Bidroom Co-founder and CEO Michael Ros (left) and Tiqets Co-Founder and CEO Luuc Elzinga (right) received both Uzakrota awards in Istanbul on the 13th of December. — Photo by bidroom.com
  • This year's international Uzakrota Travel Summit awards named Bidroom hotel booking platform as Top Foreign Travel Startup and Tiqets ticketing platform as Top Foreign Travel Scaleup on the 13th of December in Istanbul, Turkey
  • Started in 2011, Uzakrota is considered to be Turkey's largest tourism summit that gathered an audience of over 4000 this year
  • Both Bidroom and Tiqets introduced award-winning technology to the travel industry that made them internationally recognized platforms in their own category

Two Dutch travel technology companies,Tiqets and Bidroom, have been awarded for tourism industry innovation at the Uzakrota Travel Summit, Istanbul, 13 December. Bidroom, an online hotel booking community for frequent travellers, picked up the award for Top Foreign Travel Startup of the Year 2019. Fellow Dutch company Tiqets, which sells instant tickets for museums and attractions, scooped Top Foreign Travel Scaleup of the year 2019.

Over 4000 people attended the 2019 Uzakrota Travel Summit, which brought together travel agencies, tourism tech firms, hotels, agencies serving the tourism industry and bloggers.

Both winning Dutch companies are also partners that cross-promote each other's services as they share an audience of frequent travelers who look for guaranteed best hotel prices (Bidroom) and last-minute mobile ticket booking (Tiqets).

Bidroom, which positions itself as a fair-play 'Robin Hood' of the online hotel booking industry, has now won 15 first-place awards since its foundation in 2014.

"I'd like to dedicate this award to all our far-sighted Bidroom hotel members and frequent travellers," said Bidroom CEO and Co-Founder, Michael Ros. "They believe in an efficient, user-friendly yet equitable approach to room booking, all without the burden of commissions."

Since its foundation in 2014, Tiqets' mission has been to make culture more accessible to tourists by making it easy to book museums and attractions. The company's Co-Founder and CEO, Luuc Elzinga, says Tiqets now works with 2300+ attractions around the world providing instant ticket delivery to its users' mobile phones. In October 2019, Tiqets received ​$60 million in Seed C financing led by Airbnb.​

"Tiqets is proud to be at the forefront of the 'experiential' revolution that is transforming the travel industry and bringing more people more frequently into the greatest venues around the world" said Elzinga upon receiving the award in Istanbul.

The Uzakrota travel summit judges acknowledged Tiqets' ability to rapidly grow over the last five years. Tiqets now employs over 200 people in 13 cities around the world.

Bidroom expects to have 100 employees by year end 2020, with offices in Amsterdam, Krakow, Istanbul and Paris.

The full list of winners at the Uzakrota 2019 Travel Summit is available h​ere​.

ABOUT TIQETS

Tiqets' mission is to make culture more accessible by making it easier for more people to go to museums and attractions. From the start in 2014, the company has connected millions of people to museums and attractions with instant, last-minute and mobile tickets. Tiqets works with both hidden gems and top museums and attractions all over the world.
The company is headquartered in Amsterdam and now employs 200+ people worldwide, including in Amsterdam (HQ) as well as Seattle, Las Vegas, Orlando, Philadelphia, London, Copenhagen, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Vienna, Bangkok, Tokyo and Osaka. More information can be found on T​iqets.com.

ABOUT BIDROOM

Bidroom is the world's first membership-based hotel booking platform. It has offices in Amsterdam, Krakow, Istanbul, and Paris and is on track to have over 140 employees by the end of 2020. Bidroom's fair-minded and transparent view on booking hotels and its unique, self-developed technology has gained praise in the hospitality industry worldwide since its introduction in 2014.

Since then, the company has earned many awards and accolades: Best "Grown Startup" from Hospitality Technology Forum 2019; Top Foreign Travel Startup 2018 at the Uzakrota Travel Awards; Tourism Trends Award 2018 - "IT for travel"; Startup Of The Year 2018 by travmagazine; Startup Innovation 2017 from World Tourism Forum Lucerne; Best Travel Startup of the Year 2017 from Uzakrota Travel Awards; Best Start-up in the Grown Startup category at the Hospitality Technology Forum 2019 in Zurich. Wired included Bidroom in its Hottest Startups in Amsterdam list in 2019; Forbes included it in its Eight Entrepreneurs And Their Startups That Are Shaping Travel Tech (2019)