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CASE STUDY
Travelpass Group boosts booking with optimized distribution rates
With Rapid API, the travel agency increased bookings and earned higher commissions by offering travelers the competitive rates they were looking for.
55%
increase in bookings year over year¹
20%
higher commissions from distribution rates than other rates²
Challenge: Increase revenue without sacrificing platform performance
As a full-service online travel agency (OTA), Travelpass Group strives to create an outstanding traveler experience. To achieve this, they offer best-in-class travel booking technology and a team of support agents that travelers can access 24/7.
With aggressive growth plans, anchored by a new customer-centric booking platform, Travelpass aimed to increase its lodging revenues. Additionally, they wanted to expand their services to offer personalized experiences like activities and trip-planning tools. But they needed to accomplish this without sacrificing their platform’s performance and stability.
When we spoke with Travelpass President Austin Lowe, he explained that the company's growth had to happen alongside the business's drive to deliver positive traveler experiences through its platform — and its plans to scale.
“Expedia Group has a lot more resources and visibility on things that we don’t. We knew that if Expedia Group had access to our business plans and vision for the future, they could anticipate our needs and begin planning for those aspects in ways we might not have envisioned.”
Solution: Exceptional traveler experiences with Rapid API
Since 2020, Travelpass has used our lodging solution to offer a wide variety of global lodging options and competitive rates to provide every traveler with what they’re looking for when booking a trip.
Lowe knew that Expedia Group technology in combination with our competitive supply and strategic guidance would help Travelpass reach its ambitious goals. This collaboration solidified a strong partnership between Travelpass and Expedia Group as the teams were able to build strategies that would improve travelers’ experiences and maximize revenues.
To meet its goals, Travelpass used Rapid API, our fast and light API solution, to build a superior end-to-end traveler experience that delivered:
Extensive supply and content
With access to 700,000 global lodging properties, travelers can find and book a property that meets their needs. This content also includes 29 million property images, 57 million traveler reviews, and more for travelers to know what to expect when they book.³ This content helps to “build a lot of confidence with the customer,” Lowe said.
Higher-margin rates to maximize revenue
Travelpass can tap into exclusive higher-margin distribution rates that are available at 21,000 properties across 40+ hotel chains, including notable brands like Marriott and IHG.⁴ Surfacing these rates more frequently to travelers and agents gave Travelpass the ability to boost revenue and easily accelerate their growth.
Reliable technology for a seamless experience
Rapid API’s industry-leading response speed and technical stability allow Travelpass to take care of its travelers how it envisioned. “Our customers need attentive care, and I need assurance there will be no outages or booking failures,” Lowe said. “With Expedia Group, we have that peace of mind.”
“We can attribute a lot of our growth to optimized distribution rates. With those rates, both our profitability and conversion rates have increased.”
Results: Increased bookings and commissions
By implementing Rapid API in its platform, Travelpass saw overall bookings with Expedia Group increase more than 55% year over year.⁵
The travel agency also doubled its use of higher-margin distribution rates,⁶ and its commissions revenue from distribution rates was 20% higher than other commissions they received.⁷
Travelpass set its sights on delivering a superior traveler experience and scaling its business. It relies on Rapid API to provide travelers access to high-quality hotels worldwide and taps into higher-margin distribution rates to improve the company’s revenue.
To help them maintain an upward trajectory, Lowe knows he can count on support from Expedia Group. “The account management team is exceptional and continues to elevate its performance. The team is proactive — they’re consistently coming up with new ideas, initiatives, and innovative approaches to problem-solving.”
To find out how Rapid API and distribution rates can benefit your business, contact us today.
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¹Travelpass Group data, Q2 2023 vs. Q2 2022.
²Commissions as a percent of booking volume, Expedia Group data, Q2 2023.
³Expedia Group inventory as of Q2 2023.
⁴Ibid.
⁵Travelpass Group data, Q2 2023 vs. Q2 2022.
⁶As a percent of Travelpass overall booking volume, Expedia Group data, Q1 2023 vs. Q2 2023.
⁷Commissions as a percent of booking volume, Expedia Group data, Q2 2023.