Spun off from the growth of Hotelbeds, the world’s leading hotel room wholesaler, the listed Spanish HBX group also offers hoteliers services via Bedsonline, Roiback and TravelStack. Its performance over the 1st half-year shows that it lives very well thanks to its “partner hoteliers”.
In the hotel distribution ecosystem, the role of wholesalers, who buy volumes of overnight stays for resale to tour operators and other players in the tourism industry, is rapidly gaining ground behind OTAs (online agencies) and ahead of direct sales via brand websites. It’s an essential distribution link that can generate a “mattress” of nights already sold – albeit at a highly negotiated price – but reassuring in the face of a fluctuating market.
Hotelbeds and its sister companies are often seen as a counterweight to the power of online agencies. It’s another model based on the mass sale of nights at net prices, but the power achieved by the HBX Group makes it fiercer in negotiations. After all, since its listing on four Spanish stock exchanges last February, the Group has been accountable to its shareholders and financial analysts.
Desperately seeking better operating margins
The publication of its 1st half results shows that it too is doing quite well in generating generous margins. The group partners over 60,000 retailers in 170 markets, and processes over 6.2 billion searches on these sites every day.
For the 1st half-year to the end of March, transaction volume exceeded €3.4 billion, up 12%, while the market as a whole grew by 6%. Sales resulting from margins on resale amounted to €319 million, up 10%, driven by double-digit growth in travel to Europe, Africa-Middle East and Asia-Pacific, generating EBITDA of close to €160 million, up 14%.
Growth is a necessity, as Group CEO Nicolas Huss acknowledges: “The IPO and debt refinancing are major milestones in our growth trajectory. In a more volatile macroeconomic environment, we are taking proactive measures to guarantee growth, efficiency and performance.”
Hoteliers should expect some fine rate negotiation passes in the months ahead.
As for the other hotel distribution giants, it’s also time to diversify, with the acquisition of Civitfun, a tech company specializing in online check-in and customer hyper-personalization for the hotel industry, and the launch of Luxurist, a new platform dedicated to very high-end experiences.
