Hotelbeds forecasts sales growth of 20% for 2013

Hotelbeds expects sales growth of 20% this year to bring the total to €1.8 billion.

Hotelbeds expects sales growth of 20% this year to bring the total to €1.8 billion.

The Tui Travel-owned global accommodation wholesaler issed the forecast for 2013 at World Travel Market.

The Middle East and Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region as both a destination and source market for the company, which claims 1.5 billion online accommodation searches a month.

Thailand was the best-selling destination, followed by Malaysia, one of the fastest selling countries this year, which has achieved 74% growth. The Philippines, Taiwan and Japan also registered triple-digit growth as destinations.

Spain remains the best-selling destination for Hotelbeds in Europe, with Greece (58%) and Tunisia (55%) the fastest-growing destinations over the last year.

For the Americas region, the US is the top destination for customers, with Brazil the fastest-growing destination for 2013, up 55%.

The company is expanding its pay-at-hotel model Liberate under a direct payment solution.

New client relationship centres have been opened in Europe, North America and Latin America, with a fourth to be launched in Asia to provide one point of contact and 24/7 service. The centres have dealt with 1.7 million customer requests this year.

The company reported a 50% growth in XML connections, linking its inventory with third party booking systems.

Hotelbeds’ activities, transfers and experiences business is being expanded to target all customer segments, an area in which the company expects fast growth in future years.

Managing director Carlos Muñoz said: “We have had another very successful year continuing to build on our strong global presence and leading market position whilst maintaining our double digit growth rates.

“We continue to increase our presence globally, expanding in the source markets and destinations of Americas, Asia and Africa.

“For the next years we are focused on becoming the most forward thinking player in travel distribution developing our outstanding product offering, our best in class technology platform, www.hotelbeds.com, and our leadership position.”