GDS, OTA and Meta: What's the difference? | HotelMinder - 2 views
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GDS, OTA and Meta: What’s the difference?
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ansonj55 on 28 Jan 19The article covers the topics discussed in this week's topics related to Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and Online Travel Agency (OTA). It goes in detail regarding the difference and benefits of each. The landscape of the traveling industry changed in the late 1900s with the introduction of the GDS from the airline industry. Although costly, hotels are able to provide unsold rooms at a cheaper rate in order to secure bookings. Similarly, OTAs have gained popularity with the rise of use and reliance of the internet. Most beneficial of a OTA is more visibility for the hotel, since they invest a significant amount of capital in advertising. Whether a hotel is deciding whether or not to invest in a GDS or OTA, it is important to do a cost benefit analysis in order to determine which may be more beneficial to the property.
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GDS is a rather costly selling channel that mainly allows the sale of rooms in larger quantities to bigger companies (for corporate guests) or travel agencies (leisure travellers). Thus, small independent hotels usually do not need GDS.
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With the rise of the internet, many websites began selling rooms without the need for human interaction. These sites very quickly gained important market share,
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Rather than trying to compete with them, it would be better to see them as another selling distribution channel instead.