2 European Leaders Join Forces To Simplify And Increase Hotel Sales On Gift Boxes

Smartbox, N°1 of experience gift category in Europe and D-EDGE, European leader in Distribution technology and marketing for hotels, have joined forces to develop connectivity between their 2 platforms. Thanks to this partnership, hoteliers can now manage their sales on Smartbox as easily as their other channels (OTAs, Site, Wholesalers...) and take full advantage of the growth of this sales platform.

• A recent study by D-EDGE(i) shows that hotel online distribution continues to grow rapidly (+45% in 5 years). By partnering with Smartbox Group, D-EDGE offers access to a new, incremental and profitable sales channel to hoteliers.
• The connectivity built between D-EDGE and Smartbox Group, enables hoteliers to be connected in real-time to this sales platform and to manage easily and timely their sales (define availability, pricing etc) from a unique tool: their Channel Manager.
• Partnership with Smartbox allows hotels to attract incremental customers, who will enjoy their gift, generating incremental revenues for the hotel through ancillaries .
• Smartbox is a powerful medium to boost hotel visibility and business with a Smartbox gift sold every 5 seconds and 1 in 20 Europeans receiving one as a gift last year(ii). Smartbox does not cannibalise direct bookings or act like an OTA giving allowing the Hotel to build a direct relationship with the customer for the future. Smartbox customers spend a further 20-50% extra on ancillaries on arrival or at booking to enable Hotels to maximise their profitability of their relationship with Smartbox.
• Now with integration to D-EDGE, there is little effort for the hotel to access this new distribution channel.

About Smartbox
Smartbox Group's experience gifts are available in 11 countries(iii) in Europe through 9 brands(iv) which allow customer targeting in each geography. Smartbox Group's experience gifts are sold in 18,000 European retail outlets (such as Fnac, Leclerc, Cultura, El Corte Inglés, MediaMarkt, Bilka…), as well as online retailers like Amazon. 41,000 accommodation and experience providers already partner with Smartbox Group across Europe, with 40% from the Hotels & Accommodation sector. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and led by CEO Olivier Fajour(v). Smartbox recorded business volume of nearly 500 million euros in 2018. Smartbox employs more than 1,000 people across Europe and support our experience providers in 8 languages.

[i] "How Hotel online Distribution is changing?" www : https://www.d-edge.com/how-online-hotel-distribution-is-changing-in-europe/
[ii] * in the countries where Smartbox Group is present
^[iii] France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Portugal.
^[iv] Smartbox, Bongo, Buyagift, Cadeaubox, La Vida Es Bella, Dakotabox, Emozione3, Odisseias and Red Letter Days
^[v] https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivier-faujour/

Media Contact

Isabelle Falque

Chief Marketing & Communication Officer [email protected] +33 678 680 980