Travel industry term

Wholesale Rate

A hotel rate contracted directly with tour operators and bed banks, typically 30–45% below the Best Available Rate (BAR) that consumers see on OTAs.

A wholesale rate is a net, non-commissionable price that a hotel gives to a wholesaler (tour operator or bed bank) in exchange for distribution — usually bundled into packages with flights, cruises, or other ancillaries. The wholesaler marks up the rate and resells it, but contractually cannot advertise the wholesale price stand-alone to consumers.

Hotels rely on wholesale channels to fill rooms during softer demand periods without cannibalizing their public-facing BAR. The rate gap varies from 20% on peak dates to 50%+ on shoulder season — which is the primary source of savings for closed-channel travel clubs.

Travel Club members access wholesale inventory through our bed-bank partnerships. Rates display only after login because hotel contracts explicitly forbid public display of wholesale pricing.

Related terms

BAR (Best Available Rate)

The publicly-available rate a hotel publishes on its own website and OTAs — almost never the cheapest rate the hotel is willing to accept.

Bed Bank

A B2B hotel-rate wholesaler that aggregates inventory from thousands of hotels and redistributes wholesale rates to tour operators, travel agents, and closed-channel programs.

Consortia Rate

A preferred hotel rate negotiated by agency networks like Virtuoso, Signature, and Amex Fine Hotels — typically 10–25% below BAR with value-adds like breakfast and upgrades.

Articles covering this topic

How We Find Hotel Rates 60% Cheaper Than Booking.com

Wholesale, consolidator, and member-only rates are a real thing — here's a plain-English look at how the hotel industry prices rooms, and how clubs like ours get access to the rates the public never sees.