Bangkok--16 Sep--ScottAsia Communications
A 'fair-minded' hotel booking platform with a radically different business model based on zero commissions aims to boost the profitability of the Asia Pacific hotel sector
A fast-growing and multiple award winning online travel community is now ready to transform the fortunes of hotel operations in Asia Pacific.
Bidroom's no-commission membership-based hotel platform has already attracted leading hotel brands and apartments, as well as Visa from the payments sector.
Launched in 2014 in the Netherlands, Bidroom currently offers 125,000 hotel properties in 128 countries to frequent travellers who benefit from guaranteed lower room rates compared to other OTAs.
The company's primary mission is to serve as a fair alternative to the online booking market which is currently defined by excessive OTA commissions that hurt hotel bottom lines.
For the first five years of operation, Bidroom focused on building its hotel stock in Europe and North America. Now it is time for hoteliers in Asia Pacific to benefit from Bidroom's unique and "fair-minded" approach, says COO and co-founder Michael Ros.
"Bidroom works as an annual membership model, whereby hotels only pay a contribution after proven success," says Ros. "This substantial saving is shared with the online frequent traveller who will subsequently be paying a guaranteed lowest-available price."
COO Ros adds: "Bidroom is demonstrably cheaper than all known OTAs. The result is also a significant margin of financial improvement for hoteliers."
Hotel industry analysts say that smaller hotels can rely on OTAs for up to 90% of their bookings – at punitive commission rates of up to 25%. Heavily-capitalised OTAs control the online hotel room market because they spend heavily on search terms. There is often an illusion of online competition in the online market place. Expedia owns around 12 OTA brands while Priceline Group owns Booking.com, Agoda, Ctrip, and Priceline.com, among others.
Bidroom aims to restore balance, transparency and fair play by attracting hotels in Asia Pacific, the region with fastest growth in online travel.
According to Horwath HTL there are an estimated four million hotel rooms in Asia Pacific. The region has 471,000 new rooms under construction, says a July 2019 STR hotel intelligence report – a year on year increase of 27%.
Hotel profits are already under pressure in Asia and Pacific destinations with new openings in arguably oversupplied destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Maldives. Reducing OTA commissions is therefore vital to hotel viability, says Ros.
"While online travel will continue its massive expansion, especially in Asia," he says. "The honeymoon period with OTAs using manipulative techniques must end. Bidroom stands apart as a more profitable and fair-minded booking solution for hotels in the region."
How Bidroom works. Download the company fact sheet. Or visit bidroom.com
ABOUT BIDROOM
Bidroom is the world's first membership-based hotel booking platform. It has offices in Amsterdam, Krakow, Istanbul, and Paris and is on track to have over 100 employees by the end of 2019. Bidroom's fair-minded and transparent view on booking hotels and its unique, self-developed technology has gained praise in the hospitality industry worldwide since its introduction in 2014.
Since then, the company has earned many awards and accolades: Best "Grown Startup" from Hospitality Technology Forum 2019; Top Foreign Travel Startup 2018 at the Uzakrota Travel Awards; Tourism Trends Award 2018 - "IT for travel"; Startup Of The Year 2018 by travmagazine; Startup Innovation 2017 from World Tourism Forum Lucerne; Best Travel Startup of the Year 2017 from Uzakrota Travel Awards; Best Start-up in the Grown Startup category at the Hospitality Technology Forum 2019 in Zurich. Wired included Bidroom in its Hottest Startups in Amsterdam list in 2019; Forbes included it in its Eight Entrepreneurs And Their Startups That Are Shaping Travel Tech (2019)