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Wholesaler & Bedbank connections
Wholesalers (or Bedbanks) are companies that conclude annual contracts with hotels where they buy hotel rooms in bulk. The wholesaler then resells these rooms to third parties such as travel agencies, airlines, or booking sites with which the hotel does not have a direct contract. A wholesaler only works business-to-business; this means that they will never sell rooms directly to guests.
What you need to know about Wholesalers:
When a wholesaler contracts a hotel, both parties agree on how many rooms the wholesaler buys at what Net Rate*. Before the dawn of the internet, the rooms were then sold to travel agencies. Nowadays, wholesalers mainly resell rooms to online booking sites or other wholesalers. The wholesaler earns money by increasing the room price by an x percentage.
Wholesalers are specialised resellers with many connections, which is why they have access to channels that hoteliers often cannot access directly. Another advantage is that it gives certainty for the revenue; the hotel rooms are already sold. It is up to the wholesalers to sell the rooms that they purchased. If you want to put less effort into the online distribution strategy of your hotel, it can be interesting to star working with these parties.
