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Provocation

The future of group travel belongs to connected agency networks.

11.06.2026 6 min Lesezeit
The group-travel world is fragmented today. Travel agencies, tour operators, MICE agencies, incentive specialists, DMCs, bus-tour operators — all work separately, all build their own hotel relationships, all lose volume. The next phase: connected agency networks buying together, sharing operations and selling individually.

Why fragmentation slows growth

An individual classic travel agency holds on average 12-18 live hotel relationships. A corporate MICE partner maybe 60. A specialty operator 100-200. Everyone wrestles their own direct relationships, everyone negotiates individually, everyone loses in peak weeks when the most important hotels are sold out.

What a connected network does differently

A shared allotment pool. A shared sourcing team across 25 locations worldwide. A shared operations backstop. Sell individually, buy together. Each member keeps its brand, its end clients, its margin — and gains access to hotel capacity that would never be securable alone.

Example from practice: RTK Romania as GSA

In 2024 S-E-T-T named RTK Romania its General Sales Agent. With that, Romanian travel agencies gained access to our full hotel, activity and sport-ticket portfolio through one single integration. That is not a classic reseller model — that is a connected agency network: local advice, global procurement.

What travel-industry partners can do today to be part of this

First: analyse your portfolio — what do you source today alone that would go better in the network? Second: find a B2B partner who does more than sell hotels — who organises volume aggregation. Third: buy together, sell individually — the brand stays, the procurement gets stronger.

Themen: Agency Networks B2B Travel Industry

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