WEBJET’s aggressive
acquisition strategy in the
b2b hotel aggregator market
has resulted in the creation
of a separate division
called WebBeds. These
now include lots of hotels,
JacTravel, totalstay, sunhotels
and FIT RUUMS with a
new specialised operator
expected to start later this
year.
The division has
restructured internally
regionalising client
distribution into three
geographical territories,
namely European, Asian and
AMEA (America, Middle East
and Africa) markets.
The AMEA division has
moved its contact centres,
which used to be located
in London and Romania, to
Cairo and Dubai. The offline
WebBeds contact centre
now offers group bookings
for destinations around the
world.
The different aggregator
brands will continue to be
marketed individually in order
to capitalise on existing
brand awareness. Lots of
hotels and totalstay have the
strongest brand presence in
the African market and the
acquisition of the later last
year effectively made two of
the biggest competitors in
the market sister companies
. lots of hotels will remain
wholesale driven while
totalstay will continue to
operate mainly in the retail
sector.
Janine Mcloughlin,
regional head of sales –
Africa, commented that the
company is now able to offer
agents improved service with
an expanded sales team of
five located in Johannesburg,
Durban and Cape Town.
The WebBeds product
sourcing teams have also
been merged to leverage
more buying power. Two
dedicated contracting teams
are now focusing on product
expansion with smaller
hotel chains in the South
African, African and Indian
Ocean Islands regions.
Technological advantages will
also be filtered down through
the sister brands including
a focus on increasing direct
dynamic inventory links to
global hotel chains.
