HBX Group, the proprietor of Hotelbeds, needs to show the web page | Business | EUROtoday

Every January 1, Nicolas Huss makes a want: “May this be a normal year.” However, the CEO of HBX Group, the biggest mattress financial institution on this planet, was unfortunate in 2025 and is crossing his fingers that 2026 will not be a repeat of the earlier one. The firm he manages staged the biggest IPO on the continent on February 13, with a valuation of two,716 million, but it surely descended into monetary hell and on the finish of November it marked a minimal that lowered its capitalization to 1,384 million. Now, the proprietor of manufacturers similar to Hotelbeds, The Luxurist, Bedsonline and Roiback, has recovered positions and is round 2.1 billion. On Friday it benefited from a big enhance of 6.7% after asserting a share buyback value 100 million euros.

Investors penalized in 2025 that the technological companies firm for the tourism trade misplaced 70 million euros in its fiscal yr (which ended on September 30), tripling the pink numbers. The firm explains this as a result of prices of going public and since geopolitical instability has attacked its most essential markets, such because the United States. “It has been a year of transition with many things that we did not foresee before going public, but with very strong fundamentals regarding our positioning as a company and with good future projections,” summarizes Huss by videoconference. The profile of the journeys modified, he says. “We are specialized in long-distance trips, where people tend to book much earlier. The whole geopolitical issue has impacted us. Perhaps we could have managed revenue better in this volatile environment. We tried to protect the margin and the results that we had promised. We have failed by about 10 million on a revenue of more than 700. The deviation is small, but the reaction was important. Knowing if it was excessive or not… what I think is that we have disappointed the market, which has reacted very strongly,” values. The falls it has suffered additionally distinction with the opinion of numerous analysts, who consider that the corporate is undervalued. Income in its final fiscal yr, of 720 million, grew by 5% and working earnings amounted to 431 million, 10% extra.

HBX’s enterprise mannequin consists of buying resort beds (it has a portfolio of 250,000 worldwide) and reselling them to its shoppers, that are some 50,000 journey businesses, 3,500 tour operators and 1,000 airways, in change for a fee. “We are a technology company. We simplify the world of travel, which is very complex and fragmented. The idea is to offer a set of interconnected products, technological solutions, and services,” the manager explains. In addition to resort beds, they purchase all types of actions, similar to excursions to cities, theme parks, live shows, occasions or transfers. “In tourism the trend is very positive in the long term, but it can be quite volatile in the short term. If there are meteorological events, wars… it affects us. What happened [en 2025] It’s just that there were more last-minute, intra-regional trips…” The supervisor acknowledges, in any case, that they haven’t executed it totally effectively. And he believes that it’s time to look ahead. “In the medium and long term we see that the world of travel is moving towards the east, to the Middle East and Asia. “We know there will be more travelers because the percentage of people who have a passport in India and China is now low.”

Born at the beginning of this century in Palma de Mallorca as part of Viajes Barceló, the company passed through the hands of First Choice and Tui until ending up in the hands of the Cinven fund and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in 2016. Both remain majority shareholders of HBX Group along with other funds (EQT, Fidelity). And, according to the CEO, they share their support for the company’s strategy, which they supported with strong investments during the pandemic.

The executive sees very strong points in the group’s foundations due to its position in the market: “We are a B2B operator, we don’t compete with accommodations, that are our suppliers. Nor with those that promote merchandise to the tip client. This permits us to construct robust alliances, which was one of many targets of the IPO.” Another has been to reduce debt after raising 725 million in the market, and that leaves their hands freer to invest. “We believe that there are possibilities of making intelligent strategic alliances where we can achieve very good results without excessive investment.”

They have set their sights on Asia, where they are making a great effort, and have internally reorganized the company after announcing the departure of Richard Solomons from the presidency, a movement that will be completed on February 12 at its general assembly. “Richard has helped us lots. He has guided and supported us within the worst moments.” His place will be taken by James Bilefield, who has held executive positions linked to technology and business transformation in various sectors. “It has a really technological profile. It is a change within the constructive sense, the evolution continues.”

The omnipresent AI

That evolution has a lot to do with AI. Their clients, he says, choose them for four variables: technology, data, products “and obviously a model with global scale managed by experienced people.” However, he sees that there is much to do in tourism. “People travel a lot, but when you see the level of satisfaction… two-thirds say things could be better.” AI has helped them advance productivity, for example by translating all travel brochures into multiple languages, or making business information more predictive, or deepening personalization in high-end travel. Last year they bought a company that allows them to connect directly with hotels so that a person is not asked several times for the same information they already have. And that, which seems simple, saves thousands of hours in paperwork. check-in.

Will know-how displace folks? The govt believes not. The group’s workforce, made up of round 3,500 staff, has not undergone main adjustments lately. “AI is here to support humans,” he values, as a result of in the meanwhile it solely learns in standardized conditions: “What is left for humans is increasingly more complicated and with more value.” Righting a mistake in a reservation, for now, is often a mission for actual folks.