From complex to commercial: How Sunweb turned hotel partnerships into a scalable revenue engine

Sunweb is one of Europe's leading tour operators, offering a broad range of holidays across sun, ski, and city destinations.

With a large and growing portfolio of hotel partners, Sunweb recognised a significant commercial opportunity in its co-marketing activity but the existing approach was holding the company back from reaching its true potential. A challenge many travel retailers will be familiar with.

CHALLENGE

Like most tour operators, Sunweb had always maintained close commercial relationships with its hotel partners. Co-marketing formed a natural part of those partnerships but the processes underpinning it were labour-intensive, time-consuming, and difficult to scale.

Each campaign required significant internal effort, with little standardisation across partner engagements. The result was a co-marketing operation that demanded a lot but delivered inconsistently. As the volume of hotel partners grew, it became increasingly clear that a new approach was needed, one that could simplify the proposition for both the business and its partners, while unlocking meaningful revenue growth.

"The co-marketing we were doing required a lot of work. We needed to streamline things and find a way to do more with less," explains Jan Lockhart, Country Manager Nordics, Sunweb.

SOLUTION

Sunweb engaged Platform 195 to help redesign its co-marketing approach from the ground up with simplicity, scalability, and commercial clarity at its core. The first priority was the proposition itself. Before anything could scale, hotels needed something they could understand, evaluate, and buy with confidence.

The solution centred on a structured, off-the-shelf package model. Rather than developing bespoke campaigns for every hotel partner, Sunweb, guided by Platform 195, built a defined set of four packages that hotels could choose from that were clear, straightforward, and easy to explain, and removed complexity from both sides of the relationship.

"The vast majority of our hotel partners, around 99%, buy an off-the-shelf package. It's a take it or leave it approach, and it works. Simple and easy for the hoteliers, and equally easy for our sales agents to sell," notes Jan.

This clarity proved transformative. What had previously been a lengthy, arduous process became fast and seamless. From a lead being confirmed to a campaign going live now takes just a matter of days, down from a much longer and more complicated journey.

"Working with Platform 195, it's just a very easy process. Easy going, smooth and it goes fast. From sales confirmed to campaign live, it's a well-oiled machine. The whole process is easy and smooth," says Jan.

Critically, Platform 195 brought more than technology to the table. As a team steeped in travel, with first-hand experience of the industry's commercial realities and the pressures hoteliers face, they were able to go beyond platform delivery.

That meant helping train hotel purchasers, working through more complex partner engagements such as DMOs, and providing strategic guidance that only comes from genuinely knowing the industry.

"The travel-specific expertise is something we couldn't find elsewhere. It's invaluable to be able to discuss challenges with a team that has genuine first-hand experience, not just knowledge of the tools, but of the industry itself," adds Jan.

OUTCOMES

The impact of the new approach has been rapid and measurable. Revenue from hotel co-marketing partnerships has grown by over 200% year on year, with a high rate of returning hotel partners signalling that the packages consistently deliver value for hoteliers.

• 200%+ year-on-year revenue growth from hotel co-marketing partnerships (2025 to 2026)
• High repeat campaign rates among hotel partners, demonstrating sustained partner satisfaction
• Streamlined end-to-end process from confirmed sale to live campaign in just a few days
• Scalable proposition with a structured package model that makes it easy to sell and easy to grow

"It makes the whole process relatively simple. It makes it possible to sell a lot of packages and deals in a very short time, efficiently," says Jan.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Sunweb's ambitions for the programme are significant. With an internal revenue target already in place, the team's goal is to double that figure over the next two to three years, a target Jan believes is realistic given the foundation that has been built.

Looking ahead, the partnership continues to evolve. Platform 195 has already produced an animated explainer video to make the co-marketing packages easier to understand for non-English speaking and non-marketing-savvy hotel owners, a practical example of removing friction at every stage.

The next frontier is scalable AI video content to support hotel partners' own marketing activity, giving properties compelling, conversion-driving content that helps them sell more holidays.

“We haven't met anyone else with the capability and in-depth knowledge that Platform 195 has. The goal now is to keep building on what we've created together,” concludes Jan.

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