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The OTA Billboard Effect or the Lazy Man's Approach to Hotel Distribution - 0 views

  • HeBS digital Blog Archive for the ‘Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)’ Category The OTA Billboard Effect or the Lazy Man’s Approach to Hotel DistributionMonday, August 1st, 2011 The following article is Max Starkov’s latest contribution to the “Successful eMarketing” blog on HOTELS magazine’s website The existence of the so-called billboard effect is not a new marketing phenomenon. It has existed long before the online channel became a reality. As confirmed by many studies, any marketing exposure by a hotel produces a billboard effect:  when you launch a banner advertising campaign; when you purchase a full-page ad in the New York Times travel section; when you launch a paid search campaign on Google, etc. The OTA Billboard Effect Lately Expedia reps have been aggressively using a new Cornell Hospitality Report, namely “Search, OTAs and Online Booking: An Expanded Analysis of the Billboard Effect” to convince hoteliers that they should use Expedia in order to generate more bookings from the hotel’s own website due to the so-called “Billboard Effect.” The Cornell Report, based on data from Expedia and InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) from 2008-2010, is a continuation of a previous report on the subject, heavily supported by Expedia. The report’s analysis determined that when an IHG property was listed on the first results page of Expedia, this created an increase of between 7.5% and 14.1% in bookings for the same property on IHG’s own brand website. In other words, this is a confirmation for Expedia’s billboard effect, which hoteliers should take into consideration when griping against the 25% plus merchant OTA commission. When these “billboard effect bookings” are taken into consideration, Expedia’s commission “would effectively be reduced to single digits,” states the Cornell Report. Hoteliers, rejoice! We have found the perfect recipe for success: we do nothing as far as marketing the property website is concerned. Instead, we plaster Expedia with our sales promotions and wait for the travel consumers to come to our own website and book. As discussed, the billboard effect is not strictly an OTA territory. In my view, the Cornell Hospitality Report is a one-sided research project, very proactively supported by Expedia, similar to the first report on the billboard effect published in 2009. Cornell, the finest hospitality institution in the U.S., should know better than to come up with this half-baked “scientific” research, which does not account for the complexities of hotel Distribution as well as the “digital information cloud” we all live in and the resulting marketing and Distribution channel convergence which directly affects the purchasing habits of today’s hyper-interactive travel consumers. This report makes conclusions that do not take into account, among many other things, the following: Complex Travel Planning Patterns in Hospitality Many surveys show that people are shopping around on a number of hotel and travel websites before narrowing down their search. Typically in hospitality, these sites include a hotel search on a search engine e.g. Google (65% market share), an OTA website, TripAdvisor, the hotel’s own website, etc. Therefore jumping from an OTA website to a hotel branded website and vice versa is at least partially due to particular travel research patterns unique to the users and not due to the so-called billboard effect: Step 1: “I always search on Google first where I identify a property I like” Step 2: “I go to Expedia and see what the rate for this property is” Step 3: “I visit TripAdvisor to read my peer reviews for this hotel” Step 4: “I visit the hotel website and book if I like the location, rate and what I have read and seen about this hotel”
  •  
    Hotels are clearly focusing on marketing as a major source of revenue in this day and age. HEBS Digital (Hospitality eBusiness Strategies) is an online blog and eMarketing refuge for those in the hospitality industry. With statistics and research to support the growing advertising claims, they give light to major opportunities in marketing on the internet.
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IATA Chief Cites GDS Partner Role, But Remains Critical - 0 views

  • While remaining critical of GDSs, IATA director general Tony Tyler sounded a somewhat less combative tone toward “our global distribution system partners” during his keynote speech at the IATA annual general meeting in Beijing.
  • Giovanni Bisignani, who retired as director general last year after 10 years in the post, made the GDS industry a frequent target of his famous “Basta!” moments over segment fees.
  • More recently, Tyler has excoriated GDS companies for what he called a failure to meet the changing needs of airlines as they adopt new merchandising methods.
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  • Our global distribution system partners help us to sell 60% of our tickets,” he said. “Beginning four decades ago, when these systems were created, their cutting-edge technology expanded our distribution horizons.”
  • But are blocking innovation
  • Open AXIS messages were in turn donated by Farelogix, the company that developed American Airlines’ Direct Connect technology.
  • GDSs, which are built on operating systems dating from the 1970s, have not been able to facilitate innovation like we have seen in other industries.”
  • multimillion dollar airline product investments “cannot break free of product descriptions limited to booking classes like F, C, or Y and their derivatives. And personalized offers based on availability, customer needs, preferences or histories are effectively impractical.”
  • IATA is working on new distribution standards to enable airline product differentiation, he said. Those standards are based on XML messaging schema adopted as “standard” by Open AXIS, the U.S. organization that promotes XML as the ideal technology connection linking airlines with distributors.
  • “XML standards and customer-friendly interfaces are the new cutting edge, facilitating revolutions in how the world does business.
  • IATA will define the foundation standard this year
  •  
    The International Air Transport Associate (IATA) at their annual general meeting in Beijing have had enough with the outdated Global Distribution Systems technology. The new Director General Tony Tyler indicated that in the 70's the system was cutting edge technology expanding Distribution for airlines but years later the technology lacks innovation and must be brought up to date with airline product differentiation. This can be done by adopting new standards through XML messaging schema. Farelogix has donated XML through Open Axis, an organization that promotes the XML technology for linking airlines with distributors, similar to the technology that American Airlines has been using. IATA indicates that this year they will define the foundation standards in partnership with the GDSs, a necessary progression.
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New Distribution Platform Integrates with PMS | Products | Hospitality Magazine (HT) - 1 views

  • IQlink offers a hosted platform with seamless connectivity to more than 750 leading distribution channels.
  • The concept behind the IQlink Platform is simple: When there are fewer connections, there are fewer costs and fewer points of potential failure.
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    The article talks about the luanch of new distribution platform called IQlink. The new platform intergrates with PMS better than most similar products. IQlink build a seamless intergration with multi-type property's PMS connecting with most leading distribution channels. It obviously can reduce works of hospitality property owners and operators on PMS and GDS synchronism.
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How Marriott Wants to be the Red Bull of the Hotel Industry | Variety - 0 views

  • Marriott International today announced the formation of an internal content studio through which it will develop, produce and distribute a slate of entertainment projects that will include web series, short films, TV shows, music events and movies. The goal for the Bethesda, Maryland-based company is to appeal to the “next-generation traveler” — made up mostly of millennials — with story driven content marketing.
  • With 18 brands, Marriott is the world’s largest hotel company with over 4,000 hotels in 78 countries. Through its individual properties, in-room TVs, websites, mobile platforms and reward program, Marriott certainly has the network through which it can distribute entertainment.
  • To promote the projects, Marriott will use its website; its mobile app; various social media channels; in-room TV network; and Marriott Rewards, a loyalty membership program that has over 45 million subscribers.
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    Marriott is seeking to become the Red Bull of the hotel industry. While I first thought that this meant that it wanted to become synonymous as a brand with hotels generally, as Red Bull's brand is with energy drinks, what Marriott is actually pushing for is a sophisticated eMarketing strategy. The company is focusing on content marketing by developing and producing (in-house or through contract) its own videos, shows, web series, movies, musical events, etc. and distributing it through their network of properties. The distribution strategy will focus on using Marriott's 4,000 rooms, which are located across 78 different countries globally. In addition to pushing content through in-room TVs, Marriott will also use its rewards program and mobile app to distribute what it produces to its consumers. Marriott does not plan to abandon its print or online advertising; it is simply adding another platform to increase and diversify its global reach and strategy. The ultimate goal is to fill rooms, but with Millennials, creating long-lasting, individual, memorable experiences is important to overall brand loyalty. Thus, content marketing provides a means by which Marriott can offer original, targeted content to its consumers. In the future, it can become a full-fledged development studio providing complete content for its consumers, in turn pressuring companies like Netflix, Hulu, etc. In the short-term, producing content and releasing it through their app will allow Marriott to increase brand awareness, loyalty, and the overall guest experience. Over time, Marriott is not simply pushing a product or service; they are building meaningful relationships with their consumers.
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Hospitality Technology Articles: Hospitality Marketing Through Global Distribution Systems - 1 views

  • In an industry not renowned for the prompt embrace of technology, electronic marketing and product distribution have enjoyed uncharacteristically speedy acceptance by the hotel, car rental, cruise line, and other hospitality companies.
  • o reduce costs and further increase their bookings, airlines began installing computer terminals in the offices of their most productive travel agencies.  Airline managers understood it would be less expensive to have travel agents book the reservations directly into the airline systems than it would be to hire additional staff at airline reservation centers.  They also knew that travel agents were more likely to book reservations on the airline that supplied the GDS terminals.
  • Responding to the need for greater flexibility, hotel CRS managers expanded the inventory control capabilities of their systems to allow selling against an allocation of rooms.  Sales controls such as closed-to-arrival, minimum length of stay, and sell-through were also added.  More recently, many systems have been further enhanced to provide central reservation offices with full inventory data, with the central system having the same availability information as the hotel so that the CRO can sell down to the last available room without fear of overbooking.
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  • GDS marketing automation gained its most recent, and possibly most powerful product presentation advance with the introduction of seamless connectivity
  • In its early years, productivity through global distribution systems was low and constituted a very limited portion of each hospitality company's centrally booked reservations.  A consistent upward volume trend has seen that situation change. 
  • In coming years seamless connectivity offers the prospect of delivering the full functionality of supplier systems, from access to frequent traveler files and profile data to multi-media brochures and virtual reality property tours, to every GDS user's terminal.
  • The challenge to suppliers -- hotel companies, car rental firms, cruise lines and the many other travel services -- is to develop and implement marketing automation programs that effectively address this electronic marketing and sales opportunity.
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    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. 
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    In an industry that is constantly evolving, the GDS remains in a constant in revenue generation, as well as marketing abilities. Seamless connectivity supplies full functionality on virtually all levels in the travel industry.
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    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.
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    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.
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Global travel distribution: GDS system's role, growth, future outlook - 0 views

  • Global distribution systems have significantly changed the way people traveled and the work of travel companies as well. With GDSs, independent travel agents, travel companies, and online agents have a remote access to airline reservation databases, can place remote bookings (thus automating the booking process), and meet their customer needs by looking the database for the best available offers. Also, GDS systems provide such travel-based technology services as airline information technology products and revenue management tools for hotels, airlines, and car rental agents.
    • ngerv001
       
      Global Distribution Systems have greatly impacted the hospitality industry with pricing information widely available to multiple outlets. GDS ability to share and distribute pricing to OTA's either for hotels or airlines, car rental agents and other outlets. With guests looking for a edge in cheap purchases, GDS is able to provide pricing that is readily available. Technology is constantly evolving to help the consumer and there is no doubt that GDS will continued to be featured/
  • predictions
  • and GDS systems: the future prospects
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  • Travel distribution
  • Now the number of online travel sites providing price comparisons is quickly growing.
  • and predictions
  • pushing customers to book their services directly via their websites without any intermediaries,
  • The technology may change and become more customized to client specific needs and preferences such as leisure travel
  • Blockchain innovative technology is another growth perspective for travel distribution landscape
  • Blockchain provides high-security level: it consists of multiple transaction blocks, built according to certain rules and linked and secured using cryptography
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    Everything in life and business today is about how you can make big bigger, fast faster and everything more personalized. This article is giving suggestion about how GDS may evolve in the future to make it more personalized to the buying customer as well as making it more GDS more secure. GDS are starting to price compare with competing sites and businesses are offering incentive of not having service fees if you book directly through them. Where is this leading the GDS systems? Perhaps into the Blockchian technology, where a customer can purchase a token and essentially cash it in when they exchange it for the service being done. This is allowing for more secure transactions of moneys. GDS will never go out of business, but there is always a way someone is looking to make it better, Blockchains may be something of the future trend.
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How Struggling Air India Is Setting the Stage for a Major Battle Among Distribution Gia... - 0 views

  • The battle for India’s lucrative travel market among global distribution systems is not over yet — even if Travelport has won hands down with exclusive rights to distribute Air India’s domestic flights content in India.
  • For a split second, it appears that Travelport can sit pretty and command control of a vast market all on its own. Sabre announced at the start of the year that Air India had decided to withdraw from it. Amadeus had pulled out in December 2018 after Travelport’s win, awarded in October 2018 and fully implemented by January 1, 2020, which was just too much for it to swallow. So the grass was looking green for Travelport with neither Sabre nor Amadeus on the turf
  • But Amadeus announced last week that it’s back in with Air India, even if it’s only with the airline’s international flights content, not domestic, which is now fully ensconced in Travelport. And while Sabre has failed to renew its contract, which expired at the end of 2019, the company said it is still engaging with Air India on a new agreement.
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  • Gradually from November 2018, travel agents in India could no longer book Air India’s domestic flights, for example, Delhi to Mumbai, on Amadeus or Sabre, only on Travelport. As the deal covers only domestic, they could still book Air India’s international flights, say, Delhi to London, on any of the three competing distribution systems, while agents outside India could also continue to book Air India’s domestic and international content on all three (until December 4, 2018, when Amadeus left, that is). But as mentioned earlier, domestic is where most of the traffic is.
  • India is far too important for technology and distribution players to walk away. And the distribution weapon that Air India wields is symptomatic of a sick airline that oscillates between cost-cutting and generating revenue as it gasps for air to stay afloat, according to industry veterans interviewed by Skift.
  • There are also concerns the move will disrupt the business. “Travel agents tend to have one preferred GDS. Imagine that an agency has trained all the staff to use one particular GDS (global distribution system), then, for this one airline you have to train staff again. So maybe you’d just book a different airline,” said a source.
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    Air India is a struggling airline that is starting a battle among GDS company. since the travel market is so lucrative in India all of them are fighting to get a piece of the pie. since Air India is struggling they are taking all comers. Travelport holds the reigns when it comes domestic flights and Amadeus Holds the reigns on the international flights. This fight for control of Air India has put travel agents in India in a bind. In November of 2018 travel agents could no longer book Air India's domestic flight on Amadeus or Sabre but only Travelport. But domestic flights is where most of the traffic is. this puts the travel agents in a bingd because they train with just one GDS. Sabre is trying to get Air India's bussiness again by offering cost savings over the other two GDS giants.
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GDS, OTA and Meta: What's the difference? | HotelMinder - 2 views

  • GDS, OTA and Meta: What’s the difference?
    • ansonj55
       
      The 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.
  • how can they help your hotel gain more online visibility and sell more rooms?
  • Hotels usually sell their rooms for 30% cheaper on GDS
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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.
    • ansonj55
       
      GDS is costly so it is not really beneficial for smaller, independent hotels.
  • 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,
  • Metasearch engines are becoming important in the travel industry
  • We do encourage hotels to use OTA to be more visible online
  • many different accommodation options at one glance
  • Rather than trying to compete with them, it would be better to see them as another selling distribution channel instead.
  • OTA’s invest a lot in online marketing
  • developed metasearch engine tools.
  • With travellers using the internet more than ever to search and book hotels
  • hey usually do many different searches and visit several websites.
  • Increasing your online hotel visibility can be done in many ways.
  • OTAs: Online Travel Agencies
  • GDS: Global Distribution Systems
  • GDS stands for “Global Distribution System”
  • Travel agencies use GDS to get real-time availability, and preferred rates on flight tickets, hotel rooms and car rentals all over the world as it allows them to be very reactive when asked for a quote.
  • OTA stands for "Online Travel Agency"
  • They were first created by airline companies during the 1950’s to broaden hotel and car rental businesses by enabling automated transactions between travel service providers and travel agencies (traditional and online).
  • The three biggest GDS systems are: Amadeus, Sabre and Galileo (now owned by Travelport)
  • real-time availability
  • Central Reservation Services (CRS), such as Sabre, allow hotels to sell their rooms to all GDS simultaneously. However, it is up to the hotel whether to connect with only one or two GDS directly, without the need for a CRS. The good news is that some channel managers are also able to connect with GDS systems.
  • The most popular example is Booking.com, although Expedia (for corporate guests) and Hostelworld (for more economical accommodation options) are also well-known.
    • sbaut010
       
      GDS has become an industry of its own with its own markets.
  • Your hotel can usually be listed on an OTA free of charge by adding your hotel photos, descriptions, rooms, rates, etc. You can then choose how many rooms you’d like to sell through the OTA. The availability you’d like to sell as well as the room rate is your decision, and although appearing on the OTA is free, you will have to pay a commission of approximately 15% to 20% every time you get a booking.
    • sbaut010
       
      Through this system OTA, the middleman, will always take a form of commission.
  • Although they produce rather time-consuming work as you need to log into each of their extranets to update daily availability and rates, you can very easily connect an OTA to a channel manager to automate, or at least greatly facilitate these tasks.
  • They were created shortly after OTAs and display the current rates of many different hotels in a given destination.
  • Today, OTA’s are a must, and although metasearch engines are slightly more technical to manage, they can also be an attractive selling channel to consider.
  • For small independent hotels, GDS is usually too costly to be considered.
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    This article introduces GDS, OTA and Meta in a short space. GDS stands for Global Distribution System, GDS is a rather costly selling channel that mainly allows the sale of rooms in larger quantities to bigger companies. Small independent hotels usually do not need GDS. OTA stands for Online Travel Agency. meta stands for Metasearch Engines. For small hotels, the cost of GDS is high and it is generally difficult to adopt. OTA and meta are two methods worth considering.
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Sabre, Delta Plan to Collaborate on Distribution Improvements with New Agreement | Busi... - 0 views

  • Delta Air Lines and Sabre have reached a new multiyear "value-based" distribution agreement in which the carrier and global distribution system will work together on improving indirect distribution channels.
  • While not divulging the exact details, Lobl said the agreement moves away from the traditional GDS economic model, in airlines pay a flat fee to GDSs for each segment. Instead, compensation will be more reflective of the value of what is being sold, he said.
  • an example of "collaboration across the entire ecosystem"
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    Delta Air Lines and Sabre will be working together on a multiyear deal to improve indirect distribution channels. As Jeff Lobl said, the intention is to unlock innovation and reward investment as well as enhance the customer experience. Traditionally airlines pay a flat fee to GDSs but this model will be based more on what is being sold.
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Travel Agents Are Increasingly Using Global Distribution Systems to Book Hotels - Skift - 0 views

  • shifting in a dynamic marketplace, they remain useful for travel agents around the world.
    • cleon087
       
      I really like how this line pertains to the discussion that we had this week. It proves that GDS still has a role only that its role is shifting.
  • using a global distribution system more than they did two years ago, le
  • Hotels pay a fee of about 20 percent on a booking when they sell a room on a global distribution platform, leading many to look for other distribution solutions like encouraging travelers to book direct online or using online booking sites
    • cleon087
       
      The hotel prefers getting all the profit thats whys they encourage the use of their websites and offer rewards to guest that do. My mom is a member of Marriott rewards program and most of the time can get a better deal from direct booking and save hours of searching.
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  • it helps hotels manage their presence on a variety of distribution platforms.
  • ely on the GDS as an essential operating system for conducting hotel research and booking reservations,
  • o generate incremental revenue and maximize revenue per available room through the power of the GDS.”
  • 63 percent of those polled indicated they tend to book away from hotels that don’t offer the best rate on global distribution system
  • said they will book the best deal they find regardless of the advertising content the systems push them.
    • cleon087
       
      This shows peoples motives and how they will spend their time looking just to save money even if it is just a few bucks.
  • It could also be that agents don’t make any commission on sites like Airbnb and Homeaway, so don’t have the incentive to book them for clients.
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    This article discusses how travel agents are starting to increasingly use GDS to book for their clients. The article also talks about how people are looking for the best price and care more about that than the advertisement. Hotels want their guest to direct book through their website in order to not have to share profits with others. Hotels pay fees to be on these websites and travel agents are starting to use it more. The article emphasizes the role that GDS has come to evolve to.
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Air India signs distribution agreement with Amadeus, Sabre out in the cold | PhocusWire - 0 views

  • reducing its presence on global distribution systems and awarded Travelport sole distribution rights of its domestic inventory. 
  • Legal proceedings from Amadeus began in 2018
  • a new relationship enabling
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  • to access international content and retailers in the rest of the world to access both domestic and international from Air India.
  • Sabre says it attempted to negotiate a new deal with Air India for the “better part of a year.”
  • it will continue to work with Air India on a new agreement.
  • r Air India,
  • renew our relationship with Amadeus
  •  
    This article explains a recent contract struggle with the airline Air India and two Global Distribution Systems, Sabre and Amadeus. Because of the new contract with Amadeus, Sabre has been forced to nullify their old contract with the airline. Air India has chosen to prioritize the GDS Amadeus because of the global reach that it affords.
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Global Distribution Systems in Present Times - Written By: Samipatra Das - HVS Internat... - 0 views

  • There are currently four major GDS systems: Amadeus Galileo Sabre Worldspan
  • Amadeus
  • Amadeus is the youngest of the four GDS companies. Amadeus is a leading global distribution system and technology provider serving the marketing, sales, and distribution needs of the world's travel and tourism industries.
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  • serve more than 57,000 travel
  • agency locations and more than 10,500 airline sales offices in some 200 markets worldwide
  • 58,000 hotels and 50 car rental companies serving some 24,000 locations,
  • The three founder airline shareholders currently hold 59.92% of the company: Air France (23.36%), Iberia (18.28%), and Lufthansa (18.28%).
  • Galileo International
  • 11 major North American and European airlines: Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Olympic Airlines, Swissair, TAP Air Portugal, United Airlines, and US Airways.
  • In October of 2001, Cendant Corporation acquired Galileo International for approximately $1.8 billion in common stock and cash. Currently, the company is represented in 116 countries, and serves travel agencies at approximately 45,000 locations. Other travel suppliers include 500 airlines, 227 hotel companies, 33 car rental companies, and 368 tour operators.
  • Sabre
  • connects more than 60,000 travel agency locations around the world, providing content from approximately 400 airlines, 55,000 hotel properties, 52 car rental companies, 9 cruise lines, 33 railroads, and 229 tour operators.
  • In 2001, Travelocity.com's 32 million members used the site, generating more than $300 million in revenues.
  • Worldspan
  • Samipatra Das joined HVS as a Consulting and Valuation Analyst in May of 2001.
  • HVS Marketing Communications provides sales, marketing, public relations, and operational strategies for the hospitality industry in order to boost occupancies and provide more effective rate/yield management.
    • Angelica Saez
       
      GDS is a global distribution system is a computerized network system owned or operated by a company that enables transactions between travel industry services.
  • 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. While the company is Number 1 in locations worldwide, serving the greatest number of countries, it provides the fewest U.S. destinations of the top four GDSs.
  • HVS Technology Strategies is a division of HVS International, the world's largest hospitality specific consulting firm. The division was formed in mid-2000, following two years of hospitality technology market research. Our findings revealed a growing demand for unbiased, technology-focused consulting throughout the hospitality industry.
  • These systems have become electronic supermarkets linking buyers to sellers and allowing reservations to be made quickly and easily. Nowadays, more travel is sold over the Internet than any other consumer product. The Internet is a perfect medium for selling travel as it brings a vast network of suppliers and a widely dispersed customer pool together into a centralized market place.
  • However, any discussion of the Internet as a distribution channel for travel needs to start with an
  • sting electronic distribution infrastructure, the Global distribution System (GDS). The airline industry created the first GDS in the 1960s as a way to keep track of flight schedules, availability, and prices.
  • understanding of the exi
  •  
    Global distribution systems have grown immensely in the last couple of years. This article mentions the biggest and first companies to have created and used GDS. These were and are important companies with in the hospitality industry, they started using these systems to track themselves and created a monster that is now the best way for consumers to book and edit their reservations.
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Importance OF GDS for Travel Agents and Tour Operators - 1 views

  • Popular GDS Systems in Travel Industry
  • Amadeus 1987 Iberia, Air France, SAS  and Lufthansa, Strongly based in Europe, Mid East, North Africa & Asia Pacific Galileo 1993 Galileo was Founded by a combination of 11 most significant North American and European airlines conducted by United Airlines. Currently owned by Cendant Corporation It has a strong web-presence in US and Western Europe. Sabre 1976 Initially it was founded by American Airlines. Currently Sabre is a separate entity owned by AMR corporation very strong  Global presence in US and Asia Pacific Worldspan 1990 Worldspan was founded by Delta, TWA, and North West Airlines. Further it was being sold to Transaction Processing Corporation. Mainly in the US and Europe
  • Please find few of the benefits of  Global distribution systems: The Use of Global distribution system shows a rise across corporate and leisure travelers GDS is highly effective in alluring the international travelers. This is the reason why using of GDS among the travel agents is growing exponentially every year. OTAs have greatly improved the travel shopping experience and convenience for consumers and have increased pricing transparency. GDSs enable the retail travel agency and OTA business models. The GDSs enable the travel agents to make their travel services available to consumers globally where they might not otherwise be able to achieve efficient worldwide market penetration through direct marketing efforts. Booking through Global distribution system is most preferable for  corporate travel agents as a suitable reservation process for holidays,  air, hotel and rental cars. Travel agents can get global platform for their business with strong market penetration Global distribution system is the base to  enter into corporate clients across the world GDS is the ability to update the status of inventory  in real time.  Due to its real-time  status update capability managers can view rates change and  can easily alter price points or make special offers. Agents can view all the changes instantly and will be able to suggest the new updates and offers to clients without any interruption to make the deal.. Its a wise decision to invest in a GDS. The system places your holiday booking services and inventories in front of  huge  clients without affecting  your marketing budget.  The unique selling point of GDS is that it Can provide best rates to your guests, which no other systems can provide.  Your gusts can find packages that include a hotel stay, air travel and car rental
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  • 2015 is going to be a successful year for travel agents using global distribution systems for bookings. According to Travel-Click research the bookings through GDS is projected to 62 Million, which was 61 million in 2014 and 42 million in 2009.
  • Having a mobile optimized tours and travel prortal is the most efficient way to find both local  and international hotels, airlines, holidays and car rentals on short notice.  Its a big change in consumer behavior to switch over to mobile. Shifting to mobile search is already being started and reflects of changes can be apparently measured.
  • GDS is a computerized web service that provides pricing, real time availability, centralized data display with  reservation functionality to the global travel industry in a very unified process.
  • GDS is highly effective in alluring the international travelers.
  • Global distribution system is the base to  enter into corporate clients across the world
  • GDS is very huge and it will create robust ecommerce platform for travel industry.
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    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.
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    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.
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The Importance of a Global Distribution System | SiteMinder - 0 views

  • The answer is you’ll need the advantage your competitors and travel agents have – a Global Distribution System (GDS). More than 600,000 travel agents plug into a GDS every day to book flights, hotels, car rentals and destination activities.
  • “It seems that every week there’s a new channel or emerging trend for hotel operators to keep up with, and decide whether there is a real opportunity or if these are just distractions.” He adds, however, that a GDS is “definitely a significant opportunity” for hotels.
  • If you want to be visible and bookable … your hotel needs to be on those supermarket shelves whenever and wherever your guests go shopping for a hotel booking,”
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  • More leisure travellers are also getting caught in the GDS web. The use of global distribution systems across corporate and leisure travel is on the rise, with the total number of travel agents using a GDS increasing by 14 per cent from 2011, according to market research by Phoenix Marketing International.
  • Live rates and availability are sent from a hotel’s property management system (PMS) directly to the GDS and online booking websites through SiteMinder’s Channel Manager. As soon as a reservation is made on the GDS or an online booking website, the Channel Manager instantly reduces inventory across all channels, including the hotel’s own website, and automatically delivers the reservation details back into the PMS or central reservation system (CRS).
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    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.
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What is a hotel global distribution system (GDS)? (+3 types) - 0 views

  • A hotel GDS gives your hotel access and visibility to thousands of travel agents and corporate bookers
  • A global distribution system can integrate with your Property Management System (PMS)
  • As part of a GDS hotel booking system, your hotel will be exposed to a more targeted, professional travel community that alternative property types don’t have access to.
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  • First, you should know that GDS services are only available for authorized users who are licensed and registered and not accessible for use by the general public.
  • For the widest visibility and revenue-earning potential, consider connecting your PMS to a GDS distribution platform that will allow you to connect to several big-name hotel GDS providers and manage your account on one system.
  • In terms of hotel GDS providers, there are three main giants that dominate the market:
  • Cloudbeds’ simple solution connects you to a system that connects to the big three GDSs mentioned above, allowing you to manage all your GDS accounts from one platform.
  • Still, GDSs also have the power and functionality to send their inventory to OTAs.
  • A global distribution system (GDS) is one of the best ways for hoteliers to promote their hotel in the global corporate travel market. It’s a critical component of a well-rounded distribution strategy and helps hotel management increase occupancy within the lucrative corporate travel segment.
  • A global distribution system is an online system that delivers real-time hotel, airline, train, and car rental inventory, room rates, discounts, and more to travel agents and other businesses.
  • As part of a GDS hotel booking system, your property will be exposed to a more targeted,
  • GDS hotel booking system allows companies, such as travel agencies and corporate bookers, to book travel on behalf of others.
  • Public rates are visible and bookable to all agencies in a GDS and are subject to commissions paid to the booking agency. Common public rates are the Best Available Rate (BAR), Corporate (COR), and Government (GOV). Negotiated rates are only visible to companies with which you have a special agreement. The authorized agencies that can book these rates must enter an agreed-upon GDS hotel code called a Rate Access Code. Since negotiated rates are based on net rates, they are not subject to commissions.
  • Amadeus has been connecting travel providers to travel sellers since 1987. They serve over 770,000 hotels in 190+ countries worldwide and have a global team of 19,000 employees. Aside from hotels, Amadeus also services airlines, airport operators, rail operators, ground handlers, car rental companies & transfer providers, insurance provider groups, and cruise lines & ferries
    • amajo017
       
      This is the one my work uses!
  • Sabre has been part of the birth of airline automation since the 1960s. Today, they have almost 400,000 travel agents in their global travel marketplace. Their technology products include travel-focused mobile apps, check-in kiosks, airline and hotel reservation networks, ticket agent terminals, aircraft & crew scheduling systems, revenue management solutions, and more.
  • (Galileo, Worldspan, Apollo) – With origins leading back to 1971, Travelport encompasses the Galileo, Worldspan, and Apollo GDS systems. Their worldwide travel retail platform services travel agencies and suppliers with distribution, technology, and payment solutions, among others. They have partnerships with hotel chains and boutique hotels to develop targeted promotions and flexible rate models to gain greater visibility in their markets. 
  • The GDS system will likely evolve in the coming years rather than become obsolete, so it’s worthwhile connecting to one if you want to attract more business travelers and make gains in the corporate travel industry.
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    This article talks about the GDS and how it can help attract clients in particular business clients. It starts by giving all the benefits of the GDS. It then goes on to explain how the GDS works and who can access it. It ends by talking about the types of GDS systems and how they will evolve and stay relevant in the future.
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    This article describes the different types of GDS programs that hotels might use. The one my hotel uses is in here as well! It outlines why they are important, how they are used, and the massive reach that they have. Most companies use GDS to streamline their efficiency so it is interesting to read why it is so effective.
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5 benefits of global distribution systems for hotels | Hotel Management - 0 views

  • The main purpose of a global distribution system is to help travel agents search for hotel accommodations that fit a set of criteria.
  • It is a business-to-business system used by companies to stay on top of real-time data about the availability of travel arrangements, such as hotel rooms, to sell them to customers planning to travel
  • The airline industry was searching for a way to automate the travel reservation and booking process for travel agents so that they could more efficiently access information about flight schedules, fares and seat availability.
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  • It was an invention of the airline industry that was first used in the 1960s.
  • There are several major benefits when it comes to global distribution systems within the hotel industry
  • Increased Access to Travel Agents for More Bookings
  • More Efficient Booking Process
  • travel agents are able to bundle travel deals for the same trip
  • Less Expensive than Marketing
  • While there is an initial fee in setting up a global distribution system for a hotel, this is likely much less than a hotel chain would have to invest in marketing costs to see the same increase in bookings
  • many of the leading distribution systems are capable of complete integration with the property-management system, which helps manage the daily operational tasks of a hotel
  • Three major systems used today for hotel bookings are Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport
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    In this article, the author looks at the benefits that hotels derive from implementing global distribution systems (GDS). some of such benefits include an efficient booking process that alleviates administrative burdens in booking rooms. Besides, GDS is less expensive than marketing, and facilitates the integration of property-management systems with the daily operational tasks of a business. Thus, despite its challenges, it is a vital technology in hotels today.
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    GDS is a technology used to help travel agents find real time data of availability of travel arrangements to be sold to customers planning travel. GDS allows agents to access information on pricing, benefit packages, availability of rooms, rental cars, etc. Access to this technology offers many benefits to travel agents, as well as helping to create a more efficient booking process.
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Comprehensive IT in Tourism - 0 views

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    There is an information technology revolution that changed not only the economies of countries but also companies of all sizes everywhere. The development of information technology has become a very important component for the competitiveness of companies. The IT revolution has a big impact on the tourism industry and its management. Services are bought before time of their use and away from the place of consumption. Easy access to information and marketing are keys to the success of companies in the tourism industry. Computerized networks and electronic distributions have caused structural changes in the tourism industry. Computer Reservation System (CRS) is a data base program that helps tourism organizations to manage their inventory and make it accessible to their distribution channels partners. Airlines, hotels chains and tour operators are examples of users of the Centralize Reserve System. The growth of tourism demand has only been possible with the use of powerful CRSs. It has helped with: * Easy access for consumers * Transparency of information * Easy to compare information and choices * Greater degree of flexibility * Travelers can book reservations at the last time The growth of tourism supply has also benefited from Computer Reservation System: * CRS is used to manage inventory * Expansion of tourism enterprises globally * Sell products globally * Flexibility in prices * Improve competitive advantage Internet has increased the interactivity between consumers and suppliers. It enables businesses to custom make and facilitates services. The World Wide Web helps distribution of multimedia information. Tourism enterprises will be able to communicate directly to their consumers and custom made the product according to their needs.
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GDS are Taking Over - 0 views

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    This article talks about how GDS for hotels is a great way to connect with customers thanks to the internet. Hotels prefer to create websites to allow their customers to access their services from wherever they are. Travel agents play an important role on the hotel business, since they know and can recommend hotels to the customers. Most hotels with the help of GDS reach out to millions of travel agents all over the world, allows easy accessibility to them and also to the customers. The online system gives advantage of easy accessibility to the travel agents worldwide who are connected with the same system of global distribution. This is why GDS helps businesses to increase their profits.
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    Global Distribution Systems are slowly taking over our industry, but this does not mean that travel agents are out of work. There are still some benefits that travel agents can provide that Global Distribution Systems cannot. That is to say, that there are still travelers who prefer to have their own travel agent who already knows the travelers preference and will make the booking of their next travel that much easier. Global Distribution Systems are being used by hotels to reach travel agents all around the world. In addition to the fact that travel agents are that third party travelers look for when booking. They want to know the truth about their travel stays and accomodations.
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Sabre and United Airlines sign new distribution and merchandising agreement «... - 1 views

  • Sabre and United will co-develop solutions using next-generation technology that will permit United to offer more relevant personalized offers to their loyal customers.  These advancements will also better promote and disclose the unique value of the airline’s different fare and ancillary products and services to travel agents with additional descriptive text and graphics for enhanced on-screen merchandising within the Sabre Red Workspace and through Sabre Web Services.
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    Sabre, one of the three largest Global Distribution System signs a long-term agreement with United Airlines. This agreement would allow customers to provide ancillary products and services to customers through the Sabre market place. With United airlines and Sabre joining forces they will use the latest technology allowing both companies to provide more personalize products and services to customers. Sabre will market United Airline ancillary products including air fares and economy plus seats to passengers that buy products and services from Sabre in a way that would differentiate United Airlines products from that of its competitors. Other Global Distribution systems such as Amadeus and Travelport are presently making it a standard policy, mandating airlines to provide ancillary products and services to GDS. American airline one of the major airline who for a long time was reluctant to market its ancillary products through GDS is now one of the many airlines that are presently jumping aboard the GDS wagon. The airlines are beginning to see the benefit of expanding their brand globally through GDS and reaping substantial revenue beyond the sale of air fares.
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How Can Small Hotels Work With Global Distribution Systems (GDS)? - 1 views

  • Small accommodation providers can benefit greatly from using a GDS to connect to retail travel agents and corporate buyers. However, we highly recommend that you steer clear of the merchant model, because you would be paying commission to both the third party service provider and the OTA. On average, small hotels can cut the commissions they pay in half by using an all-in-one solution like Little Hotelier that connects you directly with hundreds of OTAs. Small hotels, bed & breakfasts, guest houses and inns don’t have big budgets to play with (or not as big as your larger counterparts). Why pay commission twice? We strongly recommend that you connect to your OTAs directly, instead of via a third party service provider. In this kind of business relationship, it’s much better to retain full control of your rates and inventory, and cut out the middle-man by using an integrated channel manager to sell rooms through your OTAs. If your current solution doesn’t support this, get in touch with us – we are happy to help!
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    This article explains the many questions surrounding the GDS or global distribution system. More importantly, the article explains how smaller hotels can use the GDS system to their advantage. The GDS system is more commonly used by larger entities such as the airline industry, larger hotels, travel agents, etc. However this does not mean that the GDS system cannot be used for a smaller hotel. Using a GDS may be able to greatly benefit those smaller hotels.
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