Hotel consolidator

Hotel consolidator (also called a hotel broker or discounter) is a travel company or business that buys up blocks of hotel rooms in top destinations and then resells them at discounted rates to the final customer. Hotel consolidators’ seemingly to brokers buy in bulk and then resell at a predetermined discount thus creating a big push search for discounted hotel deals online and passing the savings on to their customers.^[1]

Global hotel consolidators usually offer discounted rooms in almost every major tourist destination, big city or popular resort while local consolidators focus only on a particular geographic area trying to be most competitive on a key for the company market. Hotel consolidator’s activity can be separated into two main operations: 1) Buying blocks of rooms at volume discounts in certain major cities 2) Distributing “excess rooms” offered by hotels not anticipating full occupancy for given dates.^[2]

The strength in numbers

In comparison to individuals who contact hotels directly and ask for discounts, the consolidators are able to achieve deep discounts due to their buying power. Hotels are willing to offer dramatically reduced room rates to consolidators because they know it will yield a greater number of reservations. Many hotels are interested in selling room blocks (allotments) to consolidators, because they know that discounted rooms mean more business in the long run and subsequently a greater profit for them.

Final Client benefits

When booking through a hotel consolidator or from hotel consolidator’s retailer you can either get the least appealing room in the hotel, or you can get a surprising free upgrade to a higher class room if all other standard rooms have been sold out. The key advantage of booking a hotel room through a hotel consolidator is that just one call or just one website visit can get you a room at a 20 to 35% discounted price. The key disadvantage is that prices are not negotiable and the cancellation and amendment charges can be pretty harsh. Additional benefit of hotel consolidators is that they have rooms available when all other hotels are sold out during conventions and trade fairs.

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