How to Distribute Your Hotel Through Bedsonline

What You'll Need

Distributing your hotel through Bedsonline refers to selling inventory wholesale to travel agents rather than directly to guests, so line up these five things before you apply.

• Business registration details and property information for the HBX Group Supplier Portal application
• A decision on connectivity method (channel manager, direct API, or manual extranet)
• Wholesale or net rates defined separately from your retail rate plans
• 10 to 15 high-resolution photos and detailed room and policy content
• A decided preference for B2B payment method, such as virtual credit cards

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Step 1: Submit Your Supplier Application to HBX Group

Bedsonline operates under its parent company, HBX Group, formerly known as Hotelbeds. The application happens through the HBX Group Supplier Portal, not through Bedsonline directly.

The form asks for property name, location, room count, and contact details. It's straightforward, but the rate strategy decisions that follow are not, so it helps to think through those before submitting.

Common Mistake: Applying before deciding on a wholesale rate strategy, which forces rushed rate-setting once the application is approved.

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Step 2: Choose Your Connectivity Method

How you connect depends mostly on how much volume you expect and what you're already running.

Common Mistake: Choosing manual updates at a property with enough complexity that they quickly fall behind.

At a small independent property with low wholesale volume, manual extranet updates may genuinely be enough to start. It's reasonable to upgrade to a channel manager once volume justifies the integration effort.

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Step 3: Set Wholesale Rates Separate From Retail Rate Parity

This is the step that decides whether Bedsonline distribution actually helps your bottom line. Wholesale rates need room for the travel agent's markup, which means they have to sit below your retail pricing, not next to it.

Static FIT rates work well here because they're built for exactly this: a fixed net rate the agent marks up, rather than a rate meant to be shown directly to a guest.

Pro Tip: Review your wholesale rate against your lowest retail rate quarterly. If the gap has narrowed, agent markups may already be undercutting your own direct bookings.

Common Mistake: Setting wholesale rates too close to retail, letting agent markups undercut the hotel's own direct pricing.

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Step 4: Keep Dynamic Inventory and Pricing Synced

Once live, your inventory is selling through a much larger network of agents than a single OTA connection. Real-time availability matters more here, not less.

Feed live BAR rates and current inventory through your channel manager connection so every agent sees the same accurate picture at the same time.

Common Mistake: Relying on periodic manual updates for inventory that's also selling through several other channels at once, which is exactly how overbooking happens.

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Step 5: Optimize the Property Profile for B2B Buyers

Travel agents sell your property without a guest ever visiting your website. The profile has to do all the convincing on its own.

Upload 10 to 15 high-resolution photos covering rooms and common areas. Write detailed content on room types, bed configurations, and policies. Tag amenities accurately, including Wi-Fi, parking, pools, and dining.

Common Mistake: Reusing thin OTA listing content instead of writing the level of detail agents actually need to sell confidently to their own customers.

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Step 6: Finalize Payment Terms and Go Live

Before activating the connection, review the commission structure and payment terms in the supplier agreement carefully.

Choose a B2B payment model, most commonly virtual credit cards. Set up a reconciliation process for these payments before go-live, not after the first booking arrives.

Pro Tip: Match your virtual credit card reconciliation process to your existing PMS reporting cycle, so wholesale bookings don't need a separate manual review process.

Common Mistake: No reconciliation process prepared for virtual credit card payments before go-live, creating manual accounting work for every booking that comes through.

Going live activates visibility to HBX Group's global network of over 60,000 travel buyers.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

Applying Before Deciding Your Rate Strategy

Submitting the supplier application without a wholesale rate plan already in mind, which forces rushed decisions the moment approval comes through.

Choosing Manual Updates at a Complex Property

Sticking with manual extranet updates past the point where booking volume or channel count makes that sustainable.

Setting Wholesale Rates Too Close to Retail

Leaving too little room between wholesale and retail pricing, so agent markups end up undercutting the hotel's own direct rate.

Relying on Manual Inventory Updates

Updating availability by hand while the same inventory sells through several other channels, which is how overbooking happens.

Reusing Thin OTA Content for Agent Buyers

Copying over a short OTA description instead of the detailed room and policy content agents need to sell with confidence.

Skipping Payment Reconciliation Before Go-Live

Activating the connection without a process for reconciling virtual credit card payments, then building that process under pressure after bookings start.

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Why roommaster Keeps Wholesale Distribution Reconciled

Independent hotels choose roommaster because wholesale distribution doesn't have to mean manual reconciliation work bolted onto the side of daily operations. Rate management and payment processing run inside the same platform, and roommaster maintains a Hotelbeds integration for properties distributing through HBX Group.

roommaster properties typically save 4 to 6 hours of staff time per week on payment administration, with up to a 40% reduction in chargeback losses. That time adds up fast once wholesale volume through channels like Bedsonline starts growing.

See how roommaster's Channel Manager connects to hundreds of OTAs and every major GDS from a single dashboard, keeping wholesale and retail distribution in sync.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is required to distribute your hotel through Bedsonline?

A completed HBX Group supplier application, a connectivity method, and wholesale rates kept separate from retail pricing.

2. How is Bedsonline different from a typical OTA?

Bedsonline sells wholesale to travel agents rather than directly to guests, so pricing and payment terms work differently.

3. What connectivity method should a small hotel start with on Bedsonline?

Manual extranet updates work at low wholesale volume; a channel manager becomes worth it once volume or channel count grows.

4. Why keep wholesale rates separate from retail rates?

Wholesale rates need room for agent markup, and letting them get too close to retail pricing undercuts direct bookings.

5. How are Bedsonline bookings usually paid?

Often through virtual credit cards, which need a dedicated reconciliation process set up before the connection goes live.

6. How many travel buyers can a Bedsonline listing reach?

Going live activates visibility to a global network of over 60,000 travel buyers connected through HBX Group.