eBay and Webjet are entering a commercial arrangement for the supply, distribution and marketing of hotels online through eBay.com.au.
The partnership brings together Webjet's unique hotel services aggregator which electronically provides in excess of 50,000 worldwide hotels with year round (not just leftover) inventory with eBay's very special and enormous customer database which totals over 5 million members in Australia.
It brings together the resources of a unique community of eBay users with Australia's leading online travel agency.
The partnership will deliver to eBay's members:
- Over 50,000 hotels
- Year round inventory
- 24/7 access
- Sophisticated search options
- The full service centre backing of Webjet
It propels eBay into a new business sector that is currently substantially fragmented, where we consider there is substantial potential for online hotel sales growth over the next few years.
eBay and Webjet will extensively cross-market and as a result will further propel Webjet's growth momentum which is already running at some 4 times the industry growth rate in Australia and most importantly, propel Webjet into an extremely strong position for the distribution and sale of hotels online.
Simon Smith, Vice President at eBay said: "Our members have told us they love the idea of being able to find broader travel offerings on eBay. eBay is Australia's leading online marketplace, providing Australians with the ability to buy and sell practically anything across a huge range of categories. We're excited to be able to expand the kinds of goods and services we can offer them by joining forces with Webjet."
Webjet's Managing Director, David Clarke said: "We are delighted to work with eBay on this new venture. Unlike many other forms of distribution, eBay has a unique and very special community of members of enormous size and marketing strength in the Australian region. It is the largest single step that Webjet could make in terms of extending its market footprint into the sale of hotels.
Because of our unique supply arrangements, Webjet incurs only marginal incremental operating costs and will accordingly achieve greater economy of scale. Further guidance in terms of the likely profit contribution to Webjet's bottom line will be made at the time of our annual filing August 2008."
