A wholesaler is an intermediary that buys hotel rooms at contracted net rates and resells them to tour operators, travel agencies and online resellers. Wholesalers provide volume but are a frequent source of rate leakage.
The classic model serves packaged travel, where the room is bundled with flights and never shown as a standalone price. Static contracts guarantee rates for seasons ahead, which gives hotels base business and gives wholesalers margin to distribute.
The risk appears when wholesale rates escape the package and surface on public websites undercutting the hotel. Contracts should define permitted distribution explicitly, and parity monitoring should verify it. Cleaning up one leaking wholesale contract often fixes disparities across many channels at once.
← sesion.org · All categories · Advisors · Blog · Glossary