Hotels.com has identified Latin America as the next region to build inventory, as the number of properties on it system breaks through the 100,000 barrier for the first time. Its the result of a big investment in our market manager teams, hotels.com managing director Nigel Pocklington told Travolution. “Over the past 18 months weve been…
Latin American focus to boost inventory for Hotels.com
Hotels.com has identified Latin America as the next region to build inventory, as the number of properties on it system breaks through the 100,000 barrier for the first time.
Its the result of a big investment in our market manager teams, hotels.com managing director Nigel Pocklington told Travolution.
“Over the past 18 months weve been hitting some aggressive hotel acquisition targets,” he said.
There has also been a big investment in the hotels.com back-end system. The key thing is the speed with which a hotel can sign up and put their inventory onto the extranet, he said. Its been an enabling factor for the market managers.
Less than a year ago, Expedia Inc bought Italian bedbank venere.com for an undisclosed sum. Last week, Expedia Inc CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told Wall Street analysts that venere.com had added 15K to the groups inventory, all of which was now bookable on hotels.com.
Pocklington said that hotels.com had no plans to let up in its drive for more properties.
“Its not up to me to decide how many hotels our customers can search for, he said. We put the power in the hands of the consumer with top-notch search tools, photos and reviews, but Ive got to ensure that weve got widest range of properties at the best prices to begin with.”
The venere.com deal boosted its supply in southern Europe, while the team in Dubai has been building up contracts in conjunction with the launch of hotels.com Arabic language site. “We think Latin America is the next region where we can really grow our inventory,” he said.
