Wholesalers give agents and tour operators access to rates and inventory they could not contract themselves, usually at net rates through trade websites and APIs. The agent or operator then sells to the traveller, adding a mark-up or earning commission.

Related terms

• Bed bank. A wholesaler of accommodation. See bed bank.

• Consolidator. In effect, a wholesaler of flights. See consolidator.

• Trade-only tour operator. A tour operator that sells only through travel agents. In law it is still the organiser of its packages, and the agent is a retailer. In North America, wholesaler often means this kind of operator.

Example: an agent books a Dubai hotel from a bed bank, a desert safari from an activities wholesaler and flights from a consolidator, then sells all three at one price. The wholesalers are suppliers, and the agent is the organiser.

Worth knowing

• ATOL. A business selling flight seats only to other ATOL holders, for resale under the buyer’s licence, can hold a Trade ATOL.

• VAT. HMRC treats wholesale sales of travel to other businesses as within the Tour Operators’ Margin Scheme, but the seller can choose to take them out of it.

• Rate conditions. Wholesale rates often come with conditions, such as packaging-only opaque rates and bans on publishing the prices of individual components.