The travel industry is experiencing a significant shift as major online travel agencies (OTAs) and innovative tech companies increasingly focus on the business-to-business (B2B) sector. Traditional consumer-facing entities like Expedia Group, Booking Holdings, and Hopper are now positioning themselves as critical suppliers of travel content, technology, and services to other businesses worldwide. This strategic expansion aims to diversify revenue streams, leverage existing technological capabilities and vast inventories, and capitalize on the growing demand for embedded travel solutions across various industries.
Hopper’s Rapid B2B Ascent
Hopper, initially recognized for its mobile-first consumer app, has quickly become a prominent player in the B2B landscape through its Hopper Cloud platform. This platform offers a comprehensive suite of B2B solutions, including white-label travel portals, a travel content API, and innovative fintech products such as price freeze and rebooking guarantees. Hopper Cloud primarily targets financial institutions, airlines, and other travel agencies, enabling partners to integrate travel booking and related financial services directly into their existing offerings. Hopper’s B2B unit has demonstrated substantial growth, evolving into a significant portion of the company’s overall revenue and extensively expanding its reach through numerous brand partnerships. Its emphasis on payment solutions, loyalty programs, and risk management through fintech products serves as a key differentiator.
Expedia and Booking’s Established B2B Presence
Expedia Group, with its long-standing B2B division known as Expedia for Business, maintains a dominant position in the sector. It utilizes its vast inventory of flights and accommodations to deliver an extensive array of solutions, ranging from simple APIs to white-label products and full-stack platforms for corporate travel. Expedia for Business serves a wide spectrum of partners, including traditional travel agencies, corporate travel management companies, and loyalty programs. Similarly, Booking Holdings operates a substantial, though less publicly highlighted, B2B unit. Booking’s B2B strategy is focused on empowering other travel agencies and corporate clients with access to its global inventory and technology. Both Expedia and Booking aim to scale their B2B operations by engaging with the broader ecosystem of travel providers and related industries.
The Broader B2B Travel Ecosystem
Beyond these leading OTAs, the B2B travel environment also encompasses traditional Global Distribution Systems (GDS) such as Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport, which continue to form the backbone for airline and hotel bookings. Newer corporate travel management companies, including TripActions and Spotnana, are also innovating in the B2B space by offering modern platforms for business travel. Financial services companies show particular interest in embedding travel into their services, viewing it as a significant driver for customer loyalty and engagement. This multi-faceted competition underscores the increasing recognition that the foundational infrastructure and content of travel present a lucrative, trillion-dollar market opportunity. The advancing sophistication of B2B offerings helps address long-standing fragmentation and inefficiencies within the travel supply chain, enabling businesses to integrate seamless travel experiences directly into their products and services.
Key Points
- Hopper has grown its B2B revenue by over 3,000% over the last three years.
- Hopper Cloud is responsible for 50% of the company’s total revenue.
- Over 40% of all flights sold by Hopper are now sold by its B2B partners.
- Hopper has partnered with more than 100 brands, including Capital One, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Chase, and American Express.
- Expedia Group’s B2B arm, Expedia for Business, generated $2.2 billion in revenue in 2021.
- Expedia for Business accounts for 15% of the company’s total revenue.
- Expedia currently has over 10,000 active partners globally.
- Expedia provides access to 3 million properties and 500 airlines.
- Booking Holdings’ B2B unit generated over $1.2 billion in revenue in 2022.
- Booking Holdings expects its B2B revenue to grow by 20% in 2023.
- The B2B travel market represents a $1 trillion opportunity.
- Booking Holdings’ B2B business processed 20% more room nights and airline tickets in Q1 2023 compared to the prior year.
- Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport power more than 70% of all travel bookings.
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