What is a bed bank?

A short definition

Think of a bed bank as a wholesaler for hotel rooms. Hotels want to fill rooms through as many channels as possible without managing thousands of small trade accounts. Agencies want access to a wide choice of hotels without signing a contract with each one. The bed bank sits in between: it holds the supply side, and offers the trade a single account, a search tool and often an API.

How a bed bank gets its rooms

Inventory reaches a bed bank in a few ways. Some is contracted directly with hotels, sometimes as an allocation of rooms at a fixed trade price for a season. Some is sourced dynamically, priced in real time from the hotel's availability. And a large share comes from other wholesalers, connected so that one search returns many suppliers' offers.

This is why the same hotel can appear several times at different prices: several suppliers are selling it. A well-built bed bank maps those offers to one hotel record so the buyer can compare them clearly.

How agencies earn money with a bed bank

The bed bank sells to the agency at a net rate. The agency resells to its client at a price it chooses, often as part of a package with flights, transfers or activities, and keeps the difference as margin. Unlike a commission, the margin is known at the time of the quote and does not depend on the hotel paying anything after the stay.

Payment is usually prepaid from a deposit or balance, or on credit for established accounts, with settlement on an agreed cycle.

Bed bank, channel manager, OTA: who does what

These terms are often mixed up. They play different roles in the same chain.

What to check before you open an account

Coverage: does the inventory include the destinations and property types your clients actually ask for? Rate clarity: can you see room type, board basis and cancellation terms for every offer before you book? Payment options: is there a prepaid balance, can you pay by card or bank transfer, and is credit available as your volume grows?

Team use: can colleagues have their own logins under the agency account? Technology: if you sell online, is there an API with a test environment you can try without a sales call? And after-sale protection: what happens when prices drop after you have booked?

Static and dynamic rates

Bed bank rates come in two broad kinds. Static rates are contracted in advance for a season and loaded into the system; they are predictable but can be slow to follow the market. Dynamic rates are priced in real time from the hotel's current availability, so they move with demand. Most bed banks offer a mix, which is another reason prices for the same hotel differ between suppliers.

Trends shaping bed banks

Three shifts stand out. Bed banks increasingly connect to each other, so a single search covers more supply. Buyers expect to manage more than rooms in one place, adding transfers, car hire and airport services. And automation now continues after the booking: some platforms re-check refundable bookings and rebook automatically when the same stay becomes cheaper, turning price movements into margin for the agency.

Where Trekko fits

Trekko is a B2B bed bank and travel platform used by more than 23,000 agencies. It offers more than 3 million properties in 190+ countries at trade rates, private transfers in 90+ countries, access to more than 1,400 airport lounges, automatic rebooking on refundable hotel bookings, and a REST API with a self-serve sandbox. Registration is free.

Frequently asked questions