London travel startup develops new business model to drive sector innovation

A London travel start-up has developed a new business model to drive a new wave of travel innovation by allowing any room seller to work with any hotel directly.

Impala has named their new approach, ‘Open Distribution’, which will reimagine travel infrastructure and hotel distribution.

The start-up has developed a booking API which seamlessly connects room sellers and hotels so they can work together directly while Impala manages onboarding, content quality and payment.

Open Distribution is easy for any travel business to join. Hotels can quickly gain access to new markets, to attract more of the guests that work for their property. Room sellers can access the technology and inventory they need to build new, differentiated products. Both sides can work with each other, and keep more of the revenue they earn.

Ben Stephenson, CEO, Impala, said: “Impala was born out of the idea that we needed to rebuild travel’s infrastructure to pave the way for the future.

“The Open Distribution approach is already breaking down barriers to entry for the sector, and removing layers of complexity that hotels and room sellers have faced for years. We’re already bringing innovation to some of the biggest names in the industry - and enabling new start-ups to build travel businesses from scratch.”

Impala is providing the innovation layer for an influx of new travel start-ups that are adapting to major changes in traveller behaviour such as remote working and longer stays.

One example is RemoteDream, a startup that helps travellers find and book the best hotels and hostels suitable for remote work. RemoteDream was able to go to market incredibly quickly, thanks to Impala lowering the barriers to entry and removing the need to integrate with other parties such as channel managers.

Joeri Nanov, co-founder, RemoteDream commented: “Impala has helped us tremendously with our go-to market, both in terms of speed and initial investment in technology. Because of Impala we were able to go from offering zero to now hundreds of locations without having to spend time on integrating 60+ Property Management Systems. This has saved us a lot of time and money. Impala made it feasible for us.”