Groupon Partners with DerbySoft to Expand Its Hotel Booking Platform
Groupon announced a partnership with DerbySoft––a connector of travel suppliers and distributors––that paves the way for Groupon’s travel business, Groupon Getaways, to work with more of the world’s leading hotel brands and expands the ability across its platform to instantly access room availability, view nightly rates and directly book reservations. For DerbySoft, the agreement gives their supply partners access to Groupon’s 29 million customers in North America––helping them to better achieve their goals, drive sales and increase revenue growth.
"Partnering with DerbySoft furthers our goal of making experiential travel more accessible and bookable for consumers,” said Louisa Balach, North America general manager of Groupon Getaways. “They have a strong reputation throughout the industry and this partnership will make it even easier for top hotels and resorts to work with us –– providing greater choice and a more seamless booking experience for our customers.”
Booking is a key part of Groupon’s voucherless initiative aimed at improving the redemption experience, providing always-on availability, giving consumers more reasons to buy and opening up the Groupon marketplace to a broader range of suppliers. Groupon increased bookable inventory 12 percent year over year* and booked tens of millions of travelers, diners, concert goers, spa visitors and more in 2018.
DerbySoft has partnerships with all the top 10 global hotel groups, the leading third-party central reservation systems and hundreds of regional hotel chains. On the demand side, DerbySoft is connected to all the major online travel agencies, metasearch engines, wholesalers and tour operators from around the world.
Groupon currently features 40,000 hotels and resorts in the U.S. and around the world through its Groupon Getaways North America marketplace with Orlando, Las Vegas, New York City, Niagara Falls and Myrtle Beach as some of the top-selling destinations.
Groupon had nearly $560 million in global travel billings in 2018.
The Groupon and DerbySoft integration is expected to launch before the end of the year.
*2018 vs. 2017