First and Only Leader of Hotelbeds Steps Aside for New CEO Charged With Amping Up Digitization
Photo Credit: A two-bedroom loft at the Angsana Laguna Phuket. Banyan Tree Group, which owns the Angsana brand, decided in April to distribute some of its hotel inventory via Hotelbeds. Banyan Tree Group
Skift Take
It's an occasion to pause and appreciate the accomplishment of Joan Vilà, who created Hotelbeds and led it to become the world's largest bedbank. But looking ahead, Hotelbeds must rev up its digital metabolism.
Hotelbeds said on Wednesday it had installed a new CEO, Nicolas Huss, to lead the travel technology business.
Huss takes the reins as Joan Vilà is stepping aside from his role as executive chairman. Vilà has led the Palma, Spain-based company since its creation in 2001, scaling it to become the market leader among wholesale distributors of hotel room inventory.
Hotelbeds' controlling investors Cinven, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and EQT, tapped an outsider to be the company's CEO. Huss, the former CEO of Ingenico and Visa Europe, now confronts the task of speeding up the company's digitization.
Hotelbeds didn't have a CEO before. It had an executive chairperson and managing directors. Huss's team includes chief operating officer Carlos Muñoz and chief financial officer Andrés García-Tenorio.
"Coming from a digital background, I truly believe that this is an industry which is well-positioned to capitalize on the benefits of artificial intelligence, machine le
