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This article identified some factors that happening in the market which drives a trend for increased bookings through non-GDS hotels. Business travel buyers are increasingly looking at newer opportunities to cut travel costs. Business travel slowdown imminent, The Global Business Travel Association forecasts that the business travel growth is expected to slow in 2012. And business-travel growth will outpace anticipated GDP growth, despite uncertainties in the economy. Rate negotiation process is getting increasingly tougher With a declining market demand, hotels try hard to remain profitable, and have toughened the rate negotiations with buyers. Many are exploring alternative strategies to generate savings from their hotel programs. Some buyers are considering alternative negotiating strategies to derive savings. Due to the demand for wider range of rates to aid policy compliance, corporates are looking for a better value proposition in using hotel aggregators. Hotel aggregation offers key value proposition The latest versions of HotelHub indicate that hotel aggregation offers a major advantage in corporate hotel reservation process. GDS firms and non-GDS are realizing the gap, and aggregation makes Travel Managers save lot of time and cost in servicing booking requests. This article identified some factors that happening in the market which drives a trend for increased bookings through non-GDS hotels. Business travel buyers are increasingly looking at newer opportunities to cut travel costs. Business travel slowdown imminent, The Global Business Travel Association forecasts that the business travel growth is expected to slow in 2012. And business-travel growth will outpace anticipated GDP growth, despite uncertainties in the economy. Rate negotiation process is getting increasingly tougher With a declining market demand, hotels try hard to remain profitable, and have toughened the rate negotiations with buyers. Many are exploring alternative strategies to gener

As technology continues to advance, companies are looking into what works well for what kinda consumer. RateTiger is targeting corporate consumers, who want to be in control of room rates and have the ability to negotiate better deal based on services provided. RTC uses RPS, rate parameter shopping that searches thru hundreds of travel sites, hotel brand sites and GDS offeres corporate buyers, OTA's and travel companies the opportunities to build a rate around the best room rate for the perks and services, in comparison to what the public pays.

Excellent Article!...While corporate travelers are noticing fluctuations in "Best Available Rates (BAR)" I can only imagine that hotel owners and stakeholders are seeing a decrease of revenue caused by the ADR (Average Daily Rate). During the recession hotels had to re-shape their thinking and lower Corporate Room Rates to stay afloat; these changes caused the ADR to be lower than usual. As the economy improved, it has been harder for companies to re-negotiate corporate rates in an attempt to increase the ADR and profits for owners/stakeholders. http://www.bcdtravel.com/global/show_document.asp?id=aaaaaaaaaadsveg

This technology will provide business travelers the ability to compare hotel prices based on the type of rooms. This will help the customer in customizing their own needs during travel, while being price savvy. The traveler also has the ability to have default settings that will meet their own room specifications.

"Pursuite.com, India's first B2B e-Commerce platform for the hospitality industry has been launched. The e-marketplace aims at transforming the B2B hospitality procurement space for buyers as well as suppliers across the country by not only improving their bottom lines, but also by managing sales and procurement processes in a simpler and transparent way. The platform promises to provide the widest catalogue of choicest items with curated shopping experience and secure collaborative space for suppliers & buyers. Pursuite.com, at present, catalogues products majorly into Operational Supplies & Equipment (OS&E) category and will be foraying into Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment (FF&E) segment soon."

India now will have a platform that will help both suppliers and buyers to have a more curated hospitality experience. The creator of the platform, Amit Shukla, claims this new platform will bring suppliers and buyers of the hospitality industry closer than ever. He believes the future of hospitality will shift to e-procurement and his new platform, heavily funded by other giant industry heavy weights, will be the first pushing this boundaries and opening the way.

The article goes over the different ways that an Indian company is creating an e commerce platform to transform the way business is done. It goes over the benefits, challenges and impacts that are faced when trying to launch the platform, which is becoming more widely used. With technology providing a bigger platform for the industry, the e marketplace aims to help improve the way suppliers do business, by making it easier to manage sales. The article pointed out that companies who have started to implement the e-commerce have seen 51% increase in revenue, which is remarkable. With all that being mentioned the article does briefly mention how the use of this business aims to provide ways to bring suppliers and buyers to improve the way business is conducted. How the supply chain is handled seems to be the biggest priority of the platform. With e ecommerce being such a major market, the ability to capture the online market is important. I think that the article does not touches upon several points that need be focused on, such as website design and security. Having an operational website that is easy to read and directs the consumer to what they are exactly looking for is one an aspects that affects the way a company does business. I these cases, the quality is as important as the quantity of information that is being given. I went ahead and took a tour of the site and seems easy to use, which is important. The site is generating revenue sales, but with more sales creating more information being stored. Having the ability to adapt to higher volumes of personal information creates a security issue, that would need to be addressed if not handled correctly.

This article provides a detailed account of the variety of ways that E-Commerce can be used within the hospitality industry. With the advent of the Internet and new and improved technology, it has become much more imperative for companies to remain competitive in this space. From VR to targeting, as well as online tracking, there are a variety of tools that hospitality firms can employ to attract customers via the Internet. As the Internet is the primary resource that people utilize to shop for hospitality products such as hotel rooms, airfare, etc... it is incredibly important for companies to remain on the cutting edge in regards to their marketing online and attracting and retaining customers.

The hospitality industry is faced with numerous responsibilities when it come to the satisfaction of guest. with the tremendous acts of growth within trends it is often difficult for vendors to keep up with the trends. some of the new trends that are being introduced include personalized features which is playing a major role today. Another major trend is now called virtual reality. I think this trend is a great addition to the industry because it allows customers to virtually place the item in their home to see if it fits their style. Also with the pandemic situations with can help with the idea of social distancing .

The innovations of e-commerce with application in hospitality is becoming a growth trend for this industry. Many more guests are interested in the experience of personalized attractions and the creativity of what brands has to offer. Many merchants are creating a tool that allows the software to remind shopper/guest about what left in the carts to reduce the number of missed sales.

October 2002 - The travel marketplace is a global arena where millions of buyers (travel agents and the public) and sellers (hotels, airlines, car rental companies, etc.) work together to exchange travel services. This is a good article talking about four major GDS System companies in the world nowadays. When we do some research in GDS area, it is better for us to know some information about these four companies. They are Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan. The author said that Aadeus is Number 1 inlocations worldwide compared to other three companies, Galileo International is a cautions follower when it comes to technology when compared to other GDS companies. Sabre's competitive strenghs are market position, global reach, stable product line, diversification of revenue streams and intellectual capital. And Worldspan has successfully developed the strategies and solutions to ensure the company's long-tern success. After read this article, I think I have the big picture of what GDS System is. The author gave us the strength of different systems. I know what are these GDS companies doing right now in the world. And what is the best is that the author used some accurate data to support the point. So in my point of view, I don't only understand the knowledge related to GDS System, but also learn the way to write my paper, that is using lots of numbers.

GDS is started on the airline industry. And with it development, the airline company recognized that the GDS is becoming more and more important and necessary. And in my opinion, the GDS can not only focus on the airline. It can be on the internet. That is means they should built some sub-company around the world and it will help to form a kind of net that can cover all over the world. So that it is reduce the pressure of airline and increase the short distance distribution. it will be more efficiency for the guest and less human labor.

More and more customers rely on global distribution system to buy hospitality products in present time. This article introduces four major type global distribution systems, Ama dues, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan. There are also some smaller GDS existed in the world. Amadeus is the youngest of the four GDS companies. Galileo International is a diversified, global technology leader. Galileo's competitive strengths include well-balanced and global presence, relationships with diverse groups of travel vendors, technologically advanced information systems and a stable product line. Sabre's competitive strengths include market position, global reach, stable product line, diversification of revenue streams, and intellectual capital. Worldspan provides worldwide electronic distribution of travel information, Internet products and connectivity, and e-commerce capabilities for travel agencies, travel service providers, and corporations.

This article introduces one of the big events about hospitality technology investment, MURTEC. MURTEC is the conference that technology-savvy restaurant companies, top executives, CEO, restaurant group, or independent operators gather to talk about technology initiatives, the limitation of existing hospitality technology and development. It is interesting that this type of event is held regularly for people who are interested in technology development, especially in hospitality industry. Good information about savvy technology will be introduced here and professionals can have chances to hear an explanation about new technology. Of course, the vendors also can experiment whether their technology will be successful or not based on attendees' response and competitors' products. Not only for this but networking can be established through the event. Sometimes though they have good products, their business cannot be successful if they fail to find proper buyers. Considering this issue, both vendors and buyers can have benefits via the event.

This article shows a different end of an RFP process - the one where the hotel is the vendor. Typically, a hotel that offers meeting spaces can integrate an RFP request into their sites allowing easy access to event planners interested in the hotel. When an event planner submits for an RFP, the hotel has a responsibility to answer in a timely, personalized manner in order to attract the planner. If a hotel has meeting space they would like to sell for business, they should definitely consider a software that allows them to answer RFP's in real time. As the article stated, "By leveraging your CRM, automation, and personalization during the RFP process you will ensure a high-quality sales pipeline and more qualified leads."

This article is about Southwest expanding their GDS game. They are going to enhance their relationship with travel agencies and corporate customers.

Southwest Airlines had long resisted using GDS. It has been known for only allowing direct booking through its website. Last year, Southwest began to significantly increase the amount of tickets offered through GDS. This is viewed as good move for Southwest to help increase sales for the Corporate Travel market. This shows that GDS continues to have a use and airlines who did not use them are now willing to use them to help sell their inventory especially in the wake of COVID-19.

Swipely a social commerce company has users who can publish their purchases online. When they swipe their credit card, the transaction is shown on the site and this is discussed by other users. Company wants to transform shopping online and offline . There are two generations of e commerce sites: first, essentially digitized mail order catalogue and second, few emerged from Silicon Valley or sometimes they drive customers to actual shops. Many made money from flash sales, meaning time limited offer of high discounts. Buyers spread the word on social networks because these sites offer different services of local business for eg. restaurants and spas at a discounted price. Groupon could be a third generation of social shopping sites. It's hard to predict whether second or third generation of e commerce sites will continue to grow because they may get tired of flash sales.

This article introduced the importance of e-marketing in today's internet time and in the future. This kind of marketing is growing rapidly. Including the use of portal marketing, mobile app, mobile websites, and so on. The author was from India. He said online marketing will grow dynamically in India, especially in hospitality industry. I think it's not only for India, for the developed countries, a media plan for any service industry product has online e-marketing as the first channel to reach the target audience.

My article this week is about how GDS (Global Distribution Systems) can be compared to a seatbelt. The author opens the article discussing the main reasons we still continue to use seatbelts; even though they aren't the most comfortable or fashionable items to use, they still do their jobs in saving our lives when it comes to a collision of some sort. The author is in favor of GDS and makes the claim that like seatbelts, the GDS may not be the most up-to-date or may not appear to be as nice as other local systems to each individual airline, but they get the job done and there are no other systems out there like it that we know of (no other systems that do everything he GDS system does that is). The main topic of discussion that the article is concerned with is the recent decision made by the company Lufthansa to start charging its customers an additional surcharge for using GDS systems instead of going through its own system. The author clearly makes it know that she doesn't believe Lufthansa when they say they are charging this additional surcharge because GDS is the most expensive channel to go through. "Because there's no reason to think that an airline should expect to distribute its products without any cost, Lufthansa's recent gambit seems more of a tactic for increasing lagging direct distribution... Its strategy seems to rest in shifting distribution costs to corporate buyers" claims Rose, the author of the article. The author also points out some of the draw backs of using agency portals, the main reason being that a customer cannot compare rates of other competitors and that agency portals cannot handle high volume transactions like the GDS can. It is also made known that there are costs that come with other channels as well, like the prices you pay for building airline websites and keeping them updated. The author concludes that "Given the history of negotiations between airlines and GDSs, it's impossible to know whether Lufthansa is using DCC as

Face of consumerism through e-commerce has radically changed in the last few years. Buying or selling through Internet and online shops depending on websites, has become an ordinary part of consumer life today. Higher expectations, less tolerance, more demanding and choosy customers are becoming more common. 

With the development of society, economy as well as technology, customers are becoming more powerful, they have higher expectations, less tolerance, more demanding. In this situation, high quality and professional E-Commerce is needed in more fields. E-commerce solutions are varied, which provide the buyers, sellers, providers more opportunities to run business activities efficient. Revolutionary changes have occurred in tourism and hospitality industry by E-Commerce. In recently years, more agents and organization make the applying of E-Commerce as one important choice to be outstanding. It owns many valuable advantages. It facilitates agent access to market and minimizes the financial information leakage. It provides any agents chances to connect market all over the world. When travelers arrival the destinations, they need huge information, service, facilities, market cash and so on, which all can be obtained by internet. And also, for Hospitality industry, it develops economies, improves trade competitiveness, expands scope and arena, and facilitates people to have direct access to the marketing destinations. What is more, it monitors, evaluates, creates faster transactions by the flexible web services. Thus all the process can be created, facilitated, and monitored by E-Commerce. Absolutely, there are also many disadvantages in E-Commerce. Some information in it may be incorrect or unnecessary. People give important information via internet, so the security problems can't be avoided at any time. If over population come to the destinations, customers may not satisfy the service or the local nature may be damaged. Hospitality industry has to be thoroughly aware of its problems.

This article tackles what E-commerce is in relation to businesses all of the world in the modern day but especially what is occurring in the hospitality industry. How now a days many people are looking to book travels online and the specificity's they are looking for can be featured through the internet. Through these websites provided by companies bookings could be made directly without a third party making the plans or making payments from customers. What's most interesting about this article is about is how it is self realizing and it also highlights the negatives e-commerce can have with the consumer (i.e. too much information given about a destination). But, it does tie in the end how it is a very positive step forward for all business alike and can create more revenue than before e-commerce existence.

The travel marketplace is a global arena where millions of buyers (travel agents and the public) and sellers (hotels, airlines, car rental companies, etc.) work together to exchange travel services. Among the "shelves" on which buyers search for travel services are world's global distribution systems and the Internet distribution systems. There are currently four major GDS systems: Amadeus As the youngest of the four GDS companies, Amadeus has done remarkably well during its short tenure. Yet, in many ways, the company remains an anomaly. Amadeus has the greatest number of travel agency locations with the highest productivity per terminal in the world, yet its booking share is Number 3, and its revenues are dwarfed by Sabre and, to a lesser degree, by Galileo. Galileo Galileo's competitive strengths include market share, well-balanced and global presence, relationships with diverse groups of travel vendors, technologically advanced information systems, highly skilled personnel, and a stable product line. Compared to other GDS companies, Galileo is a cautious follower when it comes to technology. Sabre Sabre's competitive strengths include market position, global reach, stable product line, diversification of revenue streams, and intellectual capital. The Sabre business model is a strong one, and continues to make significant progress in advancing both its electronic travel distribution and its information technology solutions businesses. Worldspan Worldspan has a legacy of industry firsts that are not well known. The company therefore has an opportunity to raise the industry's awareness of its accomplishments and more importantly, its future strategy. Worldspan continues to look at benefits of creating its own consumer brand and has been partnering with different companies to expand the services that it can provide to its customer base.

With the mobile marketing technology, hospitality companies focus on finding innovative ways to personalize communication with customers, and the one of solutions is LOCATION. Geofences, or virtual perimeters placed around physical locations, unlock the knowledge to consumers' physical whereabouts. Upon geofence entry or exit, hotels can send promotional, informational push notifications to app-holding customers. By offering personalized, contextually sensitive content, brands will increase buyer motivation and encourage customer loyalty.

Cvent, a meetings technology company, has gathered feedback from meeting planners and venues and responded by adding 100 enhancements to their online product. The company is looking to better the users experience and provide easy to use technology. The company's web survey, event management, strategic meetings management, and supplier network have all been improved with new technology. I think this type of business between suppliers and buyers in the meetings/events industry will be the main form of communication in the future. 

Roger Smith Hotel in New York is now accepting online reservations through their Facebook page, coining the term, "Facebookings". Guests can now use their mobile devices such as any smart phone, tablet or operating system to do so. Pegasus Solutions, a company that provides technology and corporate services to hospitality industry, uses OpenView to do the "Facebookings". Roger Smith hopes that with using the power of Facebook and mobile devices, his revenues will increase.

Hotel's next new generation will incorporate innovative standards, in which hotels can communicate or share guest's data via a new system. Their main goal is to create a standardized system that will make it easier for not only guests but also hoteliers; they can retrieve information that will only benefit both parties when searching for personal information and profile history. The specific versions of this new system will include Customer Profile Specification, Folio Detail Exchange Specification, Hosted Payment Capture Systems Specification, and finally Product Distributions. Nevertheless, there are different components that need to be looked into before bringing this system live; particular being careful with sharing of personal credit card information of guests and fraud alert system should also be incorporated with these versions.

This article in Mobile Cuisine magazine warns food truck owners about the importance of having a grip on their financials. With all the other hats the owner must wear: buyer, manager, janitor, etc. it's important to have an easy to use resource for managing every penny that goes in or out of the business.  The author recommends QuickBooks because of its simplicity and reliability.