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Site Minder by GDS experience, serves as good example to better understand the impact of a GDS's impact on the hotel industry. GDS by SiteMinder provides a single point of entry to over 500 000 travel agents across the globe, which means that hotels can target many type of travelers in multiple geographic regions. By connecting hotels directly to the world's major GDS providers - Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport - and travel agent network, GDS by SiteMinder offers a major convenience to participating hotels. Through this service, hotels don't have to worry about signing up with each one of these providers. Another advantage of SiteMinder is its affordability; there are no commission fees, rather, just one flat transaction fee per reservation. The company offers free services from GDS experts and free technical account management advice which are other benefits. For instance, in another article, in mid-2013, South Beach Group who has boutique hotels in the heart of Miami Beach, decided to switch its 12 hotels to GDS by SiteMinder. After moving to GDS by SiteMinder, South Beach Group representative highlights the significant increase in bookings leading to a growth in annual revenues by17% in 2013. In essence, GDS by SiteMinder advertises participating hotels to more customers globally within an incomparable distribution platform, with real-time and two-way GDS connectivity. As we can see in the article, in 2016, just within 12 months the total number of users of GDS by SiteMinder increased from 250 to almost 900. This article underlines the importance of GDS for the growth of travel industry. With Site Minder by GDS, one can realize how GDS helps increase hotel bookings by placing hotels on more virtual channels (an analogue of supermarket shelves) globally.  

Relatively speaking, GDS's have been around for a while now, with iterations stretching back a few decades now. SiteMinder has worked to integrate cloud technology into traditional GDS models to streamline distribution. They have had strong success, powering over 200,000 reservations in the past year, generating over $60 million in hotel revenue. Over 900 hotels are now poised to receive SiteMinder services, making them the industry leading GDS cloud platform. To date, SiteMinder is represented in the globe's most influential cities, including New York, Los Angeles, London, Honk Kong, Paris, Munich, and Sydney. GDS technology has come a long way from the early models that airlines used solely for in-house purposes. New GDS's such as SiteMinder are both a testament to adaptation and the appeal of cloud technology.

True statement was given by Chestler on this topic. GDS have a lot of positive contribution to hotels and brings a lot of opportunity as it is growing. He even compare it to a supermarket. this system emerges and give a good impact on the hospitality industry's revenue.

This article stood out to me because it stands behind the future of the global distribution systems. Direct bookings have increased .8% in the first quarter of 2016, but GDS also increased during the time at 1.3%. Having rates and rooms availability easily accessible for travel agencies is still crucial for the hotels, especially due to the increase in business travelers. This article mentions GDS by SiteMinder, which is a platform that connects the hotels to all the GDS systems, making it easier to manage and control because when one room is sold on one platform, all the other platforms are recognized that that room is gone. I mentioned in my post on the discussion board that I think the future of the GDS can still survive as long as it continues to adapt to what the industry trends are heading towards. This SiteMinder I think is exactly that. An easily controllable system that is supportive of a pool inventory, that operates as if there is only one GDS system out there, although there are several.

This article goes in depth into GDS. It explains the concept of the GDS is and how eaxctly it works. It also gives examples of some major GDSs. It talks about the benefits of using GDS in hotels.

The global distribution system in the hospitality industry is beyond vital in the act of keeping the ball rolling. GDS provides live products and offers to travelers across the globe. Whats really amazing about GDS is that live availability and rates are transferred through a channel manager directly to online booking sites. This allows guests to acquire the best rates the soonest as opposed to waiting to call a hotel or resort to see what they have and at what price.

This article shows us everything we need to know about Hotel GDS. It includes GDS in the hotel industry, GDS work way in travel, seven major GDS systems, the way to access leading GDSs with GDS software, GDS conditions of use, benefits of connecting hotel to the GDS, and how to use the GDS to capture cruise travel bookings at hotel.

As we all know, all hotels need some variation of a property management system, which PMSs come in many different forms. In this article, the author has seen PMSs as a superior way to handle all these tasks with ease at hotels because of its ability to deeply integrate with channel managers, booking engines, and revenue management systems. However, there are still certain concerns over PMSs, and this author has clarified some rumors of the validity and cost effectiveness of PMSs in this article.

All hotels need some variation of a property management system (PMS). However they come in many different forms and are not all created equal. There are still properties trying to manage their business in a traditional way with books and ledgers, others are using server-based systems, while many used web-based systems. One of the most valuable things to a hotel manager is time, and money of course. The first two systems listed are a drain on both time and finances, while the latter has obviously become the optimal way to manage hotel operations. Cloud-based PMSs are a superior way to automate and accelerate all the important processes at your hotel such as taking and confirming bookings, managing reservations, generating bills and reports, check-in/out, room transfers, checking/editing availability, guest communication, the list goes in.

This article addresses a few essential guest facing technologies that hotels need to be competitive in the modern marketplace. Hotels must provide free hi-speed Wi-Fi and tech hubs/charging stations both in rooms and throughout the property. Guests are seeking more streaming options because this is how the view content at home. Guests feel "high-class" when staying in Smart Rooms and perceive more value, which can justify higher rack rates. Guests appreciate the ability to text a concierge or order services via text. These all speak to the increased level of comfort that people feel in using technology and the need to provide guests with the means to maintain their tech comfort while travelling.

This article announces that the Regal Hotels Group, a Hong Kong based company, now has seamless connnectivity with hundreds of online travel agents from its custom-built Miro PMS and RDX, Room Distribution Exchange. According to the article, RDX allows hotel groups to build a custom PMS and connect it the world's leading booking sites through RDX. The process saves staff hundreds of hours in manual reservations processing and allows hotels to receive thousands of bookings every day. Room Distribution Exchange is a technology powered by SiteMinder. What I didn't know was that RDX is the only real time hotel room exhange platform. It appears to be very beneficial and efficient because it allows busineses to connect directly to their partners. The system also reduces the amount of time hotel staff have to spend manually making reservations, and allows customers all around the world to book reservations. In a time where consumers are becoming more demanding and internet savvy, having an effective PMS is imperative.

This article talked the appointment with Marco Rosso, the SiteMinder's new country manager for Spain. He mentioned that his top priority is using digital technology to expand the potential customer market.

This article is all about Global Distribution Systems (GDS) in the hotel industry. The author defines GDS as an "advanced network of travel agents who specialize in selling and booking travel products, including hotel rooms and packages." The purpose of GDS in hotels is to broadcast their rates, availability and packages onto the network that way everyone is viewing the same thing, it is smart of the GDS operator is within the industry that way they have a better understanding on how to manage different properties. The article mentioned a few reasons why a hotel needs a GDS, some are to help increase revenue and to market other markets. In my opinion as a manager it is very important to know your audience and what your target market is. Many hotels outsource marketing teams and you need to be sure that you are proving them with the correct marketing and you have to be open to branching out to another market if you are not doing well with sales. When selecting a GDS, the article recommends that it have the following requirements: pooled inventory, commission-free structure, integration capabilities, comprehensive reporting, and the ability to target specific markets. I believe these are all very important especially being able to access booking data reports and having the ability to target specific markets. As a manager, you know always know how your occupancy rate of the hotel is and why it is suffering. Could it be because of different crowds that are coming in? Is it a new hotel in the area that is cheaper? You must know all of this in other to compete and be successful in this industry. The benefits of partnering with a hotel GDS are "your exposure will increase significantly, connecting to agents if quick and affordable, you no longer have to deal with manual booking entries, you can make better decisions for your hotel, and you will be able to discover interested travelers from every location around the world." I believe this is very important because a

GDS also knows as global distrbution system is an advanced netwrok that us used by travel agents who sell and book travel products such as hotel rooms and packages for customers. Pretty much, when a hotel operator connects with a GDS, the operator will have access to all agnets within the GDS network such as, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotes.com, and so much more. Hotels that partner with GDS, will be able to promote their rates availability and packages to the GDS network which will then allow travel agent to finalise all reservations to their clients by having the accessibility to the GDS network. Hotels should and need GDS as their distribution strategy because, the number of bookings generated through a GDS generally outpaces that of direct bookings, revenue increases largely because the GDS places the hotel's information, availability and rates in prominent locations where it is easy for travel agents to find this valuable information, the GDS can help hotel managers uncover new market segments to promote their products to, and so much more.

TVC, Australian based, got into the game in a big way by creating a 2 sided marketplace to break down barriers between companies, consumers, and suppliers. It connects hotels to future guests so the professionals can get back to what they do best. The network includes over 30,000 hotels. It is called SaaS Network. "Last year SiteMinder threw its hat in the ring with the launch of SiteMinder Exchange aimed at "breaking down the industry's notorious integration barriers, connecting hotel systems and applications through smart and simple connectivity."

Although I am a supporter of property management systems, I do find this article to be rather intriguing. Apparently, this group in Texas, Genares, has teamed up with RDX to eliminate the middle man as well as confusion from booking. What the partnership will do is reduce the amount that a hotel will spend on their PMS because it won't be utilized as much as it previously was. RDX is a two way connectivity system, which means that it can gain access to more than one access point at a time. Not only will this make it easier to make reservations, but the constant communication will allow for faster and more accurately detailed information.

In 2012, with an eye on becoming more competitive, hotels are looking in to becoming more effective in their revenue management strategies and maximizing business efficiency by integrating their online distributions with their PMS and RMS systems.

SiteMinder is the world's leading online distribution company used by thousands of accommodation providers. It helps increase revenue through online services, and lower acquisition costs. Online bookings sites like Orbitz, Expedia, and Booking.com can be accessed for a monthly flat rate and 0% comission fee. This article also discusses the importance of social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and an increase in consumer sites like Groupon.

One of the greatest challenges a hotel faces is ensuring that all of its booking channels are updated on a real-time basis. With this tool, a Revenue Manager can quickly manage all inventory from a single place. With instant 2-way integration, On the property side, changes can be made easily and efficiently and applied to all sites. The reservations will also be dropped directly into the PMS or CRS so there is no more manual input necessary. On the consumer side, every booking will reduce inventory across all sites so that there is no chance of overbooking. This is a very valuable tool.

This article summarizes how a particular advance in IT, specifically cloud technology, has made it easier for hotels to actually provide hospitality. By democratizing the industry-leading technology solutions, the cloud provides independent hoteliers with the ability to compete with their larger counterparts by increasing efficiencies. While the article identifies many of the general benefits of cloud technology that we have been discussing in class previously, such as uninterrupted access to business solutions and much lower hardware costs, it goes on to provide specific examples of how hotels can actually integrate software within the cloud to power their business. For example, revenue management solutions on the cloud often work on a pay-as-you-go model, not a subscription. This increases the number of connections that hotel revenue managers can make with OTAs, in turn driving conversion to actual bookings. Moreover, cloud-based revenue management solutions provide integrated software that decreases the need for a large revenue management staff. The article also cites the prevalence of mobile bookings, which are growing at 20% versus 2% for desktop bookings. More than a fifth of bookings are actually done using a mobile device. With all of this new consumer data, hotels can actually personalize their offerings for their guests. This will decrease generic advertising costs over time. The reason why it is important to take these mobile bookings into account is that mobile consumers are already connected to the cloud as they make these arrangements. With that in mind, hotels need to turn around and continue to push storage, advertising, and booking solutions on the cloud to meet this demand.

GDS passes on hotel inventory and rates to travel agents and travel sites that request it and also accepts reservations. Despite the growth direct booking channels and large online travel agencies (OTAs), a GDS remains useful for 'shopping' your hotel to more customers globally by ensuring the entire travel agent network has access to your rates.

This article explains hotel revenue management and how to streamline the revenue of your property. Revenue management is the marketing and selling of your hotel products to guest. It could be the selling of rooms or additional products your hotel may offer. Every traveler wants to see the value of there dollar spent.