WIWT - WISH I WAS THERE

What WIWT - WISH I WAS THERE does

WIWT (legally Wish I Was There B.V.) is a Netherlands-headquartered B2B travel distribution platform that operates a two-sided marketplace designed to route hotel demand through alternative, non-OTA channels. On the hotel side, the company's fintech hotel distribution system integrates with 28+ channel managers and PMS systems (including Apaleo, Cloudbeds, MEWS, SiteMinder, OPERA, RateGain, STAAH, SynXis, and others) to push inventory into consumer fintech and digital lifestyle applications — banking, payments, loyalty, mobility, and retail platforms — where travelers transact as part of their daily app usage. The company pairs this with a Virtual Credit Card settlement mechanism, allowing hotels to be charged commission automatically prior to guest arrival, and reserves an open geographic footprint anchored by offices in Amsterdam (HQ), Barcelona, and Singapore.

On the demand-generation side, WIWT runs a Travel Affiliate Program that equips influencers, bloggers, and content creators with personalized branded Travel Shops offering access to 2M+ hotels, resorts, and villas globally. Influencers earn a 50/50 commission split on bookings with no cookie expiration, a positioning explicitly aimed at creators displaced when Booking.com terminated its affiliate program. The company has also deployed an AI Travel Assistant on WhatsApp (September 2024) and Telegram (December 2024) that processes natural-language queries for hotel discovery and booking.

Revenue is generated purely on a commission-per-transaction basis with no upfront fees, no monthly subscriptions, and no hidden costs for hotels. Both supply-side (hotels) and demand-side (affiliates) onboarding is designed for low friction — hotels sign up via a short form and connect through their existing channel manager in under five minutes. The company is founder-owned and operated, with no disclosed institutional venture capital or private equity backing. Named customers include Townhouse Hotels (operating 8 properties), Termes Montbrio & Hotel Roc Blanc, and La Digue Island Lodge, providing testimonial evidence of incremental demand generation but limited public visibility into transaction volume or revenue.

Name

WIWT - WISH I WAS THERE

Legal name

Wish I Was There B.V.

Website

https://wiwt.travel

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

WIWT is a Netherlands-based B2B platform connecting hotels to consumer fintech apps and travel influencers via channel manager integration. It earns commission on bookings through a fintech hotel distribution system, branded Travel Shops for creators, and an AI travel assistant.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hotel Distribution Platform

akta.pro primary industry

Accommodation-Focused OTAs (Hotels & Alternative Stays) (THAKAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Card Issuing & Virtual Cards (lodge cards, single-use, tokenization) (THALAHAB), Alternative Payments & Digital Wallet Acceptance (A2A, RTP, wallets) (THALAHAH)

Keywords

• Hotel distribution platform
• Travel affiliate program
• Fintech booking channel
• Influencer monetization
• Channel manager integration

Headquarters

HQ city

Amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Hotel Distribution Commission: Hotels pay commission only per transaction when reservations are received. No upfront fees, no hidden costs. Commission is the only charge for using the distribution network.
2. Travel Affiliate Commission Split: 50/50 commission split with travel influencers and content creators. Affiliates earn commission when their followers book hotels through their branded Travel Shop. No cookie expiration - commission is earned as long as the customer uses the affiliate's link.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

WIWT operates a two-sided hotel distribution and travel affiliate marketplace. For hotels, it connects inventory to fintech and lifestyle apps (banking, payments, loyalty, mobility, retail) through channel manager integration, charging commission only on confirmed bookings with Virtual Credit Card settlement. For travel influencers and content creators, it provides branded Travel Shops over a catalogue of 2 million+ properties with a 50/50 commission split, no cookie expiration, real-time dashboards, and an AI Travel Assistant on WhatsApp and Telegram.

Product overview

WIWT (Wish I Was There) is a fintech hotel distribution and travel affiliate platform consisting of two interconnected products: (1) the FINTECH Hotel Distribution System - a B2B channel that connects hotels to fintech apps and consumer platforms via channel manager integration, offering VCC payment processing with commission-only pricing; and (2) the Travel Affiliate Program - a B2B2C offering that provides influencers and content creators with their own branded Travel Shop to earn commissions on hotel bookings, powered by the AI Travel Assistant available on WhatsApp and Telegram.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FINTECH Hotel Distribution System A hotel distribution platform that connects hotels to consumer fintech apps (banking, payments, loyalty, mobility, retail, and digital lifestyle platforms) via integration with 28+ channel managers and PMS systems. Hotels connect in under 5 minutes, receive reservations directly into their PMS, and pay only commission per confirmed booking. Virtual Credit Cards are used to automate commission settlement prior to guest arrival. Designed for hotels and hotel groups seeking to diversify distribution beyond traditional OTAs.
• Travel Affiliate Program (Branded Travel Shop) A travel affiliate program offering branded Travel Shops over a catalogue of 2 million+ hotels, resorts, and villas. Travel influencers, bloggers, and content creators customize the shop with their own logo and colors, share the shop with their audience, and earn a 50/50 commission split on bookings with no cookie expiration. Backed by a real-time dashboard for tracking clicks, bookings, and earnings. Designed for travel influencers and content creators who want to monetize their audience through hotel affiliate commissions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Hotels receive reservations within days of signing up
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration29 records

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Channel Manager PartnerscoreTechnology or IntegrationWIWT integrates with 28+ channel managers and PMS systems to enable hotel connectivity. Supported platforms include Apaleo, Cloudbeds, D-Edge, Derbysoft, Dingus, ErmesHotels, GEH Suites, H-Guru, HBSi, Hilton, Hotel Spider, Hyperguest, Jumeirah, MEWS, Omnibees, OPERA, Rategain, Roibos, Siteminder, Staah, Synxis, Temairazu, TL Lincoln, Travelclick, Vertical Booking/Blastness, Webhotelier/Primalres, WebRezPro, YieldPlanet. Hotels connect once and reservations flow directly to their existing systems.
• Travel Influencers / Content CreatorscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTravel influencers and content creators join WIWT's affiliate program to monetize their audiences. They receive branded Travel Shops with personalized branding and earn 50/50 commission split on bookings made through their shop. No cookie expiration - affiliates earn whenever their link is used.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Travelpayouts: Travelpayouts operates a travel affiliate network and monetization tools for creators and travel brands, mirroring WIWT's core influencer-affiliate offering on the hotel vertical.
• Stay22: Stay22 is an accommodation affiliate platform that lets creators and publishers monetize travel bookings with map-based discovery, the closest functional analogue to WIWT's branded Travel Shop model.

Broad incumbents

• Booking.com: Booking.com is the dominant global OTA; it owns the direct hotel demand and affiliate relationships WIWT is attempting to disintermediate through fintech and creator channels.
• Expedia Group: Expedia operates a portfolio of OTAs and B2B travel platforms and is the prior employer of WIWT's founders, representing both a benchmark competitor and a potential partnership counterparty.
• SiteMinder: SiteMinder is a leading hotel channel manager that sits in the same PMS integration stack WIWT plugs into; it competes for the hotel's distribution budget and could expand into fintech channels.
• RateGain: RateGain provides hotel distribution, revenue management, and connectivity software, overlapping with WIWT's channel-manager-based distribution layer at a much larger scale.
• Tripadvisor: Tripadvisor operates a major travel content and metasearch platform that competes for travel-influencer attention and hotel demand generation in adjacent ways to WIWT.

Emerging players

• Hopper: Hopper is a travel app with embedded fintech features (price freeze, BNPL) that converges travel booking with consumer financial behavior, closely paralleling WIWT's fintech-distribution thesis.
• Holidu: Holidu is an accommodation marketplace and distribution technology provider; it overlaps with WIWT's hotel distribution model and pursues similar alternative-channel strategies.
• Kiwi.com: Kiwi.com combines an OTA with fintech-style guarantees and virtual interlining, illustrating the fintech-travel convergence that WIWT is targeting on the hotel side.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/wiwt.travel

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WIWT - WISH I WAS THERE