youtravel.com sales and marketing director, Paul Riches, claims Thomas Cook’s ownership of Medhotels has created ‘a very clear divide’ between corporate-owned and independent bedbanks.
‘The long-awaited completion of the Medhotels acquisition by Thomas Cook represents a step-change in the accommodation-only sector as another player is taken over by one of the big conglomerates,’ said Riches.
‘For us, as the UK's largest independent accommodation supplier, Thomas Cook’s acquisition of Medhotels represents a great opportunity to work even more closely with independent agents.
‘Independent agents are the backbone of the bedbank sector and I don’t believe that they will be happy to push a large proportion of their accommodation-only sales into the hands of one group.
‘They will be looking more than ever towards established independent accommodation suppliers to redress the balance of their sales split which will shift as a result of this acquisition.’
Thomas Cook confirmed this morning that it is to buy Medhotels for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will complete on 2 February and all Medhotels product will be bolted on to Thomas Cook’s existing accommodation-only offering, hotels4u.com.
Elsewhere, Lowcostbeds.com is reporting sales up 100% in the first week of January, with bookings to non-euro areas, such as Egypt, Mexico, Morocco and Turkey particularly strong.
Related articles from e-tid.com:
Riley takes on ‘unique’ bedbank role (08/12/08)
Bedbank enhances technology (19/11/08)
youtravel expands portfolio (12/11/08)
Thomas Cook: hotels4u.com is worth the price (14/02/08)
Medhotels confirms principal move (12/04/07)