The Challenge Tour is entering 2025 with an exciting new addition: HotelPlanner, a leading company in the field of travel technology, is becoming the official title sponsor of the tour. From the coming season, the tour will be called the ‘HotelPlanner Tour’. This partnership marks the first title sponsorship of the Challenge Tour since its official foundation in 1989 and represents a milestone in the history of golf’s second division.
Challenge Tour: New name, new chances?
The collaboration is intended to promote the development of the tour by not only increasing the prize money, but also enhancing the quality of the events along the ‘Road to Mallorca’. With a record prize fund of over nine million euros for the 2025 season, the HotelPlanner Tour will offer players new financial incentives. At least €300,000 in prize money has been earmarked for each European event, which means an increase in prize money for a total of 16 tournaments this season. The tour calendar includes 29 events in 18 different countries on three continents. The highlight of the season will be the Rolex Grand Final in Mallorca, supported by The R&A. However, the partnership between HotelPlanner and the Challenge Tour goes beyond title sponsorship. The company will invest in six events in 2025 and support a total of 40 tournaments during the multi-year collaboration. The exact duration of the partnership has not yet been announced.
‘We are delighted to become the title partner of the Challenge Tour. The Challenge Tour has been the foundation of so many great golfing names and we are excited to see the HotelPlanner Tour continue to open doors for the next generation of superstars.’ explains HotelPlanner CEO Tim Hentschel.
HotelPlanner’s strategic partnership with the Challenge Tour comes at a time when the golf market is becoming increasingly globalised and connected. HotelPlanner uses a combination of artificial intelligence and a global customer service network to help travellers worldwide. This technology will also help to drive the Tour’s growth by providing a strong platform for international travel and events, the Tour has revealed.
Name changes in golf
In recent years, name changes for golf tours have become a strategic means of promoting the economic and organisational development of tournaments. One example of this is the renaming of the European Tour to the DP World Tour in 2022, after the global logistics company DP World was acquired as the main sponsor. Another renaming was that of the Korn Ferry Tour, which was known as the Web.com Tour until 2019 after partnering with global recruitment consultancy Korn Ferry.