CONX 2025 | Inside Emerging Travel Group: a conversation with Felix Shpilman

On this fifth edition of ConX, Ratehawk was one of the official sponsors, and Felix Shpilman, President and CEO of Emerging Travel Group, participated in the roundtable about new strategies in B2B travel distribution. Felix took the time to answer some questions about his vision of the event, the theme of this year, Connected, and his perspectives on the future of the travel industry.

About RateHawk

RateHawk is an online system for booking hotels, air tickets, transfers and other services for travel professionals – agents, tour operators, TMCs and other stakeholders. Being part of UAE-based Emerging Travel Group, RateHawk provides trade partners with access to over 2.7 million accommodation options worldwide sourced from over 320 wholesalers and 130,000 directly contracted hotels. This extensive inventory ensures that travel professionals can find the perfect stay for their clients, whether in popular cities, remote resorts, or long-haul destinations, all at highly competitive prices. RateHawk is committed to connecting various travel industry sectors and stakeholders, blending technology with a personal touch.

The travel industry is often seen as fragmented, with many moving parts. From your perspective, how important is it for all industry stakeholders to be ‘connected’ in today’s market, and how does your company foster these connections? Can you share a success story that illustrates these connections in action?

The travel industry is indeed fragmented, with many independent components. RateHawk is a one-stop shop, and we focus on bringing all key travel services – from various types of accommodations and flights to car rentals, transfers, and train tickets – together on our platform to streamline travel professionals’ operations. Our platform itself serves as a success story, showcasing how connection fosters efficiency in the industry. We source accommodation offers from over 320 suppliers and 130,000 directly contracted properties, to which we add over 450 airlines, 20+ transfer suppliers, car rentals in over 150 countries, and rail tickets across Europe. Our product helps travel professionals navigate, providing already aggregated, matched, and ranked data based on the most competitive rates. This integration is a complex and gradual process, but we've seen marked improvement over time.

In our increasingly digital world, traditional human connections sometimes take a backseat. How does your organisation ensure that personal, human interactions continue to thrive, both internally and with your customers? What specific initiatives or technologies are you employing to make digital interactions as meaningful as face-to-face engagements?

We believe that any innovation should be driven by a personal touch, and we follow this approach in both internal and external interactions. Our team is distributed across 80 countries, comprising over 3,500 employees. To keep up and build a strong community, we pay lots of attention to online and offline gatherings – from regular strategic sessions held in our regional hubs, like Dubai and Lisbon, to all-hands, Zoom calls, and online events.

As for external partnerships, personal interaction remains crucial too. In RateHawk, we have over 500 employees in the commercial department – sales and account managers – who constantly stay in touch with our partners and help them drive their businesses on a daily basis.  Also, with 24/7 live support available in multiple languages, both our partners and their customers can feel more confident and less stressed, knowing we're just a click away and ready to help with any issues. At the same time, we equip our partners with tools like Selections to ensure their digital interactions with customers are as meaningful as face-to-face meetings.

In addition, we attend industry gatherings like ConX to connect with our current and potential partners and regularly facilitate events, such as sports tournaments, partners’ events, and FAM trips, to support the further development of the travel community.

Every industry faces its own challenges, and travel is no exception. What do you believe are the most pressing challenges in the travel industry today, and how is your company planning to tackle them? How do you see these strategies evolving with the continuous changes in consumer behaviour and technology?

With the rise of emerging technologies such as AI, the role of the travel agent may seem uncertain. However, at RateHawk, we firmly believe in the value of expertise as a means to enhance the travel experience. Travel has always been a purchase sensitive to both cost and quality, and we are dedicated to merging our partners’ expert knowledge with technological innovation. Our goal is to empower travel professionals to help them deliver the highest quality service, meet the evolving needs of end-customers, and grow their business.

B2B travel distribution is a rapidly shifting landscape. What is your perspective on the current trends in B2B travel distribution, and what do you foresee in the near future? Are there any emerging technologies or partnerships that you are particularly excited about in this realm?

Current trends underscore the importance of connectivity in providing seamless booking experiences for travel professionals and customers. At RateHawk, we lead these trends with API integrations tailored for OTAs, tour operators, and wholesalers. Our extensive hotel inventory, including options from over 100 DMCs, distinguishes us as a top supply provider and consolidator, beyond just a booking service.

Looking forward, we expect the demand for robust API connectivity to grow, enabling partners to easily access and leverage our diverse hotel offerings to expand their businesses. We're particularly excited about the potential of AI and machine learning, which can enhance personalisation and optimise inventory management. Additionally, we're exploring strategic partnerships to further enhance our offerings and drive innovation in B2B travel distribution – only last year, we started 500 new API partnerships, totalling up to 1100 connected clients.

How do you believe events like ConX help to unify the fragmented travel industry and drive innovation and growth? What advice would you give to other industry players seeking to strengthen their networks and relationships in today’s dynamic environment?

I believe that events like ConX play a vital role in connecting the industry. We have supported ConX for several years, seeing it as a crucial element of our partnership development process, and we encourage other industry players, especially new ones, to attend and actively participate in it. Meeting and interacting with other leaders can help strengthen networks and foster collaborative growth.