What is a bedbank, and why it matters to travel agents

"Bedbank" is a term you will hear a lot once you start selling travel, and it is one of the more useful pieces of industry jargon to understand early. Bedbanks are a big part of how agents put together accommodation for customers, and they can have a direct effect on the commission you earn. This guide explains what a bedbank is and why it matters.

What is a bedbank?

A bedbank is a wholesale accommodation supplier. It contracts with hotels around the world to buy or reserve rooms in bulk, then makes those rooms available to travel agents and other trade partners at net rates — that is, wholesale prices that are not shown directly to the public.

The idea is simple. Hotels want to fill rooms, and bedbanks aggregate huge amounts of accommodation and distribute it through the travel trade. Agents get access to a wide range of properties in one place, at rates they can build a price around.

Net rates and mark-up explained

The key concept with a bedbank is the difference between the net rate and the price your customer pays.

• The bedbank gives you a net rate for a room — the wholesale cost.
• You add a mark-up to reach the selling price.
• The difference between the two is your margin on the accommodation.

For example, if a bedbank offers a room at a net rate and you sell it to your customer for more, the gap is your earning on that element. This is different from traditional supplier commission, where a supplier pays you a percentage after a booking. With bedbank rates, you effectively set the margin through your mark-up, within a sensible and competitive range.

Understanding this helps you price accommodation intelligently — competitive enough to win the booking, but with a fair margin for your work.

How a bedbank actually works behind the scenes

It can help to picture the chain of relationships. Hotels have rooms they want to sell, but reaching individual travellers around the world is hard for them to do directly. Bedbanks step into that gap:

1. The bedbank agrees rates and allocations with large numbers of hotels, often across many countries.
2. It loads all of that accommodation into a single system with net rates.
3. Travel agents search that system, find suitable properties, and book them for their customers.
4. The agent adds a mark-up, and the customer pays the final selling price.

Because the bedbank aggregates so much inventory, you get the benefit of enormous choice without having to negotiate with each hotel yourself. That is a huge time-saver, and it is one of the reasons bedbanks became such a core part of the modern travel trade.

Bedbanks compared with other ways to book accommodation

There are several ways an agent can source a hotel, and each behaves a little differently:

• Bedbank net rates — you receive a wholesale rate and set your own margin through mark-up.
• Traditional commission — a supplier pays you a percentage after the booking, at a rate they set.
• Package accommodation — a hotel included as part of a pre-built package, where the earning is baked into the package terms.

None of these is automatically "better". They suit different trips and different customers. The value of understanding bedbanks is that they give you flexibility and a degree of control over your accommodation margin that other routes may not.

Why bedbanks matter to agents

Bedbanks are valuable for several practical reasons:

• Choice — access to a very large number of properties worldwide in one place.
• Flexibility — you can build tailor-made trips by combining accommodation with other elements.
• Control over margin — the mark-up model lets you influence what you earn on accommodation.
• Speed — you can search, compare and book accommodation efficiently.

For agents building bespoke itineraries rather than only selling off-the-shelf packages, bedbanks are an essential tool.

The Group's in-house bedbank

One of the advantages of joining Travel Business Partners is access to an in-house bedbank. This means accommodation sourcing is part of the toolkit you get as a member, rather than something you have to arrange through separate third-party accounts.

Having an in-house bedbank alongside access to all our global suppliers gives you a broad choice of approved suppliers for both accommodation and wider travel arrangements. Combined with booking software, itinerary software and a professional website, it means you can put together and sell trips more easily. You can see more of what is included on our supplier access page and our why us page.

How this fits with commission

It is worth being clear about how earnings work. On traditional supplier bookings, you can keep up to 85% of eligible commission, with the Group retaining 15%. Commission varies by supplier, is never guaranteed, and can be clawed back if a customer cancels. With bedbank accommodation, the margin comes from your mark-up on net rates instead. Both are part of the commercial picture, and you can read more about earnings on our commission and earnings page.

Using a bedbank well

A bedbank is only as useful as the way you use it. A few practical habits help:

• Compare properly. Search across options rather than grabbing the first result, so you can balance price, location and quality for your customer.
• Price with care. Aim for a mark-up that is competitive in the market while still rewarding your time and expertise.
• Match the property to the customer. A great net rate on the wrong hotel does not win a booking. Understanding what your customer values is what turns access to accommodation into a sale.
• Check the details. Board basis, cancellation terms and room types all matter, so read the fine print before quoting.

Over time you will develop a feel for pricing and property selection that makes bedbank bookings both competitive and worthwhile.

A realistic view

A bedbank is a powerful tool, but it does not sell anything on its own. Your margin still depends on winning the booking, pricing sensibly and delivering good service. Rates, availability and what the market will bear all vary, so outcomes vary too.

If you want to understand how accommodation fits into a full package, our packages page shows how trips are put together. Learning how bedbanks work is one of those foundational pieces of knowledge that makes you a more capable, confident agent, and it is well worth getting to grips with early in your journey.

This guide is general information to help you learn about the travel industry. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and it does not guarantee any particular result. Building a travel business is self-employment: results vary depending on the time, effort and approach you bring.