Overall first quarter, the net booking value in the UK rose 2.6 times compared to Q1 2021.
RateHawk.com, an online system for booking hotels, air tickets and transfers for travel professionals, marks six years of trading in April 2022 and reports strong growth in the United Kingdom.
Overall first quarter, the net booking value in the UK rose 2.6 times compared to Q1 2021. By the end of Q1 2022, the number of partners in the UK has increased by 81% year-on-year marking more than 2,400 travel professionals, among which are prominent travel agencies, tour operators, API partners, and other professionals. The total number of RateHawk’s partners has increased by 42% year-on-year and exceeded 27,000 partners in 120 countries.
Felix Shpilman, CEO of Emerging Travel Group, which manages RateHawk, commented: “The strong business results in the United Kingdom have been driven by several factors. Firstly, the general easing of travel restrictions plays a significant role in returning confidence to travel and ramping up demand.
“Secondly, RateHawk’s focus on product superiority and excellent support provided in the most volatile business environment are highly regarded by our partners, and their growing number speaks for itself.
“However, the growth would not be so outstanding if not for our brilliant UK team’s hard work and persistence. Our plan for the next quarter is to further enhance the regional team and recruit more staff to be even better positioned to continue the expansion in the United Kingdom and deliver RateHawk to local travel professionals.”
The top domestic destinations in terms of hotel bookings made by the UK travel professionals in Q1 2022 are London, Manchester, Edinburgh. The leading choices for outbound trips are the USA (New York, Las Vegas, Miami Beach), the UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah), Spain (Tenerife, Barcelona, Ibiza). The preferred accommodation categories booked by the UK travel professionals in Q1 are 4-star hotels (45% of total Q1 bookings) and 5-star hotels (26%).
The top choices for flight bookings were Turkey, Spain, and the UAE. Transfer services were most often booked in Greece, the UAE, and Spain.
RateHawk officially launched in the United Kingdom in 2018. Today it provides travel professionals with over 1.7 million accommodation options, up 21% from a year earlier. The service sources its inventory from over 140 global suppliers (+17% YoY) and 51,000 direct hotel contracts (+45% YoY).
In 2021 RateHawk launched its air ticket offering providing tickets from over 350 airlines, including more than 150 low-cost carriers. The platform also provides transfer routes in over 150 countries.
RateHawk has a mobile app available to the partners using iOS or Android devices. The number of downloads exceeded 17,000.
RateHawk employs more than 90 people worldwide. The sales teams are located in 30 countries covering 120 markets globally. Over the last year, the platform was localized into three new languages: Portuguese, Czech, and Chinese. Currently, RateHawk is available in 19 languages.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
