Group items tagged

Global distribution systems work by connecting travel companies (airlines, car rentals, cruise lines) to travel agencies (online or human) who then connect with the interested traveler. By this chain, the travel agent is able to offer real time availability from the companies to the traveller. The benefits of this system are the ability to deliver tons of information direct from the relevant companies, it is convenient for those that use them and easy to track travelling trends and interests. To me, it works like a mass marketing strategy. The content is generated by the owners and instead of enlisting their own man power, they utilize the efficiency and convenience of remote technology to mass distribute. The intended consumer receives the information without ever having to think where it's coming from, but inevitably trusts its reliability. The productivity of this system is something that those in the hospitality industry cannot ignore because this represents moments of the first interaction between the interested consumer and your operation. In order for the information to reach them in a convenient medium. In summary, GDS's help information get from the travel company to the consumer everyday in real time via global networks.

Global Distribution Systems (GDS) are largely responsible for the expansion of the travel industry. They provide the foundation for most internet-based travel services offered globally, and they link the providers of travel services in real-time. To make the travel business more complex and informatics, the GDS system provides global data, pricing, inventory, offers, and real-time availability of flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, and even bus tickets. GDS enables travel agencies and their customers to access travel information, purchase and compare options for reservations, and schedule trips. One of the most essential tools for the travel industry is the GDS system. Global Distribution Systems are server-hosted web platforms that offer worldwide discounts on the booking of travel-related goods like airfares. Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport are the three main GDSs in the market, and they are connected to more than 650,000 travel agents. Travel agencies depend on GDS's assistance to maximize their own profits because GDS is a direct seller of airline tickets. To increase their revenues and their ability to offer tickets to customers, travel agencies enter into an agreement with GDS and gain access to a listing of fares.

" Benefits of Global Distribution System Global distribution systems are widely responsible for the growth of travel industry and stepping stone of most internet based travel services. Benefits of Global Distribution System for Travel Agents and Tour Operators GDS systems deliver worldwide data, rates, inventory, offers, real-time availability of airlines, hotel rooms, car rental, bus tickets, and many more to make the travel industry more informatics and sophisticated. How Travel GDS Marketplace Is Reshaping the Travel Industry GDS stands for Global Distribution System and it's essentially a central reservation system that allows travel agencies and their clients to access travel knowledge, buy and compare reservations choices and book travel. functions across the world and connects the travel service suppliers or vendors to the travel agencies in real-time, by providing a centralized service that covers the bookings of airline tickets and more. permits travel agents to access, in real-time, availability, feature and costs for airlines and extra travel services worldwide. The leading global distribution systems are Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo, and Worldspan. This permits users to buy tickets from various suppliers or completely different airlines. GDS can link services, rates, and bookings that combine a spread of products and services in travel sectors: e.g., airline bookings. Independent travel agents, travel agencies are now using an increasing sophisticated GDS system to seek out the best travel and accommodation and rates for their clients. Travel Agencies have historically relied on GDS for services, products & rates to produce travel-related services GDS system is one of the most necessary tools for the travel business the system will yield results with real-time pricing and availability comparisons There are 3 major GDS within the market- Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport here are over 650,000 and travel agents connected via a GDS system Systems enable users to bu

In the article, "Travel Agents Increase Use of GDS to Book Hotel Rooms," it talked about how the leading global provider of revenue is generating solutions for hotels, it shows how important GDS platforms are to travel agents. "84 percent of respondents indicated that they were using their GDS platform the same amount or more often than in the past, with 35 percent stating that they are using GDS more." Back in 2009, when the last study was conducted, about 26 percents of travel agents said that they used their GDS platform more often than in the past. This study also states that the annual GDS shopping displays will be over $50 million in 2011, which will increase more than a million bookings compared to 2010. There was another survey that was done and they surveyed different travel agents from across the world that were subscribed to a major GDS system. In the survey the travel agents indicated that promotional messages are effective and often prompt bookings. Out of the travel agents they surveyed, 66% said that they were aware of the "promotional messages requested addition information by looking at the screen attached to he promotional message." From this survey it showed that promotional messages are an excellent way to reach travel agents and from reaching the agent, they also reaching the customer, it's a win-win reaction.

I enjoyed the part about brand and promotional messaging, that is always a lure for me. When I see an attractive offer, evern If I'm not interested in booking or going to the destination, I often click on it anyway just to see the offer. It is a very effective marketing tool.

This article looks at GDS and GUI systems and gives a holistic viewpoint of performance, positives and negatives, and what type of agencies can utilize each system. I felt that the more complicated system and its requirements for agency users to have and understanding of coding, made the GUI system more likely to have a higher utilization in the future.

The article delves into the importance of GDSs and travel agents along with the controversy surrounding their evolution as airlines are trying to encourage more direct bookings to make more profits and avoid paying commission to travel agents.

This article goes into detail about GDS's, the history of GDS's, and if travel agents actually need to use them. The article first explains what a GDS system is, a brief description stating "Global Distribution System (GDS) is a travel agent's motherboard for booking airline tickets and other sorts of travel goodies (like hotel and car)". The article then quickly goes into a brief history of the GDS. GDS was created by America Airlines in 1946, making it easier to check inventory for vendors, though it would still take some time for this technology to reach the travel agents. "Travel agents would need to call the airline's booking center, who would then contact one of their CRS operators, then relay the results to the travel agent over the phone (literally, like playing telephone). It took a lot of people power to book a single airline ticket". We then take a turn, and learn about the usability of a GDS, and that it's quite low. GDS's are not user-friendly, but sadly sometimes a necessity for certain types of travel agents. These types mostly being the ones who book lots of corporate travel arrangements. Lastly, the article discusses if a GDS is right for your business, and if you decide it's not, how to go about booking things without it.

GDS has been around since the 1970s and is extremely beneficial for the hotel industry. It creates a common entry point for several OTA's and travel agents so that they can obtain accurate information about the hotels. 5 Benefits to GDS in hotels: Reach market segments globally, more revenue, growth, instant updates and growing the corporate segment. All these benefits of using GDS can result in greater exposure for the property.

With the growing of the travel industry the GDS is a great tool that many travel agents use to narrow the search of what exact details they are searching for. GDS is an efficient way for agents to promote their product and services. This tool helps with the aspect in business such as revenue generated, growth opportunities, and give instant updates on rates so there is no secret.

Five benefits of using a GDS's. Talks about reaching a global market, improving revenue growth opportunities and the ability to have live updates for prices.

I found this article interesting as it talks about why the GDS is important and also gives some insight to how the booking process has changed over the decades. For instance, thanks to the internet we can book a flight within minutes while comfortably sitting on our cough. The article however states, what I did not know, was that back in the 50's, it took an airline reservationist 1.5 to 3 hours to book a single airline flight for the customer. At the end, the article also states that GDS most probably will not be going anywhere any time soon and still be around, at least for some time, and keep on evolving.

The article describes the importance of GDS to the travel industry. The article describes GDS as "a network/platform that enables travel agencies and their clients to access to travel data, shop for and compare reservations options and book travel." The system is used globally as it helps in generating travel sales in billions of dollars. Travel agents use the system access scheduling and inventory of hotels, car rentals, airlines and bus tickets all in real time. The system achieves this by linking the travel reservation sectors of car rentals, hotels and airlines. The major GDSs in the world are Sabre, Amadeus, Worldspan, Apollo, and Galileo. The authors argue that GDS is important to travel agents as it helps the agents to make reservations in real time for their clients and can complete bookings for their clients within a short time. The end of the article proposes that GDS may become obsolete by 2020 due to technological advances. However, the authors argue that the system will evolve with the technological changes and will not fall into disuse anytime soon.

GDS I feel will always have an impact in the travel industry because it is what it was built for since the beginning. Yes, we advance with apps and direct booking but people will always use travel agencies and GDS I believe will always be the primary source for booking for travel agents because it is what makes them comfortable.

Module 3: This article focuses on the importance of GDS systems during the challenges of COVID-19. With an emphasis on travel agents using the GDS, hotels will be able to continue to thrive and survive. According to the article, " travel agents will play a key role in connecting hotels and travelers, especially given the flexibility and changes that may be required of travelers in the coming months." This article provides insights for hotels to best optimize using a GDS for travel agents to find them. The article states, "Rate parity is important to 89% of travel agents worldwide - if they see a better rate elsewhere, they'll actively book away from your property." I believe using a GDS will be the only way in the future to continue to travel and save money. Tripadvisor is my go to when it comes to finding out about a resort and which website has the best rate for the same room.

The travel industry has evolved over the past years. In the article it talks about how travel was limited in years gone by and you had to physically sit in a travel agent office in order to book your vacation. They were the only one who had all the information about travel. Then came the evolution of the travel industry and now everybody can book their vacation online with or without the help of a travel agent.

The article here explains the evolution of how we used Travel Agents back in the day and how we got to a point where we no longer needed travel agents. Back in the old days if anyone wanted to fly to another country or state, we went thru travel agents so we can get a booked flight and car services etc. Now we do everything ourselves. We find out information on our own and book and print our own tickets. Why? because of the internet. The internet will teach you anything and will give you whatever you are looking for. According to the article , people are overwhelmed in all the information provided by the internet that they cant decided where they want to go or where they want to stay at. So business is coming to travel agents. We feel so busy now and days that we give all the work to someone to do everything for us.

The first products distributed by GDS was hotel lodging reservation system, such as different types of rooms, description and price categories with the airline system. GDS has been increased on the travel market, such as number of flights. Travel Agencies (TA) also use GDS to offer complimentary products, such as car rental, hotel and other related forms of accommodation, bus tickets, vacation tickets, yacht rides and even flowers and champagne,That means, GDS has become more important distribution channel for nay product through TA. Also TA had more opportunity of more products their own system and GDS system from increase number of booking volume with lower operating costs. It was the first and major goals of GDS being used in the hospitality industry. Even though hopitality ingustry use GDS system, there are few problems, such as show only simple structure. For example, there are 4 different kinds od room and 3 categories od comfort, it means they have 12 different kinds of combination. Because of the GDS database structure, only there 12 combination could be displayed. It took a while to fit all the multiple types of comport rates, rooms and services in GDS standard database structure. Instead of choosing GDS system, they cans choose other alternative system with develop several computerized system to make a database structure closer to product specification. Nowadays, GDS using all of the hospitality industry from reservation hotel rooms to car rentals and Travel Agencies. Through GDS as globally, people are able to to book different kinds of hotel rooms in different destination all around the world, tours, airline seats, cruises and eeve limousines.

Looking at these numbers it becomes very clear how important GDS are to the hospitality industry, more rooms booked means increased revenues and more jobs for hospitality professionals. I am sure that this technology will evolve and transform so it is important to stay current and understand how to get the most out of it.

What's global distribution system? This question is kind of cliché in our group, but this article gives a very good introduction about GDS and it's quite easy to understand comparing to many other articles introducing GDS. This article tells us: How GDS develops from being used only in airline industry to being generally adopted in hospitality industry; What is the working idea behind the GDS; Four major GDS including Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan; Advantages provided by GDS.

This article talks about the Global Distribution System (GDS) and how important this is for the travel agents. This systems enables transactions between the travel services that are provided and allows travel agents to see and sell those services. For example, the GDS will allow travel agents to see available hotel rooms & airline ticket rates in live feeds. But the big questions is why is the GDS important to the travel industry? When managed property with a channel manager, the booking system will give the property an opportunity to customize and adjust availability based on inventory and allow to block out dates. Travel agents and online booking systems use the GDS to search for availability and best available rates in real time. If not managed correctly, this could cause issues and over bookings. The GDS systems also support high traffic to the travel sites. The future of the GDS system might in obsolete in the near future and may be a corporate booking took rather than the system used exclusively by travel management companies.

Interesting read! This article touches on the importance of GDS for travel agents. It is essential for travel agents to use these systems to effectively sell travel services and updated inventory to consumers in real time. The article concludes that although travel agents use this as their method of booking travel, some hoteliers believe this way of booking may become obsolete in the future. As of today, companies still continue to use GDS as their booking system and does not appear to be leaving anytime soon.

There are many reasons one still needs a travel agent. They are now called advisors or consultants because of what they can do and their knowledge. These advisors can assist with a multitude of things including emergencies, getting great deals on trips, They will be your best advocate when issues arise and at no extra cost to the consumer. In addition, a good travel advisors save you time and money on trying to plan you own trip. Travel agents who just booked flights and beds are a thing of the past, travel advisors play a much more complex role and provie a great variety of services.

The article discussed the significance of hotels using the Global Distribution System and how the GDS helps promote and influence bookings.The GDS is basically the main source of booking reservations for a travel agent. The GDS shows all rates and inventory for hotels, airlines, and rental car centers. According to the article, GDS is used mainly by international travel agents, but it is used my travel agents all over the globe. When looking at the GDS, travel agents ted to focus mainly on the rate information it is advertising, usually the BAR rate is what travel agents are aiming to get for their clients. The GDS is relied on heavily by travel agents to offer the best rate to their client, which in return will help them gain more clientele. The more accurate and visually appealing the GDS is, the more the agents are willing to use it.

This article is a good one that demonstrates how GDS are now more often used than times before. The article states that the 2011 Global Travel Agent GDS study demonstrates how important GDS platform and shopping Displays are to the travel agents. They stated the 84 percent of those who took the survey stated that they are using the GDS just as much or even more than they did in the pass and 35 % of these stated that they were using it more than they did in the pass. The article explained how these numbers have greatly increased since 2009 where only 26% agents admitted that they used the GDS systems more than before. This study is 2011 reaffirmed Travel Click's projection, which was that GDS hotel bookings would surpass %50 million in the year 2011. This was far more than that of 2010. The article goes on to explain how the GDS will improve the booking and services of the industry all around. Furthermore, the article went on to explain a worldwide survey conducted for agents who were among the largest GDS in the world and some 495 responses were collected. The survey was conducted by Phoenix Marketing International, which is and independent marketing research firm Travel agents were indicated that promotional messages were effective and prompt during bookings and 66% of these agents request additional information about it. While, 68% of these agents looked into the GDS for more information. After this survey was complete the agents who were aware of promotional messages, 46% of them made North American bookings within 3 months as a result of the promotional messaging and 44% made non- North American bookings. The survey itself shows that promotional messages were and excellent way to get the agents interested. In the article it is quoted how the promotional messages acts in a chain reaction to reach the agent and then the customer, which allows sales all over the world.

GDS provides a perfect virtual marketplace for travel inventory sellers such as hotels, airlines, and car rental systems to showcase their wares to a global Internet travel audience. The GDS is a natural outlet for hotels, resorts, and even smaller inns that want to increase revenue and online marketing exposure. As the GDS channel produces one of the highest average daily rates of any booking channel, there is a huge opportunity for hoteliers to influence travel agents through the GDS at the point-of-sale.

Yes, GDS is of great importance for tourism development. It provides such a huge market of tourism information for customers, airlines, hotels, travel agents and any parts included in the tourism. Someone said that GDS will end travel agent, however, in my opinion; they have their own advantages and will supplement each other in the future.

Over the few years, travel agents are using booking through Global distribution systems. Hotels however are having to pay a 20% booking fee when people book through GDS. Travel agents are also now using Airbnb, and alternative booking, because they aren't seeing any commissions on them. GDS is a large computer network that represents a single point of entry to travel agents and meta search sites. GDS are heavily used in the business and corporate travel accounts. GDS corporate business typically delivers more revenue for hotels because business travelers usually eat and drink in the hotel, rather than travel outside the hotel and spend money. Travel agents use commissionable and non-commissionable booking that, where commissionable bookings must add typically 8-10% agency commission on top of the GDS fees. GDS can be a good source of incremental bookings and increase margins.

Over the few years, travel agents are using booking through Global distribution systems. Hotels however are having to pay a 20% booking fee when people book through GDS. Travel agents are also now using Airbnb, and alternative booking, because they aren't seeing any commissions on them. GDS is a large computer network that represents a single point of entry to travel agents and meta search sites. GDS are heavily used in the business and corporate travel accounts. GDS corporate business typically delivers more revenue for hotels because business travelers usually eat and drink in the hotel, rather than travel outside the hotel and spend money. Travel agents use commissionable and non-commissionable booking that, where commissionable bookings must add typically 8-10% agency commission on top of the GDS fees. GDS can be a good source of incremental bookings and increase margins.

This article is about the current rise in the use of the GDS system again. This rise has been seen primarily with corporate travelers, but has also been used by the leisure traveler. While GDS usage percents dropped from 98% in 1999 to 79% in 2009, it has slightly started to increase again. Sabre one of the larger GDS companies has seen a 7% increase in use of the system in 2012. Hotels have tried to give companies better rates to their consumers, for example as more corporate travelers are extending their stays from a business trip and then turning it into a leisure trip for a few more days. This gives the traveler a lower rate a night at the hotel, as they are staying for more nights. Overall, while there was a decline in the use of GDS because of the OTA, there is now a slight increase, bringing life back to the GDS system.

This article gives an in depth explanation of the importance of GDS's in the hotel industry and the increased usage of the GDS due to the rising travel demand. The American Society of Travel Agents conducted a study in 2009 and found the percentage of member travel agencies that used the GDS declined from 98% in 1999 to 79% in 2009. A significant portion of the decrease was due to the economic downturn, but regardless hoteliers and travels still found value is the GDS channel. According to Sabre Travel Network, there was an increase of more than 7% in GDS bookings during the first quarter of 2012 over the same period last year. The demand for corporate travel is the main reason for the increase. Many people that are traveling for business want to extend their trips for leisure. This allows hotels the opportunity to adjust their pricing strategies by putting travel promotions for leisure for the business travels as well. Many people utilize the GDS to find the most affordable prices, but it is also beneficial to hoteliers as well. Elaine Kennedy, one of the two interviewed in the article, stated the pricing model provides corporations with a lower rate when demand decreases but also gives hoteliers the opportunity to achieve higher rates when demand increases, which ultimately is a win-win for both sides. The GDS also provides many opportunities for hotels to cut costs. Robert Cole, the other person interviewed in this article, stated "The GDS also provides enhanced marketing support….immediately when you use the GDS to put your product, your service, your room, your rate, you're getting it in front of an audience without using your own marketing budget." According to Robert Cole, the GDS is not going away any time soon because of the unique solutions it provides for hotels and travelers alike. I believe this article was very informative on how the GDS is currently being utilized and where it is going in the future. It basically helped answer question 3

It appears that American Airline is about to remove itself from the tradition global distribution system and introduce its own distribution system. American Airlines is advocating for distribution companies to utilize AA direct connect which is a direct link into AA's host reservations system. Currently American Airlines fares are no longer available on Expedia or Orbitz sites. This is because no contractual agreement was reached for the distribution of AA products. Travel professionals are waiting to see the result of this bold move by American as this has great implication for the future of airline distribution systems. If American Airlines pulls away from the mainstream GDS, consumers and travel specialist alike will be faced with the inconvenience of going to a separate reservations system to compare fares. Although travel professionals are now urged to use direct connect on a trial basis, the general feeling is that eventually they will be charged to sell American Airline flights. To defend this move American Airline is only saying that direct connect will make it easier for them to tract ancillary fees like priority seating. It was noted in the article that Southwest Airline for the most part is a stand alone reservations system but they do not negotiate with the GDS companies to sell their flights. It is therefore quite evident that this move by American is really to reduce expenditure by eliminating the middle GDS companies while increasing revenue by charging travel partners for utilizing direct connect. American Airlines clearly wants to globally control their distribution system and maximize revenues. Contract renewal for both world span and sabre are due and the experts are waiting to see if American will renew with them. Sabre is owned by American Airlines so its a wait and see game to see how all this will be panned out. The real problem for the consumers and travel specialists are that if other airlines are to follow this move by American the tra

This article explains the distribution route American Airlines is taking to sell their flights. Due to not seeing eye to eye with the two most probably used websites for travel, Expedia and Orbitz, American has now taken their products away from both airline distribution sites. American suggest that all travel agencies and distribution companies begin using Direct Connect, which is a system for only American Airlines flights. If this would happen, travel agencies and companies will then begin having to pay for the system in order to sell Americans flights. At the moment you can still book flights through other distribution sites, but until when will that be? They already stopped Orbitz and Expedia, what's not to stop the others. The future of global distribution systems will be up in the air if all airlines choose to sell their own systems to be able to sell reservations. The only positive that was pointed out in this article was that if this system takes over, then more consumers will have to go back to using travel agents to secure the best reservations for flights and such.

With the contracts for major global systems, Worldspan and Sabre, being up for renewal in the near future, this article analyses the possible outcomes for airlines, and alternatives should they choose not to forgo continuing use of GDS

This article speaks on how GDS are doing in the age of 2020. Not only does it talk about how its doing over all but it also goes over how they remain successful with the new times. Keeping up with changing demands and trends.

This article talks about how GDS system usage has been and continues to increase over the years. While many owners prefer direct bookings on their site. GDS has been increasing at a faster rate than other channels which are used by travel agents. Hotels need to e using the GDS platforms in 2020 and beyond to maximise the benefits that it brings.

Scott Falconer's article, "Is 2020 the year of the GDS," entails discussion of the survey results of the DGS site as the most sued and rapidly growing site for booking by travel agents. Falconer also advises hotels and other travel agents to optimize the use of the GDS site to increase bookings and therefore profitability. In discussing the survey results, Falconers also suggests the GDS increase its potential by maintaining parity, observing prices, and promotions are critical in its continued growth. Falconer's finding first indicates that GDS usage has significantly grown in the past ten years. The author notes that by 2019, the number of travel agents using the site of GDS to make bookings had increased from 42 million to 79 million between 2009 and 2019 (Falconer). In the recent past, Falconer argues that the ratings and growth in usage of the site provide hotels with opportunities to grow revenue as the site makes 22 times more bookings than consumers. Through surveying with 900 travel agents, Falconer concluded that GDS is a prime channel for bookings because of its recent fast growth compared to other alternative booking sites. Secondly, Falconer notes that there is a need to stabilize the parity rates for the GDS channel to succeed. Based on the survey, most travel agents indicated that parity rates are influential to the decision to book a facility using the GDs site or others. Therefore, Falconer advises the GDS management to ensure the consistency of the price that properties offer to clients on other channels. The services listed in the sites are available as indicated at the property. In this case, the GDS can improve booking experience by clearly stating commissions, discounts, or cancellation policies at the site to increase the availability of information to the clients regarding the nature of commitment and expected services as the promised value. Falconer also highlights the importance of adver

This article discusses what travel agents think about the enhanced ability of both corporate and leisure based travel agencies to sell airline ancillaries because of improved Global Distribution Systems' technologies. Ancillaries are products and services that airlines sell to gain additional revenue on top of your ticket price. Ancillaries have become increasingly popular in the airline industry because of the sky rocketing price of jet fuel. To keep ticket prices down airlines are "unbundling" items from the overall experience. This presents them with an opportunity to turn a profit by charging fees for bags (carry on, checked, additional), on board food and drink, credit card purchases, headphones. It seems like everything you encounter from when you arrive at the airport to when you disembark the plane has a fee. This phenomenon is especially present in Low cost carriers such as Spirit, Air Tran, Jet Blue, etc. However there are consumers who disagree with this additional costs as is apparent in Southwest's continuous marketing campaign. I'm sure everyone has seen the commercials with Southwest representatives 'flagging' down unnecessary fees in order to promote their 'bags fly free' campaign. Anyhow the reason I am explaining ancillary revenue is because travel agents are now starting to sell more ancillary products such as hotel accommodations, travel insurance, rental cars because of GDS technologies. They can track the sale of fees through EMD (Electronic miscellaneous Documents) which is the current industry standard. In the article some agents state that the EMDs are hard to understand and use. I believe until the EMDs become "seamless and easy to use" there will exist some hesitation to sell airline ancillaries. However on the other hand the article states that Travelport is working towards a simple and uniform platform called Travelport Universal API/Desktop. Once this comeplete perhaps more agents will feel comfortable selling ancillaries. This is a goo

I still remember when most airlines used to include breakfast or dinner for their passengers including alcoholic beverages well that doesn't happen any more. I believe when Travelport Universal Desktop becomes available it would become more clear to travel agencies the transaction process and for the consumers what products and services they are ofering.

I too miss the days of free sodas and peanuts. "Sigh-" sometimes its the little things in life that bring the most joy. I agree I think the new Travelport Universal Desktop will be a valuable tool if utilized correctly.

The role of travel agents has changed drastically over the last 30 years. When once you needed a travel agent to do all of your bookings for you, you now have access to all of these tools and can create your own travel experience. Therefore, today's travel agent needs to be tech savvy and must keep up with the trends and provide their clients with the most up to date travel information. They also must have an online presence, specifically social media that shows their "personality" and helps with marketing. As long as agents can keep up with the ever changing technologies, clients will go to agents for the "human touch" and real first hand experience.

As this article mentioned, more and more travel agents use GDS to reserve hotel rooms. Finding from the research, it clearly demonstrated the importance of GDS for travel agents and more agents chose it as the searching tool. At the same time, for the hoteliers, it is also an opportunity to make use of GDS to influence travel agents. In addition, promotional message assist to increase sales. In my opinion, I think travel agents and GDS are not competitors, they can make up each other's disadvantages and cooperate with each other.