Agoda and Emerging Travel Group agree reciprocal hotel distribution

Hotel distribution gains another route between Asian travellers and international accommodation through Agoda’s reciprocal supply agreement with Emerging Travel Group.

Under the agreement, Agoda will connect to Emerging Travel Group’s (ETG) global hotel supply through the RateHawk API. ETG will gain access to Agoda’s Asia-Pacific accommodation inventory, expanding the supply available to its leisure and corporate travel customers.

Agoda says the connection will add millions of accommodation options across Europe, the United States, Latin America and the Middle East. The intended audience includes travellers from Asia booking international destinations, giving the agreement a geographical logic beyond simply increasing the number of listings.

For ETG, the reciprocal access supports its expansion in Asia-Pacific. The group operates RateHawk, ZenHotels and Roundtrip, while RateHawk distributes accommodation to travel industry partners through an API connection. The arrangement therefore connects Agoda’s marketplace with supply sold through travel intermediaries as well as ETG’s other brands.

ETG says East and South-east Asia are among its five largest destination markets. The partnership is intended to broaden accommodation choice for its leisure and corporate customers travelling in Asia-Pacific.

The strongest commercial case is access to customers a hotel would otherwise struggle to reach. Wider distribution produces additional profitable stays when it fills available rooms at an acceptable net rate. Duplicate listings and bookings diverted from existing channels offer a weaker return. For hotels, the useful measure is additional room revenue after distribution costs; the size of the combined catalogue is a measure of choice.

ETG’s managing director for its consolidator business unit, Nikita Elagin, has described Agoda’s regional hotel portfolio as a reason for combining supply. His assessment places the emphasis on accommodation choice for an established mix of leisure and corporate customers.

“Agoda has a particularly strong hotel portfolio in the region, and by combining our supply, we can offer ETG customers a wider choice of accommodation and better serve their travel needs across APAC,” Elagin said.