8
9 minutes readContents
- Commercial results: Reporting record revenue growth
- Product innovation: Empowering partners at every step
- Sharing our expertise: ETG on the global stage
- A year of recognition: Celebrating industry excellence
- Our global culture: Connecting and growing together
Who we are
Emerging Travel Group is a global travel tech company with brands (RateHawk, Roundtrip, ZenHotels) operating in over 220 source markets since 2010. Our customers include trade partners and individuals simply booking their hotels online. We have more than 3,900 employees spread across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region, the CIS, and Africa.
Commercial results: Reporting record revenue growth
Emerging Travel Group reached $4.8 billion in gross transaction value in 2025, marking a 30% increase over the previous year. The main driver of this growth was the company’s flagship B2B platform, RateHawk, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The platform enables travel professionals to book hotels, air tickets, transfers, and other travel-related services.
In 2025, RateHawk’s net booking value rose 40% compared to 2024, sustaining a decade of consistent double-digit growth. The number of partners connected to RateHawk grew 37%, surpassing 110,000 travel professionals worldwide. As an all-in-one, multi-product platform, RateHawk also saw a 33% rise in transportation bookings, with flights and transfers driving the majority of this growth.
Felix Shpilman, President and CEO of Emerging Travel Group
“Over the past decade, RateHawk has scaled rapidly. Thanks to our innovative and partner-centric approach, we’ve achieved strong market fit across key regions such as Europe and the Middle East, and we continue to expand our presence in new markets, including Asia, Latin America, and North America, with both our booking platform and API solutions,” said Felix Shpilman, President and CEO of Emerging Travel Group, RateHawk’s parent company.
Emerging Travel Group reached $4.8 billion in gross transaction value in 2025, marking a 30% increase over the previous year.
Product innovation: Empowering partners at every step
Our commitment to creating seamless travel experiences for our partners and their clients is the driving force behind our product advancements. In 2025, we focused on integration, efficiency, and customization.
Expanding accommodation inventory
In 2025, Emerging Travel Group continued to strengthen its role as a supply consolidator. During the year, we integrated more than 50 new suppliers, increasing its total network to 350 accommodation providers. Overall, ETG’s total accommodation inventory marked a 23% increase compared to the previous year.
Establishing direct connections with hotels remained a key strategic focus, with the number of direct partnerships doubling year over year to reach 250,000 properties, primarily across the USA, Europe, and the Middle East. ETG further strengthened its connectivity capabilities by integrating with more platforms and channel managers, including DerbySoft Exchange, Simple Booking, and InnGenius. Accommodation providers can connect their inventory to ETG using a variety of options — through the company’s Extranet, over 80 channel managers, direct API integration or other integration platforms.
Felix Shpilman, President and CEO of Emerging Travel Group
“Our supply strategy ensures both broad coverage and competitive pricing. By integrating wholesalers, suppliers, and DMCs, we are able to offer our partners accommodation options even in the most remote and exotic destinations. At the same time, prioritizing direct connections with hotel chains and independent hotels in high-demand locations allows us to provide the most competitive deals and the widest rate representation,” commented Felix Shpilman.
“On the demand side, ETG’s broad network, including RateHawk’s B2B partners and corporate clients using our business travel platform Roundtrip, enables us to provide hotels and suppliers with strong, diversified multi-channel distribution. As a result, this approach allows us to generate sustainable value for both sides of the marketplace,” added Shpilman.
ETG’s total accommodation inventory marked a 23% increase compared to the previous year.
On the aviation front, we signed a global partnership with Travelport GDS for direct ticketing and forged agreements with top airlines for direct NDC content, paving the way for more robust flight offerings.
Empowering API
We believe in the power of our API product and are fully committed to making it even better. RateHawk’s API, providing an extensive supply of 3.2 million accommodation options to large OTAs, travel tech platforms, and agency chains, experienced a 40% increase in gross bookings. The network of API partners increased by 33%, exceeding 1,400 companies, including MakeMyTrip, LCC Deutschland, and Global Star connected in 2025.
In 2025, we released several important features, including the SERP Pre-book API, which enables real-time adjustments for faster bookings; the Content API, allowing users to filter hotels and upload data more precisely; card payments via API that helps to expand payment flexibility for partners; the API Sandbox, providing a secure, risk-free environment for testing integrations; a package rate indicator, making it easier to identify package-only offers.
RateHawk’s API experienced a 40% increase in gross bookings. The network of API partners increased by 33%, exceeding 1,400 companies.
Enhancing core services
We continued to strengthen the tools partners rely on daily, improving both usability and commercial performance. Transfers now include round-trip options, while car rentals are now live for all partners! With access to over 200 rental companies across 160 countries, booking a car is just a click away. We’re especially proud that for RateHawk partners, this new product reached break-even in just 70 days — a testament to its immediate value.
Our payment system received a simplified UI, added local wallets, and enabled Gross Payments for transportation. Our Quotes tool became more powerful with deeper branding customization and live rate updates.
We fully launched the Trips on Roundtrip, ETG’s corporate brand, a travel booking platform for small and medium businesses. This powerful feature allows our partners to bundle multiple services — like hotels, flights, and transfers — into a single, easy-to-track itinerary, simplifying complex booking management.
Building for the sustainable future
We strengthened our sustainability initiatives by introducing vehicle types for transfers and a sustainable hotel filter. To enhance the booking flow, we introduced smart rate alternatives, helping users book faster and with fewer interruptions.
Enhancing AI-driven technologies
To ensure a seamless booking process, we have enhanced automation and expanded the use of AI-driven technologies. In customer support, we have rolled out agentic AI tools trained to classify and prioritize incoming requests, determine the necessary actions, and execute routine tasks accordingly. This ensures faster resolution times while allowing human agents to focus on more complex cases.
Beyond customer support, the company is expanding the use of AI across other areas of the business, including more efficient supply aggregation and management, content localization and adaptation, and the identification and prevention of booking incidents. These AI-driven initiatives enhance operational efficiency, minimize errors, and accelerate the time to market for new products and services.
Felix Shpilman, President and CEO of Emerging Travel Group
“With travel remaining a highly fragmented industry, we see AI as a game-changer for behind-the-scenes processes. Predictive, generative, and agentic AI tools are already integrated across our product, analytics and customer support teams, and we plan to expand their use further,” concluded Shpilman.
ETG has rolled out agentic AI tools trained to classify and prioritize incoming requests, determine the necessary actions, and execute routine tasks accordingly.
Sharing our expertise: ETG on the global stage
This year, we made our presence felt at key industry gatherings, sharing our insights and connecting with partners from around the world. We participated in nine international exhibitions and hosted our first two independent events for ETG hoteliers in Phuket and Bangkok, which received excellent feedback from over 90 attendees.
Our leaders took the stage at major conferences to discuss the future of travel:
- Felix Shpilman, President and CEO, spoke on Agentic AI at ATM Dubai, ConX Mallorca, and WTM London.
- Astrid Kastberg, Managing Director of RateHawk, explored Gen Z travel behavior at the LCC Annual Summit.
- Davide Amaro, Regional Director for Southern Europe, discussed the transformation of travel distribution at TIS Seville.
- Simone Large, Head of Direct Supply, shared insights on the evolution of hotel distribution (Visibility vs. Value: Metasearch, Bedbanks & the New Rules of Hotel Distribution), also at TIS Seville.
Felix at WTM London — on the opportunities Agentic AI brings to the travel industry and how ETG is integrating it into operations and support
Astrid at LCC Annual Summit — on Gen Z travel behaviour and how businesses can leverage technology to stay ahead of shifting trends
A year of recognition: Celebrating industry excellence
Our progress in 2025 was recognized across the industry, reflecting our continued focus on innovation, performance, and partner value. These wins belong to every member of the ETG team whose dedication made them possible.
RateHawk was honored with two prestigious awards:
- Gold Award at the Magellan Awards from Travel Weekly.
- Europe’s Best B2B Travel Provider 2025 by the World Travel Tech Awards — our second consecutive win!
Furthermore, ETG received an incredible six awards at the CX and AI World Series Awards in Dubai:
- Best Predictive Analytics AI Model (ETG)
- Best Customer Centricity in B2B (RateHawk) — World
- Best Business Transformation (RateHawk) — Europe
- Best Customer Centricity in B2B (RateHawk) — Europe
- Highly Commended for Business Change and Transformation (RateHawk) — Global
- Highly Commended for Best AI Agent Assist (ETG)
On the left, Julita (Regional Director Northwestern Europe) and Davide (Regional Director Southern Europe) just got Europe’s Best B2B Travel Provider prize from World Travel Tech Awards 2025 with our RateHawk brand. On the right, Alena (Executive Director Customer Operations) and Vadim (Head of CX) are grabbing six awards at the CX and AI World Series Awards
Serkan (Regional Director of the Middle East) proudly received Europe’s Best B2B Travel Provider 2025 by the World Travel Tech Awards for RateHawk — and it is our second consecutive win!
Our global culture: Connecting and growing together
While our technology evolved, our greatest asset remained our people. In 2025, the ETG family grew to nearly 3,900 employees worldwide, and we found new ways to foster our unique remote-first culture.
Celebrating our community
We launched the official ETG Instagram page to showcase our employer brand and the incredible individuals who power our company. Our annual Sport Challenge was a massive success, with participants collectively taking over 62 million steps — enough to walk around the entire Earth at the equator! We also celebrated a major milestone: ETG’s 15th birthday, with festivities connecting our teams across the globe.
ETG’s 15th birthday will stay in our collective memory — thanks to unforgettable events all over the world and motivational speech from our CEO!
Embracing transparency and learning
In a bold move to foster a culture of growth, we held our first-ever Failures Night. Executives and department heads shared their work-related failures and the invaluable lessons learned, drawing over 300 online viewers and starting a powerful new tradition.
Failures Night hosted our Execs and Heads board members, as failures are a vital part of any path, so why not share some thoughtful cases
Opening a new office
We’ve moved to the new office in Lisbon, Portugal, a home where teamwork goes offline, and creativity goes wild. A space to laugh, chat, and build ideas together.
Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond
As we look back on a year of incredible achievements, we are filled with pride and gratitude for our team, partners, and clients. The successes of 2025 are not an endpoint but a launching pad. We will continue working hard, inspiring one another, and powering every travel experience. The best is yet to come!
