the hotelier's direct distribution strategy. Hotelbeds does this by offering hoteliers access to a network of over 60,000 hard-to-access B2B travel buyers such as tour operators, retail travel agents, airline websites, and loyalty schemes in over 140 source markets worldwide. These channels provide hotel partners with returning guests that book further in advance, cancel less, spend more in-destination and stay longer. In addition to accommodation, Hotelbeds is also the world's largest B2B seller of travel ancillaries, offering 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, as well as attractions, tickets and car hire. Operating under the 'Beyond the Bed' product line, it provides both hoteliers and travel distribution partners with an efficient platform and powerful tools to easily integrate and commercialise its leading portfolio of high-margin products. The company is headquartered in Palma De Mallorca, Spain and employs around 5,000 employees across over 60 offices globally. For more information, visit www.hotelbeds.com
About RateGain:
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