http://www.provab.com - A global distribution system (GDS) is a database capable of storing and updating enormous information on the supply of a wide range of tourism products worldwide. GDSs enable the travel agents to access, in real-time, availability, features and prices of flight tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises, ferry reservations, trains and other services. With a Global distribution system integrated to their website, travel agencies can allow their customers to search and book travel products and services and issue tickets too. Looking for a Travel Portal – Get a Project Quote - http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html Global Distribution System Travel agencies are greatly aided by GDS systems because they are enabled to offer their customers rates, inventory, discounts, rooms, and descriptions on a real-time basis. In other words, global distribution systems are intermediaries between travel product suppliers –and travel retailers who sell tickets to the final consumer. Main features of GDS: • Report availability and prices of travel products • Reserve user requests. • Sale and ticketing • Track sales (extend customer’s stay, change of flights, etc). • Facilitates control management for travel agencies). Evolution of GDS The prototype of GDS in the travel industry can be seen in the 1950s as the traditional legacy business model which inter-operated between airline vendors. Computer reservation systems (CRS), at the initial stage, was used by the airline companies as an automated booking system, but later, travel agents were given access. Around 1980, CRS enabled travel agents to connect to various travel providers in a single system. At this stage, in addition to flights, hotels and car rentals were included. CRS acquired much strength by late 80s being so helpful to both suppliers and distributors. In the 90s, computerized reservation systems of airlines were transformed to global distribution systems (GDS). So we see that GDS has developed from airline alliances and ended up becoming independent business units with product internationalization and introduction of new products, especially hotel rooms, which is why Amadeus and Galileo software are used for all the top travel agencies worldwide. GDS integration for travel agencies and suppliers of travel products Travel agencies must have full access to a global distribution system GDS. To get connected to a GDS, travel agencies need a contract. This will enable the travel agents to provide an astonishing amount of travel product rates and information to their customers, at the lowest possible rates. An experienced travel technology company can integrate any GDS to the computer reservation system or website of a travel agency. It’s critical also for the properties to be on a GDS. Travelers now go to travel portals to find travel products. So hotels, car rentals, etc, have to be there to get Internet visibility and, thus, more reservations. A GDS allows real-time access to inventory system of a hotel with the current prices, discounts, room types, facilities like Wi-Fi and different aspects of interest to the potential customer. Owners can hire a good travel technology company to get access to the GDS of their choice. A property can be connected only in one GDS provider. If the property owner wants to change the provider, he can cancel the existing provider and activate another with a switch letter. How much does it cost? To integrate GDS to your system, you’ll have to pay a one-time setup cost and pay a monthly charge of a minimum amount per reservation. Major GDS systems Amadeus was started in 1987 by Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa, and SAS in order to create a European GDS, by fusing their CRSs. In 1989, seven more airlines joined Amadeus and began to allow travel agents to book flights through neutral screens. It is now the largest leisure package distributor in the world. Through Amadeus GDS integration, a travel agent can offer travel products from 430 airlines in 195 countries, 32 car rental companies in 37,918 locations, 20 cruise lines and 300,000 hotel properties. More than 100,000 travel agencies are connected with Amadeus GDS. Sabre, a joint venture by American Airlines and IBM, was started in 1960. In 1970, Sabre system began to be installed in travel agencies. Now 55,000 travel agencies use Sabre GDS to book products from 400 airlines, 88,000 hotels, 24 car rental brands, and 13 cruise lines.
Galileo and Worldspan are the other two major GDSs. There are also third party consolidators like Sahara, Infini (Japan), Axess (Japan), Tapas (Korea), Fantasia (South Pacific), and Abacus (Asia/Pacific) that cater to particular regions or countries. The big consolidators also include such as Expedia, Orbitz (Merchant program registration needed), Hotels.com, Travelocity, AAA, Hotwire, Priceline and TravelWeb. The future of GDS As a tool of of content aggregation, GDS is here to stay and be more powerful. Novel technological solutions in middleware continue to appear. Global distribution systems have a long way to go.
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Booking your hotel through online hotel reservation software is easy. The availability of multiple accommodations for each destination, gives end users enough flexibility to choose a right hotel at right cost. Each accommodation option provides a varied range of pricing, facility, quality and availability, using which end users can select and pick a desired option. For B2B Travel Portal & OTA Setup – Get a Project Quote – http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html Top hotel consolidators Expedia, GTA Travel, Hotelbeds, DOTW, Agoda, Hotelspro, WCT, Travco, Tourico, Bonotel, Travelocity, Jac Travels, Miki and others have designed and developed APIs for hotel inventory to share the hotel inventory to global travel agent. The web services of hotel APIs not only sharing the availability but also the room types, pricing as well. The main aim associated with the hotel APIs is travel agents, both small and medium-sized travel agents offer their clients the best of the deals at any corner of the globe. Hotel booking systems equipped with Hotel APIs, makes all the information regarding hotel selection available at the finger tip of the customers, and it is also real time information. API stands for application programming interface. In simple terms hotel API integration provides a legitimate access for one company to get access to the product of the other companies. A travel management company or a travel portal can get access to a huge variety of hotel inventory through hotel APIs integration. Hotel APIs acts as web service with the option of online functionality for searching and booking of the hotels across the world. Hotel API web service provides a broader spectrum to the online hotel booking services. The travel management companies or the travel agencies get the privilege of providing its users with the option of choosing their accommodation as per their need at a particular destination, thus giving a wider enhancement to the business of the travel agencies. The benefits of the top hotel APIs for the travel agencies are as follows:
Features associated with the top hotel APIs are:
The leading hotel APIs include Expedia, GTA API, Hotelbed XML, Hotelspro XML, Tourico API, DOTW API, Travco API, Tourico XML, Expedia API, WCT API, Bonotel XML and booking.com. API based hotel reservation system is a hit at the present as it is accompanied with benefits like 24/7 availability, enhanced client satisfaction, automated system, immediate confirmation, time saving and brings improvement in sales. With summer is on, people are planning for travel & vacations. Travel agencies are also pushing the operations to meet the demands. As the competition is high, its important to connect to right clients, either using a great travel agency software, supported by a good CRM team. Following are a few tips to increase the sales. As most of sales are through online travel agency software, use a travel software which connects to social media. Most of the clients read the reviews before they make the purchase.
Find the real interests of your potential customers and highlight them. Encourage them to send and update the reviews / comments on your travel website, which is anyways accessed by several potential clients. Going to places is always trending in the social media. Travellers when dissatisfied or angry at a restaurant, hotel, or a flight immediately inform the world through social media. Sometimes they appreciate good service. Interact with them, win their trust, and transform them to your loyal customers. Create a separate travel blog to accommodate the end user contents. With pictures, videos, questions or statuses you can get followers and likes. Social media will tell you where to improve. Social media is big tool to boost sale. A buzzing travel portal will always convert more sales. Offers are an all-time favourite for customers. Declare discounts and freebies frequently. Sell hotel booking, flight booking and activities together. Travel packages attract even reluctant customers. Publish everything using the CMS of your travel portal software and share it to clients. Use SMS sending software to sell ‘last-minute’ flight tickets at great discounts, when there are unexpected cancellations in flights or when tickets are not sold out enough. Who will not desire to get highly discounted last-minute deals to their dream destinations on their mobiles. You can also use your mobile app for this. You can keep your customers updated on new destinations etc. Your travel software must remind them about travel insurance, special baggage regulations or about the delay of their flight. Users will always appreciate taking care of these small things. You can concentrate on a certain demographic area, a type of travel, a destination and make a travel niche. Your travel software will play a significant role in keeping in contact with these special people even when they are on the move. Regarding Author: Author is a travel technology expert and has been involved in several travel portal development projects. |
AuthorPROVAB TECHNOSOFT is an award winning travel technology company , delivering B2B / B2C travel software, travel CRM, accounting software, car rental software and mobility solutions to global travel & hospitality companies. ArchivesCategories
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