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HolidayTaxis Ian Coyle: ‘Something special is about to happen’
Bed bank Hotelbeds has bought UK-based airport transfer company HolidayTaxis Group for an undisclosed sum.
It said the acquisition will complement its portfolio of content and reinforces the company’s commitment to growth in the rapidly expanding ancillary distribution space.
HolidayTaxis Group, which operates as ‘HolidayTaxis’, operates 21,000 transfer routes in 150 countries.
Hotelbeds recently renamed its ancillary product line, which includes activities, tickets, theme parks, car hire, travel insurance and excursions, ‘Beyond the Bed’.
The HolidayTaxis brand will remain separate and independent from Hotelbeds, but will form part of the Beyond the Bed business unit. HolidayTaxis CEO Ian Coyle will report to Javier Arevalo, director of Beyond the Bed.
Hotelbeds executive chairman Joan Vila said: "We look forward to working with Ian and all his colleagues in helping our travel partners everywhere to drive incremental sales and boost profit margins.
"In recent years our ancillaries business has grown substantially as the strength of our technology platform and global distribution network has positioned us effectively to take full advantage of the increasing demand for in-destination activities worldwide.
"We already offer a wide range of revenue enhancing products to our partners, including transfers, tours, activities, car hire, theme park tickets, and more – but the addition of HolidayTaxis significantly strengthens our portfolio, underlining our commitment to provide greater choice to our travel trade partners."
Coyle added: "We are enormously excited to be joining Hotelbeds as it continues to push the boundaries of travel distribution.
"This is a unique opportunity that was unmissable, allowing us to share additional ancillary revenue generating solutions with the 60,000 travel selling partners that Hotelbeds works with globally – many of whom are very hard to reach otherwise. I’m convinced that our supplier and distribution partners, across our respective businesses, will benefit from the strengths of something very special that is about to happen."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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