Independent bed banks getabed and roomsXML have announced they have agreed a merger to create a B2B supplier with global reach.
The owners of both firms will remain with the merged business and the make-up of the full will be announced shortly.
It was confirmed roomsXML’s Ruchir Bang will be chief executive of the new company while getabed managing director Matt Stuart will be chief commercial officer.
Stuart said: “This is a hugely exciting time for both getabed and roomsXML.
“With the accommodation wholesale market evolving rapidly, we needed to ensure that we remain relevant.
“Our shared passion, ethos and vision was clear, so merging to become a single entity made complete sense.
“Moving forward, our customers will get the best of both companies, with robust technology, breadth of product and solid 24/7 support.
“Our travel partners will continue to remain at the heart of everything we do as we are still small enough to remain personal and reactive to their demands”.
In an announcement about the merger the firms said the joint business will “provide significant benefits and scale, which will then be passed on to their customers and suppliers”.
It added: “As a result of the merger, they now offer a genuine global business with deep penetrate on in travel agency space across UK & Ireland, EMEA and APAC.”
Bang, executive director of roomsXML, said: “We currently are in a very interesting phase within the travel wholesale industry and certainly see a great future if we have the right mix of passionate team, user-focused technology and strong financials, and that’s exactly what both roomsXML and getabed bring to the table.
“This all started with the vision on where we want to see our businesses in future and what growth opportunities we can bring to our valued staff members across offices, rather than just seeing if the balance sheet numbers added up.”
Getabed has been trading since 1991 and has offices in UK and United Arab Emirates where it is run from Dubai.
RoomsXML is an online accommodation wholesaler serving travel agents and tour operators with offices in Australia, India, UAE and US and has been trading since 2007.