Hotelbeds

History

• In 2000 First Choice Holidays PLC acquired Barceló Travel Division.
• In 2001 Hotelbeds was founded by First Choice Hotels.
• In 2003 Viajes Barceló was sold back to its original owners, but First Choice Hotels kept Hotelbeds Accommodation & Destination Services.
• In 2003, the brand for travel agents Bedsonline was launched, and Hotelbeds moved to XML syndication of its data. Intercruises was launched at that time too.
• In 2004, it became the official hotel accommodation partner for EasyJet.
• In 2006, Pacific World was acquired.
• In 2007, Micronnexus was acquired, now known as Carnect.
• In 2007, First Choice Holidays PLC and the Tourisim Division of TUI merged to establish TUI Travel PLC.
• In 2009, SiteMinder implemented Hotelbeds' distribution system.
• In 2010 Intercruises, purchased the maritime agency Top Class.
• In 2011, Hotelbeds launched in India and signed a strategic distribution agreement with Choice Hotels International.
• In 2012, Destination Services was launched.
• In 2013, Hotelbeds acquired TT Services and the Transfer and Activity Bank was launched to manage its cash flow worldwide.
• In 2014, Hotelbeds' loyalty card that enabled direct payment between customers and hoteliers, Liberate, was implemented throughout the TUI Group units.
• In 2014 Hotelbeds also acquired the Spanish online hotel marketing company . After organizing 6 editions of America, Hotelbeds made the Markethub Europe an annual event.
• In 2014, TUI Travel PLC merged with TUI AG to create TUI Group.
• In 2015, Hotelbeds launched a new extranet system, MaxiRoom, for hoteliers, and a new API. It also accelerated its growth in the Middle East and Africa.
• In 2015, Hotelbeds became a fully-fledged group of its own.
• In September 2016, the company became independent with the backing of two private equity funds.
• In 2017 the company acquired two competitors, Tourico Holidays and GTA, for a rumored total of over 1.3 billion euros.
• In March 2018, Hotelbeds announced the sale of its Destination Management business back to TUI for 110 million euros.
• In October 2018 the company was being re-branded simply as Hotelbeds, underlining core focus on the bedbank sector.
• In 2019, Hotelbeds launched a three-strike policy that blocked customers putting inventory in the wrong channels.
• In September 2019, Hotelbeds signed a distribution partnership with the hotel brand Selina, and with the airline company Luxair.