Otelz is a leading online travel agency founded in Turkey in 2014. With 21,000 hotels in-country and 650,000+ worldwide, it has become one of Turkey's most popular hotel booking platforms. Its mission: connect travelers to the best options at the best prices, wherever in the world they're headed.
The Challenge
Since it was founded in 2014, Otelz has rapidly established itself as one of Turkey’s leading OTAs. Facing stiff competition from both local and international players with more established infrastructure, Otelz needed a faster, more flexible way to manage payments to its hotel partners and maintain growth.
Traditional bank transfers, the standard industry approach, were too slow and impeded the business’ ability to scale and efficiently handle increasing transaction volumes.
The company needed a more robust and scalable solution which could support its rapid growth, whilst helping to solidify its position as a leader in the region’s travel market.
The Solution
After evaluating several options, Otelz selected Nium’s virtual card solution to increase payment volumes, enhance efficiency, and offer more choice and flexibility to its suppliers.
We helped Otelz to expand and enhance its virtual card offering with both Visa and Mastercard, enabling Otelz to access a wider range of interchange levels and drive better payment acceptance rates among its merchants.
Nium also introduced new virtual card features to Otelz like the ability to set specific transaction limits, access real-time payment tracking, and create automated accounting reports to enhance payment visibility and control.
The Results
Powered by Nium Virtual Cards, Otelz was able to:
- More than triple ‘Pay Now’ uptake: Facilitated by Nium issued virtual cards, Otelz was able to transition from a ‘Pay at Hotel’ to a ‘Pay Now’ model, generating a uptake from 15% in 2022 to 48% in 2024
- Drive steady and consistent growth: Otelz more than doubled its payment volumes with Nium YoY, reporting a 54% increase over the same 6 month period between 2023 and 2024
- Quickly ramp up payment volumes: Over one 8-month period, Otelz tripled its payment volumes with Nium virtual cards by 197%
- Increase acceptance: Otelz was able to support merchant acceptance in over 22 countries with Nium’s local funding and issuing capabilities on a global scale
Looking Ahead
Otelz’s partnership with Nium is central to its ambitious growth plans. As the company grows by at least 100% year-on-year, it aims to expand its market share, particularly in Turkey and the broader MENA region, collaborating with B2B partners to expand its reach.
Otelz plans to continue leveraging virtual cards for smoother transactions with the potential to expand into Nium’s other real-time payment solutions on its global account-to-account network spanning 190+ countries and 100+ currencies.
