Bed bank youtravel.com is to ditch low-end properties for 2008 because margins are too low to make them worthwhile.
Founder and chairman John Kent said the company was reviewing its portfolio with a view to focusing on upmarket and exclusive properties. Long-haul properties are also likely to feature more heavily in the product range in future.
The news comes as competition between bed banks continues to drive down prices, creating margins as low as 5% in some cases for the sector.
Kent added: “We will focus on the most upmarket properties and drop the others because you cannot make money on them. Currently, in the UK there’s a [price] war especially between the top three or four bed banks.”
He estimates around 5% of the firm’s 3,000 properties fall into the low-end category.