As the Vietnamese tourism sector flourishes in the past five years, the country’s hospitality industry also shows a promising future.
Market researcher Statista says the country’s hotel sector is pulling in around US$467 million in revenue by the end of this year, and the figure is expected to reach US$900 million in 2022.
“Vietnam’s online tourism sector has grown significantly over the past 5 years with new participants entering the market every year. Yet we believe the sector has not reached its full potential yet and will continue to grow for the next 5 to 10 years, especially when the government is determined to plan for tourism and technology as spearheading industries of the economy,” Thuan Dao, CEO of BedLinker, told KrASIAin an interview.
Driven by the spirit of elevating Vietnam’s tourism industry, Dao established BedLinker in 2017. A technology provider of integrated distribution solutions for hotels and resorts, BedLinker helps hotels and resorts to improve distribution processes and maximise revenue from their B2B customers through the latest technology, affordable cost, and excellent support.
“In Vietnam and most Asian countries, B2B segment contributes up to 70% – 80% of a hotel’s rooms revenue. However, hotels and resorts are handling contracting and booking processes through manual methods and thus, limiting their market coverage while enduring high administrative costs. Therefore, we want to help hotels and resorts improve process efficiency, minimise distribution cost and maximize revenue from B2B customers,” Dao told us.
People behind BedLinker developed an integrated solution for hotels and resorts, which includes a B2B distribution management software called BedAllocator, allows hotels and resorts to manage their contracted & non-contracted B2B accounts through a B2B online portal with features such as contract management, rate plan management, allotment management, group booking, e-voucher, and email marketing. On the other hand, BedLinker.com serves as a B2B marketplace platform that helps hotels and resorts connect with more travel agents around the world.
Dao is being optimistic with his startup’s potential as he believes that BedLinker is the only technology provider in Southeast Asia offering an integrated solution for hotels and resorts. “Our suite of products allows hotels and resorts to effectively and efficiently manage and grow their B2B distribution activities. Since launched, we have successfully acquired 1000+ hotel suppliers as well as 500+ travel buyers,” he says.
Since the business is growing well, Dao is hoping that next year BedLinker can catch investors’ attention to help them expand their services, especially in sales and marketing to solidify BedLinker’s position as Vietnam’s leading technology provider for B2B hotels and resort distribution solution. “We plan to expand our product offering by including new modules like flight tickets, and we also open for B2C segment in 2019,” Dao told us.
Editor: Ben Jiang