Providing the ultimate solution to travel pain points

In the dynamic realm of the travel industry, HBX Group stands at the forefront of adaptability and innovation. In an interview with Pippa Williamson, VP for Commercial-APAC at HBX Group, she claims that a pivotal aspect of HBX Group’s success lies in its approach to building enduring relationships with clients. Williamson highlights a focus on longevity and meaningful demand, tailoring solutions to meet the unique KPIs and objectives of each partner.

Hotelbeds’ introduction of group brand, HBX Group, comes at a transformative juncture, coinciding with Asia’s recovery, shifting consumer buying behaviour, and the rapid evolution of technology. The four pillars of HBX Group – people, technology, data, and products – position the company not just as a distributor but as a solution provider, offering enhanced efficiencies, cost control, and growth opportunities for both suppliers and clients.

Brand TD: In light of the evolving landscape of the travel industry, and changing customer preferences, what strategies would you employ to ensure HBX Group remains agile and adaptable in meeting the needs of its diverse customer base?

Pippa Williamson (PW): I think it is really important for us to defend our position as a market leader that we have people on the ground. We have a large team, with people located worldwide in the market with our hotel and client partners on a day-to-day basis.

We sit on a huge amount of search data.  At HBX group we process about 4 billion searches a day through our servers.  To put that in context, Google produces about 9 billion, so we sit on about half the search data that Google has. We combine that data with the context that we get from our on the ground teams to make sure that the data has micro level context to enabling us to make relevant market decisions quickly. We then use our new technology to rapidly change the way that we sell and who we sell to depending on the different demand cycles that we see real time.

Brand TD: Can you share your strategy for fostering strong relationships with hotel partners and ensuring their continued satisfaction and loyalty?

PW: Our approach towards our hotel partners is one of longevity. It is about connecting meaningful demand to support our hotel partners to achieve their goals today and providing them with a suite of solutions for their needs to grow tomorrow and beyond.  We already really seek to gain a deep understanding of what our hotel partner’s vision is and what they are trying to achieve.  By leveraging our broad client base of over 77,000 network partners we can then deliver the demand that they want, in the seasons that they want it, at the ADR they want, and at the volumes that they need to meet or exceed their goals.

Brand TD: How will the rebrand impact existing clients and stakeholders of the HBX Group?

PW: The HBX Group brand came at a pivotal time.  Not only is Asia recovering and catching up to the rest of the world but the consumer buying journey changed especially with increasing digital penetration and higher adoption of technology.

For our partners, how does it impact them? It creates a win-win.  Brining all our existing businesses under one umbrella and then adding the complementary product that our customers need in one solution creates less friction for travellers and more efficiency for our partners.

Brand TD: What is HBX’s roadmap for APAC in 2024?

PW: For us, we are really excited about the opportunity in Asia Pacific. The data shows that there is an extraordinary amount intent in the key source markets for the region today. Over half of the world’s population sits in the Asia Pacific region. So, for us there is massive opportunity with the increasing maturity of this populous area.  Our strategy for this region is to keep growing new markets to continue to capitalize on the markets where we’re already strong, such as Thailand, East Asia and Indonesia, and then look at monetising the continuing recovery of the region.

The hotels in some subregions in APAC have already caught up occupancy wise to the rest of the world. This has been without China as the previous primary source market.  If there has been any lesson to learn during COVID diversification in your source mix is important. Not only does it reduce risk, it evens out seasonality.  When China fully recovers as an outbound market be the icing on the cake so to speak and we expect this to happen mid 2024.