Webjet’s accommodation arm has joined forces with Aeronology to provide travel agents with the opportunity to book hotel rooms via its online business application.
Both companies have agreed to terms to allow the users of the Aeronology application to book live WebBeds inventory of more than 350,000 properties in over 12,000 destinations into their air bookings.
Grant Sumich, WebBeds’ head of commercial for the Pacific region, said that travel agents, more than ever before, are looking for aggregation solutions that provide an improved user experience and deliver efficiencies and control.
“The Aeronology suite of applications provides this and much more,” he said.
“Both organisations bring many years of experience and we believe that this partnership puts us in a strong position to meet the needs of our mutual customers.
“We are very excited to start this partnership with Aeronology and their clients.”
Aeronology CEO Russell Carstensen said: “We are creating a world-class hotel booking engine. Although, unlike other trade online systems, one that doesn’t hold funds. Aeronology will never hold the consumers funds – it has no interest in that business model.
“This approach will see commercial agreements remain between WebBeds and the travel agent providing complete transparency and ensuring profitability for the travel agent is maximised.
“You do not even need to hold flights to make a WebBeds hotel booking. The travel agent will be able to book rooms as standalone, without flights, or as a package with the additional ability to adjust the price as part of the final itinerary.
“The Aeronology applications aren’t just about flights – it’s about putting all bookable travel products on to one screen.”
Carstensen said Aeronology and WebBeds are working on the ability for normal airfares to be requoted as wholesale fares before ticketing if the minimum room night criteria are reached.
“This is part of our strategy of eliminating the standard point to point wholesale market,” he said.
