A new travel wholesaler alliance has emerged in Asia as four major regional players band together to share hotel and travel supply.
The newly formed Opp Alliance comprises AntaVaya, Hotelpass Global, WebBeds and Westminster Travel – wholesalers that collectively generate over 2.2 million room nights.
Each member will remain fully independent, with WebBeds acting as the alliance’s central coordinator, providing central support and coordination and enabling partners to leverage its technology and global platform to optimise distribution.
AntaVaya will be responsible for procurement in Indonesia, Hotelpass Global will cover contracting in destination South Korea and Japan, and Westminster Travel will have responsibility for Greater China, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. WebBeds will concentrate on Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, levering the strength of Destinations of the World, which was recently acquired by WebBeds’ parent company, Webjet.
In a statement, the coalition touted more effective distribution for hotels through a single partner.
Opp Alliance added that members will enjoy benefits comparable to airline and hotel alliances, an expanded network, centralised coordination and the ability to offer a stronger proposition to their respective clients.
By exchanging best practices and business intelligence, the coalition also expects to drive innovation and efficiency, while being better able to anticipate and serve the needs of the travel industry across Asia.
“We are aiming to improve the direct relationships with our hotel partners and bring them closer to the action in the world of travel distribution. The alliance’s initial target is to sign up to 2,000 new hotel contracts in the first six months and promote these hotel partners aggressively to our respective distribution networks. Hotels across Asia will enjoy widespread global distribution with dynamic contracts, rate parity and improved pricing capabilities. We are very excited to be part of such a pioneering collaboration,” commented Brian Lee, CEO, Hotelpass Global.
“We know from speaking to our hotel partners that one of their major goals is to achieve more widespread distribution more effectively – including penetration into Asia’s emerging markets. Opp Alliance will enable this through a coalition of highly respected market leaders, which creates an unprecedented regional force,” added Larry Lo, CEO, Westminster Travel.
Looking ahead, Opp Alliance will continue to seek new members in other Asian markets, and across the world, “as long as they do not overlap with existing members”.
