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Magic Rooms snapped up by Spanish group


Lucy Huxley lucy.huxley@travelweekly.co.uk


Magic Rooms, the bed bank set up by former Thomas Cook chief executive Manny Fontenla- Novoa in 2014, has been sold to Spanish travel group Logitravel.


Family-owned online travel


agent, technology provider, bed bank and metasearch company Logitravel plans to grow Magic Rooms in the UK and provide its front and back-office technology to independent agents. The deal to acquire 100%


of Magic Rooms’ shares was announced this week, but full details were not disclosed. Holiday Malta parent SMS Group held 60% of the bed bank’s shares, and Fontenla-Novoa owned 40%. Fontenla-Novoa will remain as chairman of Magic Rooms while John Drysdale, former Sun Cruises and Island Cruises managing director, who also worked for Alpharooms, will be chief executive. Holiday Malta will remain under


its current ownership, led by chief executive Dean Jones. Magic Rooms will retain all its UK sales, operations and support


Manny Fontenla-Novoa


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functions, and remain in the UK. Drysdale said: “In this rapidly changing landscape, Logitravel will provide Magic Rooms with the product range, buying power, financial strength and leading-edge technology, all of which will help the business become one of the UK’s leading accommodation providers.” Fontenla-Novoa added: “We are


very excited about the prospects as a part of a larger organisation.” Logitravel president Ovidio


Andres Arcos said: “We have a fantastic payment record and we invest in the best technology.”


Logitravel’s 28 locally-based


contractors will provide Magic Rooms with 20,000 directly contracted properties. Before the deal, Magic Rooms had two contractors.


A further 300,000 properties


will be accessible via agreements with more than 200 suppliers. The group will start discussions


with independent agents about Logitravel’s TravelTool technology. Founded in 2004, Logitravel has a


turnover of more than €700 million and operates in 33 markets in Europe and South America.


5 Dnata launches bed bank Yalago


Lee Hayhurst World Travel Market, London


Consolidation among bed banks means now could be the ideal time to enter the market, the sector’s newest supplier said.


Emirates Group-owned dnata


Travel launched global leisure bed bank Yalago (yala is ‘go’ in Arabic) at World Travel Market this week. The venture offers the


contracting and distribution platform developed internally by dnata Travel, owner of Travel


Republic, Gold Medal and Travel 2, to third parties. Managing director Sebastien Doussin said consolidation in the market – with the likes of Hotelbeds buying GTA and Tourico Holidays, and Logitravel taking over Magic Rooms this week – was an opportunity for a new player. “Maybe it’s the best-ever time


to enter the market,” he said. “You have two things: the number of failures that have taken players out of the market and consolidation. “No tour operator wants too


much reliance on a small number 6 travelweekly.co.uk 9 November 2017


of suppliers. We’re very much responding to demand.” Doussin said Yalago had a


different approach: “Everyone else has built a bed bank from scratch; we are distributing inventory that is already present. We have a global team buying for the whole group. “All we are adding are sales and commercial teams. We have taken an internal tool and content, and are distributing it at a lower cost.” Doussin said because product had been contracted for dnata’s businesses, including Emirates Holidays, trade customers could


be assured it was relevant, competitively priced and “extremely well managed”. Yalago was originally a Travel


Republic project that was put on the back burner while dnata made a swathe of travel acquisitions. Steve Barrass, now in charge of dnata Travel’s new ventures in Europe, oversaw its introduction in Dubai with five test partners. Doussin vowed trade customers


would get the same level of support as internal dnata brands and full access to its seven million bednights a year.


PICTURE: STEVE DUNLOP


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