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Amadeus is working with travel agents to ensure their clients get the most personalized experience possible while booking their vacations especially, airfare. After a study done by Amadeus with Frost & Sullivan, the found that many travelers would respond to messages that they can relate with their interests. Also, they found out that travelers would respond to offers related to their locations. The article summarizes that GDS were not providing the most conclusive and personal content to travel agencies. Amadeus has developed 'fare families' for airlines. These fare families are able to combine options and services that appeal to consumers and give travel agents the ability prepare targeted offers with the GDS in place. Additionally, using consumer relationship management data, like spending patterns and social media, will lead to better customer response. Travel agents rely a great deal on global distribution systems. Amadeus is going in the right direction in giving travel agents the proper tools to succeed in a market that is increasingly booking directly with suppliers. This new personalized offers that Amadeus is bringing to the table may actually give travel agents an advantage over the competition.

This article thoroughly explains how GDS was brought into the airline industry and how a travel agent may get access with the proper training. GDS systems will not be going anywhere I do feel as if it will only improve on helping those that use for travel. As the article states its goal is to impact growth for the future!

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.

Global Distribution System (GDS) is a system operated by an organization that empowers automated exchanges between travel specialist organizations for mainly airlines, lodgings and vehicle rental organizations and travel agencies. Travel agencies generally depended on GDS for administrations, products and rates so as to provision travel related administrations to the end consumers. A GDS can connect services, rates and bookings uniting items and services over every one of the three travel segments: i.e., aircraft reservations, hotel reservations, vehicle rentals. The biggest global distribution framework is Amadeus. GDS is not the same as a PC reservations framework, which is a reservation framework utilized by the specialist organizations also known as vendors. Essential clients of GDS are travel specialists both online and office-based to reserve spot on different reservation frameworks kept running by the sellers. GDS holds no inventory; the inventory is hung on the merchant's reservation framework itself. A GDS framework will have constant connect to the merchant's database. For instance, when a travel office asks for a reservation on the administration of a specific carrier organization, the GDS framework courses the demand to the proper aircraft's PC reservations framework. This empowers a travel specialist with an association with a solitary GDS to pick and book different flights, lodgings, exercises and related administrations on every one of the merchants working in a similar course who are part of that GDS network. There's no uncertainty that global distribution frameworks will have an imperative influence in the travel landscape for a long time to come, yet their conventional job is changing and being tested by every one of the progressions occurring in the travel business. While such changes will affect the future development open doors for global distribution frameworks, there will keep on being a job for them as they advance to address the issue

People are starting to use travel agents again, research shows that travel agents showed a 51% revenue increase with an expect of 94% to make a profit. When people travel to exotic destinations is when they tend to use travel agents, and this is the future where more people are traveling all over the world. The internet is a useful took for gathering travel infromation, the counsel and expertise of a travel agent is invaluable. But when people use the interent for the information and get to there destinations and something goes wrong, they have nobody to go to if they need help. Travel agents are evoloving again!

The following article explains why many people expected travel agencies to go extinct once Expedia started being used and all the reasons why that did not end up happening. In todays age there are still many people that use travel agents, in fact the article even states that there have been spikes of usage in recent years. It speculates that this might be because of millennials always using the easiest and quickest ways of getting things done. In fact the simplicity of travel agents is one of the main reasons many people use it along with their ability to get package deals, assist with group or complicated trips, their ability to get discounts, and they prevent problems.

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.

This article is about the value of using a travel agent. The article describes several real-life situations that unfolded as borders and countries were shutting down travel.... all while tourists were still visiting these countries. Luckily these tourists booked their vacations using travel agents so they were able to work with their travel agents on navigating home and not with a computer screen.

This article gave me a different perspective as to how the GDS system has affected the airline industry.  According to The Economist, the airlines chronic unprofitability is due to two strategic errors of their own doing. One was to stop paying direct commission to travel agents and the other was to set the reservations systems free. Despite their best efforts airlines are now having very hard time getting travelers to bypass GDS agents and come to their websites. A majority of the profit margins in the travel business are seen by the GDS systems and airlines are left footing the bill. In hopes of resolving this problem, the airlines international association is working what is called "new distribution capability." Through use of this service it would become easier for travel agents to utilize computer systems that would deal directly with the airlines. However, ambitious IT projects have failed hundreds of different times across hundred of different industries and getting the airlines to agree to make such a dramatic change in IT would be a daunting task. Both the airlines and GDSs argue they hold the true consumer advantage.  On one hand, airlines are able to provide flyers with personally tailored service, while on the other, the GDSs allow customers to compare flights for the best value. Whether it be the airlines or the GDSs that prevail, the future of travel is now online. 

As we all know, GDS is an online system known as global distribution system, which delivers worldwide data, rates, inventory, offers, real-time availability of airlines, hotel rooms, car rental, bus tickets to bridge the gap between tour operators and travel bookers. The article has introduced the most popular GDS systems in the industry and their strong advantages. In addition, it also reveals the reasons why the industry still uses GDS and the importance of it. In one word, GDS is highly effective in alluring the international travelers with the development of information and technology. It enables the travel agents to make their travel services available to consumers globally where they might not be able to achieve efficient worldwide market penetration through direct marketing efforts.( The article has also given a future prediction about GDS. According to the statistics, GDS will rule the travel industry if it keeps continuing the ever changing needs of airlines and hotel industry.

GDS is very important in the tourism industry. Even if the company creates its own direct sales channels, the impact and benefits of GDS are considerable. Making good use of the advantages of GDS can create word of mouth and revenue for the company in the hospitality industry.

The article discusses the definition of GDS and how important it is in the travel industry. As stated, the three main GDS systems involve Travelport, Amadeus, and Sabre with Travelport generating billions of dollars in travel sales. Upon explaining how important GDS is in the hotel and airline industry, it also explains its importance to travel agents as it points out reasons for why it has a bright future in the hospitality industry.

The Article talks about how important is the GDS in the travel industry. where some agents can access to scheduling and inventory for your hotels. it talks about three important GDS Systems like the Travelport, Amadeus and Sabre.

This article describes GDS as a network/platform that enables travel agencies and their clients to access travel data, shop for and compare reservations options and book travel. Agents can access scheduling and inventory of hotels, airlines, car rentals, and (some) railway and bus reservations - in real time. GDS links all those services across the three primary travel reservation sectors (airline, hotel, and ground transportation, i.e., car rentals), and activities. GDSs are very important to travel agents and they will continue to be used and will continue to evolve.

In contrast to the notion that the use of a travel agent is outdated, Millennials are actually more likely to use a travel agent than other demographics. This trend seems to go hand in hand with the increase in experiential marketing we see geared towards Millennials, and the fact that they often want more extreme or unique experiences. While in some ways Millennials are a spontaneous generation, they also appreciate a well planned trip that allows them to make the most of their time.

Noreen, I loved the points this article made. One might assume with the millennial generation they would use travel agents less as they would view them as outdated, but it is the opposite. Because the millennial generation are more adventurous and use travel to learn about themselves, they are consulting with agents who have perhaps been to the destination and can fill them in on the really great places to visit. Thank you for sharing!

A global distribution system, or GDS, helps hotels sell rooms to travelers. A global distribution system helps smaller hotels connect to several different travel agencies. GDS allows travel agents to sell rooms to customers. There are three models: the retail model, the merchant model, and the opaque model. The retail model is the most traditional model. The travel agent would get a commission from the sell. The guest would pay the hotel and then the hotel would pay the agent.

There has a report about the travel agents are booking less with GDSs, the customers booking air tickets 15% less than they did in 2006 and they found they are booking tickets from the company the airline website 65% more than before. According to the research, more than 32,000 travel agencies in the US in 1998, but there are less than 10,000 travel agencies in the US today. According to this report, the article trying to find the answer about if travel agents are doing significantly fewer bookings with GDSs. Online travel agencies are very popular led by Priceline.com, Expedia, and Orbitz etc. More and more people would like to book the hotel rooms, airline ticket via the OTA. The benefit of the OTA is the customers can see the price of the different hotels or airline companies on one website rather than several websites. That can help customers save the time and money because they always can show you the lowest price. OTA make the booking easier and clear. We know how popular of the Online travel agent in these years. That's why this article trying to find it out of why the percentage of direct booking more than their booking via GDSs. Travel agents attract a lot of customers that can directly influence the number of booking with GDSs. "ASTA's survey found that American agents use GDSs to book hotel rooms 29% less today than they did in 2006 but agent reservations made on hotel websites have increased 58%". But if we change a perspective, TravelClick found that GDS room grew 5.3% in the 2013 year over year. Therefore, we can found that travel agents use of the GDS for hotel booking growing very fast than direct booking via the company website.

The research the article reports supports traditional travel agents reliance on GDS for hotel selections. The article reports travel agents respond to GDS media used mostly by hotels. The information shared in the article written in 2003 and reported there was an increase in the use of their GDS from two years prior. Considering the growth of GSD today offering more selections sixteen years later, it should be more beneficial for travel agents.

The article talks about the use of GDS and its importance in the current Hospitality World. It shows a study which refers GDS as the most important booking tool for travel agents, citing record numbers in booking in 2017

Based on the reading GDS assist and has raise the profit margin for hotel across the board. Hotels are more profitable due to this feature .

This pretty much what we have discussed in class along with the history of  the way hospitality companies have grown so much since the 60s. 

This article describes the development of the GDS, and also introduce its role as a non-air hospitality services marketing channel. The authors introduce the evolution of GDS, and show some points about how hospitality marketing through GDS.

This article goes into depth with the development of the primary electronic distribution channel. Surprisingly, as early as the 1960's travelers and travel agents where booking reservations via letter, telex, or telephone. Most of the reservations for airlines, hotels, and car rentals were conducted via telephone. Because of such an increase in demand of the service, airlines installed computer terminals to reduce cost and increase bookings for the airlines. Airlines believed it would be cost efficient to install such system instead of hiring extra staff. The airlines also predicted that travel agents would reserve more with the airlines that supplied the GDS terminal, which in fact turned out to be true. After, the travel agents became heavily comfortable with the system, they noticed that it could also accommodate to bookings for hotels, car rentals, and travel services. The potential of the travel distribution was obvious and many non-air travel companies became major participants within the system.

Global Distribution systems ensure that the travel industry gets accurate information and keeps track of data and information. The GDS is a single system that reaches out to very large groups and gives them access to prices and availability of rooms. The GDS comes at a price, for every booking they take a certain percentage of that rate. The best known global distribution systems are Amadeus GDS, Sabre GDS, and Travelport GDS. All of these systems are different but most of the travel bookings are done through them. I believe the GDS is a great way to to attract potential travelers and it makes it easy because everything is on one system.

This article is a good introduction to the concept' of GDS. It is brief, informative and written in plain language, making it easy to understand. The definitions are clear, and the major points i.e. The "big three" GDS' are effectively covered.

This article discusses the pros of hotels utilizing GDS systems and describes the 3 most prominent global distribution systems. Some benefits include a larger consumer outreach, and helpful information access for travel agents. The "Big Three" global distribution systems are Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport.

Compared to large hotel chains and airlines, the GDS can play a different role for businesses of smaller sizes. For small hotels, it may be beneficial to make use of a channel manager instead of depending on sales from a GDS. The article suggests to smaller hotels that channel managers, who work directly with travel agents, can mean more profit for your business. Using the GDS and a travel agency, you are technically paying 2 commissions. With a channel manager, you would only be paying one. Having this business relationship will cut out a middle man, and hotels with smaller budget will find this strategy more efficient.

I find this article a little misleading. The GDS are channels, can be managed by a channel manager, or in conjunction with, or separately but usually for smaller hotels require an intermediary. Accessing the GDS(s) are used less by smaller hotels for two main factors: 1. Costs and Fees 2. Scope of demand (driving the right customers). 3. Program Fees The article cites figures which have changed substantially since 2015, as of Q4 North American GDS growth was up 6.4% and ADR was up 4.2% YOY with 18.4% of all bookings coming through GDS. TravelClick, Inc. (2019, March 4) What isn't highlighted in the article was the fact that margin agreements with OTAs for smaller independent hotel range anywhere from 20-35% . If the article had done an actual cost comparison (access through intermediary to GDS instead of OTA) the 10% commission + access and delivery fee may have proven more profitable. It would have been better if they had done a little more comparative cost analysis. TravelClick, Inc. (2019, March 4). GDS Booking and ADR Growth Drive Strong Q4 2018 RevPAR Performance in Hospitality. Retrieved from https://www.hospitalitynet.org/performance/4092226.html

This article from the Little Hotelier talks about what exactly is GDS and the Channel Manager and which on is better for Small Hotels. Small Hotels should opt for the system that gives them what they need, but in their price range and for the size of their business.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Sabre Travel Network have signed a multi-year distribution contract that will distribute all Royal Caribbean, Azamara, and Celebrity cruise schedules and fares on the Sabre GDS system. With the Sabre system travel agents in Mexico can now make bookings on Royal Caribbean cruises and associated lines. This system. This system will allow travel agents in Mexico to increase productivity when booking Royal Caribbean cruises. I think this is an interesting step by Royal Caribbean to expand their relationship with Sabre Travel Network and a new region for booking. The impression I get from this agreement is Royal Caribbean is looking at opening their cruises to a new consumer market. This focus is aimed more on making sales and entering a new market. Now Royal Caribbean will be focusing on Mexican consumers. This system will allow travel agents in Mexico to have an easier time at booking a cruise with Royal Caribbean, Azamara, and Celebrity.