GTA's retail arm joins forces with Bedsonline to establish the leading Korean platform for travel agents

• Consolidated under the newly refreshed Bedsonline brand, GTA retail customers in Korea will migrate onto Bedsonline's class-leading booking platform.
• Move combines GTA's retail product portfolio with Bedsonline to provide a significantly enlarged range of exclusively contracted content – increasing from 55,000 to 180,000 the number of hotels available globally.
• Launch of new brand identity and website to present new '360 degree' proposition designed to support the growth of travel agent customers worldwide.

SEOUL, South Korea, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hotelbeds, the parent company of both GTA and Bedsonline has today announced that it will consolidate its retail product portfolio and offering in Korea under the newly refreshed Bedsonline brand and platform - establishing the world's leading provider of accommodation and complementary services designed exclusively for travel agents.

BOL-GTA PR

Following extensive consultation with customers it has been decided that the GTA retail brand^[1] in the Korean market will progressively rebrand under Bedsonline, the retail travel agency brand of parent group Hotelbeds.

An extensive outreach programme is already underway to inform all existing clients of GTA's retail brand about the changes. Clients will have sufficient time to transition at their own pace and both workshops and technical support will be on hand to support a seamless migration.

As part of this change the combination of the GTA retail brand's content with the existing Bedsonline hotel offering will increase from 55,000 to 180,000 the number of hotels available to customers.

Carlos Muñoz, Managing Director Bedbank at Hotelbeds, explains: "It makes strategic and practical sense for us to continue to develop our travel agent proposition under one integrated, global platform and brand. The benefits from this move will help all our partners boost revenues and profits through improved functionality, an enlarged portfolio of directly sourced and exclusive hotel content, and increased opportunities to upsell high-yielding complimentary travel services in addition to our accommodation offering."

Tomeu Gili, Retail Travel Agents Director for Asia, The Middle East and Africa, comments: "Since GTA became a part of Hotelbeds back in late 2017 we have consulted extensively with our travel agent customers all around the globe. Time and again the feedback about the Bedsonline platform has made taking this decision easy - due to its superior functionality - but we're looking to continue to improve the experience still further, beyond the booking platform itself, by establishing a truly 360 degree proposition to fully support the growth of our travel agent partners.

"Already we are speaking with our customers in Korea to explain to them how they will benefit from these changes. Shortly we'll be hosting a series of events and workshops locally to present the new enhanced offering following the integration of the GTA retail brand's product portfolio and know-how into Bedsonline's - leading to our travel agents benefiting from the expansion of our product portfolio to over 180,000 hotels and strengthened position to negotiate the best deals for our customers, along with all the additional improvements we have made by cherry-picking the best-of-class functionalities and know-how from across the different brands."

This strategic milestone follows Tourico Holidays and GTA - along with its retail brands TravelBound and TravelCube - joining Hotelbeds in 2017.

Following the consolidation of GTA's brand portfolio and offering into Bedsonline, the platform now offers to travel agents only globally the following benefits:

1. Diverse and competitive product portfolio: 180,000 hotels available globally (with over 90,000 directly sourced, creating a highly competitive portfolio with unique offers), 24,000 transfer routes, 18,000 activities, and 140,000 cars available for hire - all sourced by an expert team of over 1,000 contractors around the world.
2. Powerful and user-friendly technology: Best-in-class search engine designed specifically for the needs of travel agents allows users to filter and compare results in a flexible and practical way - 70% of existing customers cite the platform as a top factor in choosing the service. Bedsonline's parent company is the only travel trade wholesaler to operate its own cloud-based, open source data centre handling 1.5 billion searches per day.
3. Local knowledge combined with a global offering: Our experienced local sales teams in every market provide significant knowledge and industry know-how adapted to the specific needs of each market.

When put together, Bedsonline offers customers a 360 degree travel partner offering that is customer centric and helps partners compete by offering unrivalled technology, the most competitive commercial terms, swift problem resolution and expert team support.

About Bedsonline

Bedsonline is the leading global provider of accommodation and complementary travel products exclusively catering to travel agents. Through its online platform, it distributes accommodation, excursions, tickets and transfers to more than 50,000 travel agencies backed by local sales teams in over 30 countries covering over 100 markets globally.

The company offers an extensive portfolio of over 180,000 hotels, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities in 185 destination countries worldwide, guaranteeing high availability, competitive prices and unique offers.

Bedsonline is part of Hotelbeds, the world's leading bedbank and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally, headquartered in Palma, Spain.

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190411/2433531-1