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A Central Reservation System (CRS) is software used within the tourism industry for the purposes of marketing and sales.

an integrated central reservation system helps to convert browsers into customers.

The primary function of a GDS is to assist travel agents who are looking for hotels that satisfy certain criteria

This technology gives travel professionals a common point of entry to access real-time data about travel reservations.

central reservation system, or CRS, is designed for the hospitality sector – and in particular for hotel operations – to manage room availability and rates.

the best known global CRSs are AMADEUS, GALILEO, SABRE, and WORLDSPAN with AMADEUS being the only one which is largely owned by European airlines. Together with GALILEO, it is the leading system in the European market. GALILEO, however, also has a strong position in the US market after it merged with an American system. SABRE and WORLDSPAN have been developed in the US. So far, SABRE is the only CRS which is wholly owned by one single airline.

CRSs are systems for purely (information transfer) logistical functions

he network of the global CRS AMADEUS has additional 14 network nodes distribers who thus have the latest information about availability at any point in time and can use it as a basis for a new offer. In addition, the system can also store customer related information such as e.g. all services provided to a certain customer, type of payment, service information etc. ♦ Fare Quote & Ticketing: Just like the product presentation, the fare quote, ticketing and voucher generating process depend on the type and the complexity of the services offered. For flights, multiple fares are being offered which differ according to the reservation category, the date of the journey, the day when the reservation was made, the route and the length of the stay. That means that practically each fare needs to be calculated individually. In addition, fare quotes can change daily. The prices of other service providers, however, are relatively fixed so that in most cases, they stay an unchanged part of the offer. For the ticketing, travel agencies receive a fixed number of ticket forms which may only be used after confirmation has been availability of particular reservation categories and possibly the fare. It may, however, be difficult to describe the products of other service providers appropriately with only a limited amount of information. Hotels, for example, have so far only been able to provide information about the price, the size of the bed and its approximate location which alone is not a meaningful description for potential customers. For this reason, it is intended to link the particular offers to visual multimedia technology to be able to provide more detailed information to the customer. ♦ Reservation: The core function of reservation systems and the main reason for developing them is the reservation of offered services in the travel industry. To this end, a so called Passenger Name Record (PNR) or Guest Name Record (GNR) is created for each passenger or each group of passengers. These records contain all services-related customer information. At the same time, this information is transferred to the internal inventory system of all service providFigure 2 Principel structure of CRSs N N P pr S Fare Quote and T Hotel- or Car-Systems Travel Agencies Tourism Tourism Tourism Tourism Stickynote

The advantage to travel agents is that the GDS not only can show you many fares from multiple airlines, but it also offers a great depth of information about each flight in one place. The carrier, the times, the costs, the class of the seat, aircraft type and so much more. It’s a smorgasbord of options. So if you’re booking a high volume of tickets, it’s great to have access to every minutiae of information from multiple carriers in one go.

In today’s world, the GDSs have a bit of a split personality. There is the old school, traditional GDS commonly called “the green screen.” Then there’s the hip side of the GDSs, which people will call “point and click” or “GUI” (Graphical User Interface). Essentially, it’s a more intuitive and prettier looking version of the GDS.

To learn the GDS green screen takes intense training, and to become proficient takes tons of practice and constant use. That means daily use with a mentor (for at least 6 months to a year), not just booking a ticket for a client every few weeks.

Originally developed to replace blackboards and status binders used in central reservation offices, CRSs have become the primary source of chain-wide availability and rate data. 

Once one-way in their data flow (delivering reservations data from the CRS to the PMS), these interfaces evolved into two-way links in which "downward" reservations traffic is combined with "upward" inventory availability updates and even rate modification data and departed guest information, dispatched automatically from PMS to CRS.

The evolution of the CRS is far from complete.  Today, in addition to providing precise inventory management and distribution functions, the CRS increasingly serves as the nucleus of a tightly integrated product management system, which includes not only reservation processing, but also advanced revenue management capabilities, chain-wide data collection, warehousing and mining, and electronic distribution through private and Internet-based links to a growing spectrum of reservation sites.

Sabre acquired a fellow Texas company, Irvington-based Genares, a provider of central reservations systems software and digital marketing services for hotels.

Sabre Hospitality Solutions is an established player in the hotel-tech arena as its CRS was the largest third-party provider “based on our approximately 27% share of third-party hospitality CRS hotel rooms distributed through our GDS

The ratio has been growing at an average pace of 20% year over year and continues at a steady climb

Hotel Concepts–Brilliant, a leading global provider of technology and software solutions for the hospitality industry, has unveiled the future of enterprise lodging systems—the revolutionary iTesso solution. Ideal for hotel chains of all sizes, scalable and customizable, iTesso will be exhibited during HITEC 2012, at booth # 1222. One of the hospitality industry’s first true end-to-end cloud-based management systems, iTesso is an integrated property management system, distribution platform and central reservations system all rolled into a single intuitive solution. As a component-based hotel chain inventory and distribution management system, iTesso can be deployed as a direct connection between a hotel's CRS and the global distribution systems and alternate distribution systems, or as a distributed multi-property PMS with links to third-party CRS systems. In short, iTesso represents a brilliant new concept in technology convergence.

The interface connections are monitored and upgraded on a hotel and a centralized level. This offers hotel users unique value from the high degree of scalability and redundancy, something that is rarely economically feasible with a premise-based solution. Moreover, the Windows Azure platform is completely secure and reliable, with critical encrypted information redundantly stored at two data centers with seamless switching.

The past decade has brought immense changes in how we light up our world. The introduction of LED lighting has proven to be more energy and cost efficient than its less economical predecessors, the incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs. LED lighting now offers hoteliers and restaurateurs the ability to address areas that require dimming and warm color temperatures. Unlike compact fluorescent lighting LED technology has evolved and now options for smooth dimming and warm temperatures are offered by several of the top manufacturers.

Where before, energy wasting incandescent lighting was the only dimmer-friendly option, LED lighting can now be controlled to ‘set the scene’ more efficiently, saving you money.

Cree 10.5 Watt LED CR6 For hospitality retrofits, Cree’s Energy Star Labeled CR6 10.5W LED 6-inch Recessed LED Downlight Retrofit gives you a sleeker, more sustainable alternative to 6" recessed cans using 65W-75W incandescent PAR lamps. Reduce your wattage to 10.5W to 12W utilizing the Cree CR6 with 575 and 800 Lumen options. The CR6 delivers high-quality color accuracy and the ability to dim down to 5%. It also exceeds California’s Title 24 requirements for high efficacy luminaires.

this seamless integration will benefit clients by allowing them to realise cost savings through increased efficiency and productivity.

"We are very privileged to be able to fully utilise BlueSky's CRS and online booking tool.  Its ability to provide accurate real-time information makes it the most advanced travel booking system in the Chinese travel market,"

Features such as best buy, lowest fare search and itinerary generator will provide a wider, more detailed range of travel options

Room Distribution Exchange (RDX) platform that directly connects hotel reservation systems and online booking channels over the web

eliminated the gap between hotel reservation systems and booking channels, making the online booking process faster, more efficient and more lucrative for hotels than ever before.

"The RDX platform has helped bridge the widening gap in connectivity and turned distribution into a commodity item that can be accessed by hotels of all sizes around the world," Mr Ford said. "RDX allows PMS and Central Reservation Systems (CRS) vendors to operate and fully support their own branded distribution platform, providing full, two-way, seamless connectivity to hundreds of channels including OTAs (online travel agents), wholesalers, Global Distribution System (GDS) networks and social media channels.

Several vendors are developing new systems, though none have yet approached the rich functionality of older products with years of enhancements built into them.  At the same time, many multiproperty brands are looking to replace their existing standard property management systems, but as their strategic emphasis has shifted from central reservations (CRS) to customer relationship management (CRM) they’ve been wondering whether the new PMS really needs to have as much functionality as the old one.

Some brands developed their own PMSs, such as Marriott’s FSPMS and FOSSE, Starwood’s Galaxy and Hilton’s OnQ; others standardized on third-party systems. However, in all cases they mandated only the PMS and left it up to the individual properties to decide what to use for their other operational areas.  As a result, several vendors who concentrated on chain-hotel business focused on producing pure PMSs, with functionality covering the traditional core of individual and group reservations, check-in/checkout, folio charges, housekeeping/rooms management and the all-important CRS interface. MSI, RoomKey, Galaxy, SkyTouch and Infor’s epitome and HMS are examples.

Other vendors looking more to the independent and resort market expanded their PMSs to include sales and catering, spa/golf/activity management, CRM and sometimes even POS, both retail and food and beverage. For this segment of the market these integrated PMS applications (from vendors such as Agilysys, IQware, NORTHWIND and PAR Springer-Miller Systems) became their most strategic system. A few companies (including Cenium, IDS, Indra and Prologic First) have taken it even further, extending out into full ERPs that cover every operational area including financial and supply chain operations. MICROS falls between the two camps, offering a well-integrated PMS/S&C/CRS suite but relying on third parties for guest activity management and financial systems.

Global Distribution System (GDS) is a travel agent’s motherboard for booking airline tickets and other sorts of travel goodies (like hotel and car)

If you are a leisure travel agent, there’s a huge whopping huge chance that you don’t need to use a GDS.

onfuse the GDS with a Central Reservation System or Computerized Reservation System (CRS).

The importance of central reservations system in hotel business cannot be measured in few words

g the internet

CRS which stores, distributes and disburse information of hotels, resorts and other lodging facilities across the online fraternity.

Airline distribution will migrate from global distribution systems to “value creation hubs” over the next five years, according to airline and travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt.

Value creation hubs, or VCHs, will be aggregators that enable extensive airfare and product transparency, dynamic pricing, and rich merchandising and retailing,

“The GDSs have served airlines well for many decades,” Harteveldt wrote. “GDSs’ security, reliability, speed and accuracy are among the best in any transactionally based industry. “

It starts with rethinking the entire concept of a CRS.