Expedia says it’s ready to extend its MeetingMarket service to English-speaking countries following its launch in Germany last year.

The meetings and events booking portal, which started as a marketplace with Best Western Germany as a partner and then, more recently signed a deal to power the online meetings and events booking website for NH Hotels.

Felix Undeutsch, head of MICE & groups at Expedia says MeetingMarket will roll out to English-speaking markets with a focus on powering the meeting and events websites for brands.

Although the marketplace model will continue to operate, Undeutsch says the bigger focus is powering sites because Expedia feels it is solving more of the internal issues for hotel brands via its software.

The strategy plays into Expedia’s wider strategy to extend its technology prowess to third parties.

Expedia is in discussions with further partners for the technology, which was devised back in 2014 after an offsite meeting for more than 20 people was difficult to organise.

Undeutsch says group travel is one of the last frontiers to crack in the industry with no solution out there currently.

Some of the startups exploring the MICE sector might disagree.