Hotelplan Group continued to grow in the 2017/2018 financial year and again successfully increased revenues. Despite the challenging market environment in the travel sector, Hotelplan Group achieved an invoiced turnover of CHF 1'451.8 million.

Hotelplan Group was not immune to the obstacles facing the travel industry in 2018 – the highly contested beach holiday sector in Switzerland, airline bankruptcies, a short-lived slump in holiday home bookings during the hot summer and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit in the UK. Nonetheless, Hotelplan Group rose to the challenges and achieved a passenger volume growth of 2.4%. In the year under review (1 November 2017 to 31 October 2018), invoiced turnover increased by 5.2% to CHF 1'451.8 million.

Hotelplan Suisse withstands airline groundings

Despite the airline groundings of carriers such as SkyWork Airlines and Cobalt Air and the testing domestic market environment, the Swiss market leader Hotelplan Suisse achieved an invoiced turnover of CHF 601.2 million (without travel.ch) in the year under review – corresponding with an increase of 3.1%. With a 41.5% turnover share, the Swiss country organization is the largest business unit within the Hotelplan Group.

Holiday apartments report growth

The Holiday Home Division, comprising the holiday home providers Interhome und Inter Chalet, again saw strong growth. With an 8.0% increase, revenue rose substantially year-on-year to CHF 359.0 million. Exploitation of the two brands' potential continues – in 2019, the focus is on optimizing synergies, including the launch of a joint booking system.

Hotelplan UK yet to feel the Brexit effect

Hotelplan UK increased invoiced turnover in the local currency by 2.9% to GBP 259.1 million, thus withstanding the uncertainties surrounding Brexit and accompanying fragility of the British pound. The impact of Brexit remains unclear, however – as a consequence, the outlook is somewhat subdued in anticipation of a negative Brexit scenario. Hotelplan UK sold the diving specialist Regaldive, acquired in 2015, in the year under review.

bta first travel posts a solid result

The business travel segment at bta first travel is exhibiting steady growth and continued to expand the customer portfolio – notably in terms of SMEs with tailor-made services. bta first travel grew faster than the market and was able to win numerous new customers. This enabled the business travel specialist to increase invoiced turnover by 6.3% to CHF 131.9 million.

Acquisition in the business travel sector

Acquired by Hotelplan Group on 1 November 2018, Finass Reisen AG perfectly complements the group's business travel sector. The business, incentive and event travel specialist will continue to operate wholly independently. Joining Hotelplan Group will secure the long-term future of this successful company. Finass's turnover will not be consolidated until the next reporting year. In 2017/2018, the invoiced turnover at Finass increased by 5.9% to CHF 49.5 million.

Start-up expands its product range

Besides expanding its hotel-only business to further source markets in the previous financial year, bedfinder also sold packages for the first time and stepped up endeavours in B2B white label partnerships. This enabled the start-up venture within the Hotelplan Group to boost invoiced turnover by 34.3% to CHF 18.3 million.

Hotelplan Group holding its own in a competitive environment

Hotelplan Group's positive revenue trend in the 2017/2018 financial year is expected to continue in the current 2018/2019 reporting year: "Although the ongoing uncertainties surrounding Brexit will continue to dampen sales and Hotelplan Suisse continues to be challenged by the price war, we expect a favourable trend in the current business year. There are no obstructions to new products and markets, and growth potential at Hotelplan Group remains intact. We are tackling the challenges strengthened and full of drive," says Thomas Stirnimann, CEO Hotelplan Group.