S4BT expands into the UK with the acquisition of HotelHub

S4BT's CEO, Ziad Minkara, provides an update on the acquisition of HotelHub and the potential synergies with the group's other solutions.

By Arnaud Deltenre -

Published on 25/02/2026

Ziad Minkara, founder and CEO of S4BT - Solutions for Travel Business, explains the benefits of acquiring HotelHub.

" An acquisition will be made shortly ". Interviewed by Voyages d’Affaires Last October, Ziad Minkara, founder and CEO of S4BT - Solutions for Business Travel, reiterated his desire to see his group expand in the UK. This has now been achieved with the acquisition of Travel Centric Technology, the parent company of HotelHub. Following on from the acquisition of Corporate Rates Club in Germany, SIAP in Italy and Rydoo Travel in France - the basis for the launch of the Goelett solution - CDS's parent company is giving even more substance to its ambition to "build a leading European group". And even more globally, since, according to S4BT, the integration of HotelHub will give rise to the " the world's largest corporate hotel booking platform "With an annual volume of more than 5 billion dollars in bookings, 60,000 bookings a day.

Based in London, HotelHub not only extends S4BT's presence in the UK, but also strengthens the group's influence with major international TMCs by giving them access to more than 2 million establishments worldwide. " By combining our distribution technology with S4BT's operational expertise and financial capabilities, we can deliver greater value to TMCs and their corporate customers around the world.said Jay Virdee, CEO of HotelHub.

The S4BT group, created last year to bring all its solutions under a single umbrella, now has eight brands: CDS and HotelHub, as well as CRC, Goelett, SIAP, TMS and Methodica, in addition to its latest brand, Trevium, launched in January. Trevium is a new-generation financial solution designed to modernise payment and expense management. Read on to find out more about the benefits of this acquisition and the potential synergies with S4BT's other solutions from the group's founder and CEO, Ziad Minkara.

Ziad Minkara (S4BT): "HotelHub ticked all the boxes

It's no surprise to see S4BT one day setting up in the UK, as you've mentioned it in the past. How did the acquisition of HotelHub come about?

Ziad Minkara - We wanted to gain a foothold in the UK through an acquisition that was in line with our vision of creating the European leader in business travel and hospitality solutions. HotelHub ticked all the boxes in this respect, being a technology platform well established in the UK market and focused on business travel. We had been in discussions with them for three years, our relationship starting eighteen months ago with a commercial partnership to integrate our CDS solution into HotelHub. This integration was completed three months ago, but we remained discreet on this point until the negotiations were completed.

Introduce us to HotelHub, whose name is not always well known?

Z. M. - It is in HotelHub's DNA not to put its commercial name forward. And yet it is the benchmark technology gateway for many TMCs, a partner of CWT, FCM, CTM and Reed&MacKay, for example, as well as being the default gateway used by Concur. As a result, since the UK market is dominated by the big American agencies, once you plant your flag in the UK, you immediately become a global player. Beyond the UK market, the acquisition of HotelHub allows us to serve TMCs and corporate clients regardless of their geographic location.

Today you refer to S4BT as the " the world's largest corporate hotel booking platform ". How does the acquisition of HotelHub support this position?

Z. M. - HotelHub was already a major player, one of the world's leading technology platforms. By complementing this with CDS services - i.e. hotel content, payment and billing, with e-invoicing on the horizon - we become the leading player in the global hospitality sector. And, it's worth emphasising, in an open way. Each TMC or customer can choose all or some of the building blocks we offer, with open APIs. Depending on the TMC's needs, we can build an OBT with HotelHub, we can use HotelHub as a stand-alone solution, we can use it for the offline or online part, in addition to payment through our new Trevium solution.

What is the difference between HotelHub's positioning and, for example, that of Corporate Rates Club, which you acquired in Germany?

Z. M. - HotelHub has positioned itself as the partner of travel agencies to build integration and connection solutions with OTAs, hotel aggregators and hotels. CRC, for its part, positions itself alongside corporate clients to help them build a dedicated hotel platform, with content, but also payment, invoice collection and rebilling. This suite of solutions, which is not currently included in HotelHub, will complete its offering. At the same time, CRC, which operates mainly in the DACH market (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), will be able to offer its solutions to more global agencies. The interfaces complement each other.

How will HotelHub feed into the seven other brands of the S4BT group? What synergies can be expected?

Z. M. - HotelHub will enable the Group's various brands to serve global TMCs on the content and payment side. At the same time, we will be able to serve mid-scale agencies in the UK, which were not previously customers of CDS or HotelHub. On this side of the Channel, this will enable us to integrate with first-class agencies, not only on the online side, but also on the offline side. HotelHub is multilingual, versatile and multi-GDS, working with Amadeus as well as Sabre and Travelport. Our brands will feed off each other in both directions. We are convinced that a travel agency or an international company can now find the solutions they want through S4BT.

You suggest that this acquisition is not "the end of the story". Should we expect other transactions?

Z. M. - In the evolution of a company, there can never be an end point, especially today with the rise of agentic AI. But today, the S4BT Group has 100% of the solutions needed to serve the needs of a TMC. Our strategic focus over the next 18 months will therefore be on integrating our solutions with each other, while keeping our brands in their own segments and markets. Unless, as we are identified as a financially solid player, an opportunity of strategic interest arises, there will be no further acquisitions during this time. The strategy we have been writing for the last six years was to become the leader first in France, then in Europe. It wasn't an easy position to achieve, and it's not an easy one to maintain. We are going to continue to work on satisfying our agencies and our corporate customers by providing them with even more value and services.

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S4BT expands into the UK with the acquisition of HotelHub