RateHawk vs Hotelbeds vs WebBeds vs TBO: Which Is Best?

Every travel agency that moves beyond manual bookings meets the same four names: RateHawk, Hotelbeds, WebBeds and TBO. All four sell hotel inventory to travel professionals, and which one is best depends on your destinations, your volume and how you plan to sell.

Short answer: RateHawk is usually the easiest first account, WebBeds suits Middle East-heavy agencies, Hotelbeds suits agencies ready for a formal API process, and TBO suits agencies wanting hotels and flights from one account. Agencies with volume often connect more than one, because no supplier has the best price on every hotel and date. Here is the picture supplier by supplier.

The four suppliers compared

Figures are each company's own, read on 1 November 2026. They are not counted the same way. RateHawk's number, for example, includes apartments, guest houses and campgrounds.

	RateHawk	Hotelbeds	WebBeds	TBO
Parent	Emerging Travel Group	HBX Group	WebBeds Group (ASX: WEB)	TBO, listed on India's NSE and BSE
Inventory stated	3.3M+ accommodation options from 330+ suppliers	300,000 hotels	500k+ hotels, 98k+ directly contracted	1M+ hotels
Trade clients stated	220,000+ clients	About 60,000 distributors	50k+ travel buyers	159K+ buyers
Beyond hotels	Air tickets and transfers through its platform	Experiences and transfers	Ground services, transfers and activities	Air, holiday packages and other services
How you start	One-step registration, no fees stated	Become a client form, or a free API key for evaluation	Buyer form, then a partnerships team contact	Registration form on tbo.com
API access	Signed agreement; certification of about 14 to 30 days	Evaluation key at 50 requests a day, then certification	After commercial agreement and technical approval	Separate from the portal login; modules set per account
Rate model	Net or gross	Set by your contract	Net or commissionable, set by your agreement	Set by your account
On Travora Hub today	Live	Live	Live	Hotels and flights on request

RateHawk: the easy first account

RateHawk is part of Emerging Travel Group, and it says joining its agent platform takes one step with no fees. Agents can work on net rates or gross rates with commission. It is an aggregator as much as a bedbank: its results draw on many suppliers, which is why the inventory number is so large. For many small and mid-size agencies it is the first serious supplier account they open, and ETG publishes its API documentation openly. We've written a full walkthrough in our RateHawk guide for travel agencies, and a separate piece on what RateHawk white label really means.

Hotelbeds: the formal route to scale

Hotelbeds belongs to HBX Group, and its developer portal lists 300,000 hotels. It is one of the best-known names in hotel wholesale, and it says it serves about 60,000 travel distributors in 170+ countries. HBX also runs Bedsonline as its brand for retail agents. Access is more formal than RateHawk's. You can get a free evaluation key at the developer portal, but it is limited to 50 requests a day, and moving to live means completing your company profile and passing certification. Details are in our Hotelbeds agency guide.

WebBeds: with roots in the Gulf

WebBeds launched in Dubai in 2013 and bought Dubai-based Destinations of the World (DOTW) in 2018, and it added an Umrah Holidays International brand in 2019. That history makes it worth checking if you sell the Middle East, including Makkah and Madinah. It separates out 98k+ directly contracted properties from its 500k+ total. Payment terms and rate models are set in your commercial agreement, so settlement type varies by contract. Our direct comparison of WebBeds vs Hotelbeds covers how to choose between these two.

TBO: hotels and flights from one business

TBO, also known as Travel Boutique Online, is listed in India and states 159K+ buyers across 100+ countries, with 55+ currencies and more than 300 account managers. Its offer spans air, hotels and holiday packages, so one company can cover a lot of your product range. API access is separate from the agent portal, so a working portal login usually doesn't work on the API. Credit terms, if any, depend on your account. Our TBO registration guide covers account setup.

The comparison that actually matters

Headline numbers won't tell you who wins on your hotels. Run your own test instead. Take your real searches, such as a 5-night Makkah stay, a Dubai city break and a Bangkok holiday, and price them on each account with the same dates, guest nationality and room type. Compare these points:

• Availability. Did the hotel appear at all?
• Net cost. Convert to one currency, and include any taxes payable at the hotel.
• Board and room name. Room only isn't the same as breakfast included.
• Cancellation terms. A cheaper non-refundable rate isn't comparable with a refundable one.
• Payment. Consider what you need to fund, and when.

Expect the winner to change from hotel to hotel. When it does, the gap between suppliers is margin you can keep or pass on. An agency selling from one supplier's portal doesn't see that gap. We don't quote a typical percentage, because it depends on the market and date, and your own test will give you a more useful figure than anyone's average.

Which to pick

• You are new, with little volume: start with RateHawk. Opening an account doesn't require a volume commitment that we could find, and you can begin in its portal before building anything.
• You sell Umrah, Saudi Arabia or the wider Gulf: test WebBeds early alongside RateHawk, and add Billbed if you need more Makkah and Madinah options.
• You sell leisure trips and have a developer or platform ready: Hotelbeds is a sensible candidate, and its documentation lets you assess the work before you commit.
• You are in South Asia or sell hotels and flights together: look at TBO, especially if your staff already use its portal. If you need it on a website through us today, check its status with us first.
• You have steady volume on several destinations: hold two or more accounts and compare them on each sale.
• You sell only a few contracted hotels: a bedbank may add little. Your direct contracts could be enough.

More accounts also bring more work. Each one means a contract, possibly a deposit, and another statement to reconcile, so add a supplier when it wins on hotels you actually sell.

Questions to ask before you sign

Whichever supplier you choose, get these answers in writing from your sales contact, because none of them is fixed across all accounts:

1. Are my rates net or commissionable, and in which currency?
2. Do I need a deposit, and can I earn a credit line later?
3. Can I sell these rates on my own website, and on what conditions?
4. Do you limit the number of searches for each booking?
5. Who do I call when a hotel can't find a guest's booking at midnight?

How small agencies get multi-supplier pricing

The traditional obstacle was technical: several contracts, several APIs, several certification processes, then a development project to bring them into one search. Platforms now do that integration work, though the commercial side stays with you.

We make Travora Hub, so judge this with that in mind. It is independent and not affiliated with any of these suppliers. You connect your own accounts, and bookings run under each supplier's terms. RateHawk, WebBeds, Hotelbeds and Billbed are live today. TBO hotels and flights are on request: its hotel search and prebook are built, but customers can't book TBO hotels yet. Basic includes one hotel supplier, Professional two, and On Demand includes one search across all of them. Results show each supplier's rate side by side, so the same hotel can appear more than once and the customer picks the better price. There is no shared pool of supplier rates, so you need your own account with at least one supplier.

Frequently asked questions

Which hotel supplier is best for a new travel agency?

RateHawk is often the easiest start, since it says registration is a single step with no fees. Compare it with others if your destinations are specialised.

Which supplier has the cheapest rates?

There is no permanent winner. Prices vary by hotel, date and contract, so test your own bestselling hotels on each account.

Are these all bedbanks?

Hotelbeds and WebBeds are usually described that way. RateHawk draws on many suppliers as well as direct contracts, and TBO calls itself a travel distribution platform.

Can I use all four together?

Yes, if each one approves you and your software connects to them. Each contract and its payment terms remain separate.

Do I need a developer to use their APIs?

You need a developer or a platform that has already built the connection. All of these suppliers set their own conditions for API access, so confirm them with your contact.

If you already hold an account with one of these suppliers, you can try the live demo to see how supplier rates, your markup and the checkout fit together.