Both independently owned, the two firms have come together to consolidate their respective roles in what they describe as a “fiercely competitive” sector.

Matt Stuart, managing director of getabed, and Ruchir Bang, executive director of roomsXML, will both retain their senior positions.

Bang will become chief executive while Stuart will serve as chief commercial officer. Further senior leadership roles will be announced soon.

Stuart said the merger was a “hugely exciting time” for getabed and rooms XML.

“With the accommodation wholesale market evolving rapidly, we needed to ensure we remain relevant,” he said. “Our shared passion, ethos and vision was clear, so merging to become a single entity made complete sense.

“Moving forward, our customers will get the best of both companies, with robust technology, breadth of product and solid 24/7 support. Our travel partners will continue to remain at the heart of everything we do as we are still small enough to remain personal and reactive to their demands.”

The deal will bring “significant benefits and scale” and make the new business “genuinely global” with presence in the UK and Ireland, EMEA and APAC.

Bang added: “We currently are in a very interesting phase within the travel wholesale industry and certainly see a great future if we have the right mix of passionate team, user-focused technology and strong financials, and that’s exactly what both roomsXML and getabed bring to the table.

“This all started with the vision on where we want to see our businesses in future and what growth opportunities we can bring to our valued staff members across offices, rather than just seeing if the balance sheet numbers added up.”

Getabed has been trading since 1991 and roomsXL since 2007.