Expedia has signed Best Western Europe as the first global white label partner for its MeetingMarket technology.
From January, the meetings and event booking portal, unveiled just over a year ago, will be integrated with the Best Western website in Germany with about 200 properties set to use the technology.
Expedia Group lodging partner services president Cyril Ranque describes the planning and buying of meetings as the opposite of the "few clicks away" process for booking a hotel room and involves "tons of interactions with multiple hotels."
During a media briefing in London this week, he adds that the partnership is with Best Western Europe it is being started in Germany with plans to extend it to other Best Western properties quickly.
Ranque also says this is not about the mega conferences "yet" and that most of the market is for meetings of less than 30 people.
This is a new line of business for Expedia but one it clearly sees as lucrative with Ranque quoting figures of meetings and events representing $400 billion of the $1.4 trillion travel market.
He also says 66% of meetings happen in a hotel and usually with a hotel room attached.