Bedbank

A bedbank is a business-to-business wholesaler that contracts hotel inventory in bulk, then distributes it to travel agencies, tour operators and OTAs at net rates. The buyer applies its own markup before selling to the traveler.

Bedbanks matter because they aggregate thousands of hotel contracts behind one commercial relationship. Instead of negotiating with individual properties, a reseller signs once and gets broad coverage.

The trade-off is depth versus control: bedbank rates are typically non-refundable or carry strict cancellation windows, and content quality varies. When you evaluate hotel supply through an API, check whether rates arrive with machine-readable cancellation policies rather than free-text notes; that difference decides how much of your operations you can automate. The Hotels vertical on traveldistro exposes wholesale rates with structured policies through the same contract as every other vertical.