The trade-only bed bank, which was bought by JacTravel last year, has predominantly worked with business travel agents and TMCs until now, but is eyeing growth in the independent leisure sector.

Peter Davies joined JacTravel as regional head of sales UK and Ireland in January, and is tasked with increasing totalstay’s penetration in the trade. He told TTG: “There’s a bit of a vacuum after the demise of Lowcostbeds, and a lack of confidence in the sector because of recent behaviour.

“We have a real opportunity, with our heritage, background, and backing, to try and steal a march on the gap left by their demise.”

As part of the JacTravel Group, totalstay has direct contracts with around 12,500 hotels globally, and a total aggregated supply of 130,000 properties, in 10,000 destinations.

A new totalstay website was launched in April this year, replacing the Exclusively Hotels brand under which totalstay had operated.

Davies said that while agents might think of totalstay for city hotels, the bed bank now has a much wider breadth of product, ranging from beach destinations to mountains, and from budget accommodation to direct contracts with InterContinental Hotels Group and Marriott.

He encouraged retail agents to think beyond the very cheapest price when choosing which accommodation providers to work with.

“Some retailers are so blinkered, just thinking price, price, price, regardless of service levels and backing,” he argued. “But we also have loyal agents who appreciate our financial stability and customer service levels, and might not be swayed by who has got a hotel 50p cheaper.”

Davies, who has worked previously for Somewhere2Stay, HolidayBrokers and MagicRooms, pointed to totalstay’s 24-hour call centre in Romania as evidence of its comprehensive customer service.

“A lot of travel businesses say 24-hour, but it’s someone on a mobile phone in a pub; that’s how an awful lot of companies operate,” he claimed.