Groupon Teams With DerbySoft To Boost Its Travel Business

Groupon is teaming up with travel supplier and distributor connector DerbySoft to work with more hotels and grow instant booking.

The move paves the way for the Groupon Getaways travel business to work with more of the leading hotel brands around the globe, expand its ability to access room availability, see nightly rates and book reservations directly. It also provides DerbySoft’s supply partners with access to Groupon’s 29 million North America customers, according to an announcement.

“Partnering with DerbySoft furthers our goal of making experiential travel more accessible and bookable for consumers,” said Louisa Balach, North America general manager of Groupon Getaways, in the announcement. “They have a strong reputation throughout the industry, and this partnership will make it even easier for top hotels and resorts to work with us — providing greater choice and a more seamless booking experience for our customers.”

Booking is an important portion of the voucherless initiative of Groupon, the company said. It is aimed at making the redemption experience better, opening up the Groupon marketplace to a wider range of suppliers, providing always-on availability, and providing consumers with more reasons to buy.

Groupon, as it stands, features 40,000 hotels and resorts in the U.S. and around the globe via the Groupon Getaways North America marketplace. New York City, Niagara Falls, Las Vegas, Orlando and Myrtle Beach are some of the top-selling destinations.

DerbySoft, on the other hand, has partnerships with all the top 10 global hotel groups, hundreds of regional hotel chains and the top third-party central reservation systems. On the demand side, DerbySoft connects to all the major online travel agencies, wholesalers, metasearch engines and tour operators from around the globe.

“We’re very excited to partner with Groupon and provide our partners with even greater inventory distribution through their eCommerce marketplace,” said Duane Overgaard, vice president and general manager of Connectivity for DerbySoft, in the announcement. “Groupon is a well-respected brand, and we look forward to helping them connect more travelers to their favorite destinations across our supplier network as well as potentially expanding into tours, activities and ticketing.”