Evolution of the Global Distribution System
FlightsLogic is a prominent GDS travel software company that creates and deploys best-in-class travel booking systems using travel APIs and GDS integration.
What is GDS System?
Global Distribution System GDS collects and organizes travel data from many providers so that travel management companies may simply access and use it. GDS provides an integrated view of the supply chain, allowing businesses to accurately manage their inventory and obtain price quotations for flights, hotels, car rentals, and other services.
Travel management companies may save money by comparing the prices of flights, hotels, car rentals, and other related services. Furthermore, GDS facilitates employee travel by consolidating discounts and offers from numerous vendors in one location. GDS allows TMCs to complete their daily activities without having to contact several organizations separately, saving time and cost.
Travel and hospitality companies may utilize the Global Distribution System's unified portal to advertise their products to a wide range of online travel agents and business travel bookers. The GDS system is essential for travel managers and agents to research numerous services in the travel industry, such as transportation and hotel.
Using the Global Distribution System, travel agents may expand their client base by integrating foreign travelers and business clients. The GDS helps OTAs to attain global reach while also improving the travel booking experience in order to develop a brand image. GDS is primarily created for travel agents to assist them in making bookings in the various reservation systems provided by the suppliers. GDS Systems are central reservation systems that book and handle PNRs for worldwide airlines.
Advantages Of Global Distribution System
Offline as well as Online
The Global Distribution System (GDS) was developed to simplify and streamline the reservation process, making booking easier and more time-efficient for travel companies globally. For a long time, because OTAs were not yet accessible, GDS was the only online resource for communicating with travel industry suppliers and organizations.
GDS allows you to contact and incorporate agencies who would otherwise be difficult to find through third-party distribution methods. As a result, with the added benefit of OTAs and channel managers in today's culture, GDS considers travel agencies that do not actively engage online, bringing up more options for you to explore.
Great for Promotional Campaigns
GDS supports the Marketing Information Data Transfer (MIDT), a resource utilized by most OTAs to get up-to-date customer travel behavior information. MIDT primarily evaluates GDS data and gives it to travel industry organizations for analysis.
Because GDS is concerned with more than just hotels or airlines, everyone with access to the data that GDS collects would know considerably more about visitors than the hotel reservation they made. Travel plans, airline reservations, car rental packages—whatever choice a client takes and adds to their travel profile is data that you can utilize to tailor your promotional efforts.
It Costs Less Than Marketing
Although there is an initial cost to developing a worldwide distribution system for a hotel, it is likely to be substantially less than the marketing costs that a hotel chain would need to incur to achieve the same increase in reservations.
Rather than investing in a new marketing strategy, a hotel or restaurant may gain quick access to a larger share of the travel reservation market by collaborating with a worldwide distribution system to reach additional travel firms.
It Aids in the Streamlining the Booking Process
In addition to improving exposure to more consumers while making hotel reservations, these solutions enable hospitality employees to reduce the operational difficulties associated with reservations.
Because your property has easy access to online bookings and reservations, rather than needing to accept them manually, they are alerted when a reservation is complete. It implies that a hotel does not need to grow its reservation intake workforce to receive new bookings.
In the ever-changing, instant-update world of the travel business, GDS has proved to constantly stay up with and instantly update information as it changes. Its design offers a more thorough view of the possibilities accessible, allowing more agencies to book your hotel and services. GDS is also more corporate-minded, which means it may identify more chances because it is not only focused on the customer.
Most Popular Global Distribution Systems
Amadeus:
Amadeus is a global distribution system and technology company that serves the travel and tourist sectors' marketing, branding, sales, and distribution needs. Its massive data system and database, which are among the largest in Europe, serve over 57,000 travel agency locations and over 10,500 airline dealerships in over 200 countries all over the globe.
Furthermore, the system may give access to around 58,000 hotels and 50 vehicle rental companies covering approximately 24,000 sites and other provider groupings such as insurance, ferry, cruise, train, and tour operators.
Galileo International:
It is a vital player in the worldwide GDS market, with operations in Europe, North America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia/Pacific. Galileo International is a global technology leader with a diversified portfolio.
Its main line of business is to provide electronic worldwide distribution services to the travel industry through computerized reservation systems, cutting-edge products, and innovative web-based solutions.
Galileo is a travel inventory distributor dedicated to supporting travel agencies and corporate clients and, via them, increasing traveler choice.
Sabre
Sabre has been creating innovations and enhancing the travel business. Sabre Technology has evolved around the globe, affecting every part of the travel business. Sabre, which operates in 45 countries is a global leader in travel technology, developing new solutions to allow travel commerce and improve airline/supplier interaction.
Sabre's cutting-edge platform provides several tools and solutions to travel companies. It enables users to easily book airline tickets, hotels, and car rentals and organize specialized trips. Furthermore, Sabre's experience extends beyond typical travel agencies, delivering technological solutions that adapt to the specific needs of different airlines, hotels, and other service providers.
Worldspan:
Worldspan has effectively created the strategies, concepts, and resources to ensure the company's eventual success in the new online era of travel distribution. It provides global electronic information dissemination, online products, and e-commerce capabilities to travel agents and service suppliers.
Importance of GDS System In The Travel Industry
GDS is critical for the travel industry since it provides real-time access to a wide range of travel data that is required to run their business effectively. More than 600,000 travel agencies now use global distribution system searching to locate and book hotel bookings online.
Travel GDS systems facilitate deals between travel agencies, DMCs, business agents, and suppliers such as airlines, hotels, transfer companies, cruise lines, and sightseeing operators. They can quickly arrange airline, car, and hotel reservations for their staff at the most affordable costs.
GDS enables travel managers to monitor the entire success of their company. It is done by tracking travel expenditures and other vital data points such as the number of trips taken and employee feedback. GDS also enables managers to keep track of changes in policy or industry trends, which can provide them with a competitive advantage.
FlightsLogic offers a worldwide inventory of hotels and flights at the most competitive pricing via GDS. Independent travel agents, online travel agencies, and travel agencies are increasingly depending on more sophisticated GDS systems to provide their clients with the finest available travel and hotel options at the best possible prices. Customers' airline and hotel reservations will be made in real time by agents, and their research and bookings will be done in minutes.
When starting a business, several factors travel agencies and firms must consider, one of which is obtaining the correct set of tools. The Global Distribution System is one such tool. It provides a single reservation system that permits real-time access to hotel rates, availability, and pricing for flights, railways, and rental car businesses.
Traditional travel agents and online travel agencies benefit from GDS. A GDS System network exposes hotel information, pricing, and inventory to thousands of travel agents worldwide.
GDS has been offering reliability, security, speed, and accuracy to the travel industry, including airlines, hotels, car rentals, and bus tickets. Independent travel companies need to boost the number of online bookings since they may benefit substantially from being affiliated with one.
Consumer-direct techniques have progressed with the rise of online travel agents that offer price comparisons and airline corporations aiming to attract consumers to make bookings directly through their websites. Travel agencies benefit hugely from GDS systems because they can provide their customers with real-time rates, inventory, discounts, rooms, and descriptions. In other words, global distribution systems act as intermediaries between travel product suppliers and travel retailers who sell tickets to the end-user.
Global Distribution System integration provides a wide range of data solutions to assist airlines in effectively serving their customers and marketing themselves. It is a profitable and cost-effective distribution channel that encourages carriers to broaden their market reach to include leisure and business travel. As a result, travel companies have access to various information, pricing, and availability, allowing them to handle client bookings smoothly.
FlightsLogic provides effective third-party Web Services / XML API integration into your existing application. We provide API integration services for flight booking, hotel booking, car rental booking, bus booking, payment gateways, and SMS gateways. We provide seamless SOAP and REST API communication.
Features of Travel GDS are:
Flights:
The GDS flight booking system ensures pricing transparency and gives real-time data to maximize the benefits of reduced fares. A flight booking engine is a vital tool that improves the flight booking experience by automating the booking process. It allows users to choose from various airlines, check seat availability, etc.
FlightsLogic is a leading flight booking system provider that offers an exceptional flight-booking quotation system. Our airline booking software shows flight schedules, passenger details, sold tickets, and available tickets. Through our GDS solution, we make you highly competent in the market.
Hotels:
Although hoteliers seek to improve the number of direct reservations they receive, having a worldwide distribution system allows them to engage more people. It is due to the GDS providing a single point of entry for thousands of travel agencies worldwide, who can then book hotel rooms for their consumers.
Furthermore, a GDS might be especially advantageous for a hotel attempting to attract business or corporate travelers. It is because many companies still employ a travel agent to plan business trips rather than booking directly since it is easier to manage spending this way. This module links to hotel GDS and provides real-time hotel inventory, room availability, and pricing. Hotels may be booked online by B2C individuals and B2B agencies.
Car Rental:
FlightsLogic, a prominent travel portal development company, offers unique car booking solutions to the travel industry. Our Car API solution provides a strong brand image, competitive pricing, and a user-friendly interface all in one application. We offer a customized car booking system for rental car companies and car rental agencies. We provide cutting-edge travel booking apps using our smooth and customizable car rental API.
Cruises:
We offer customer-focused, web-based cruise booking software. You can synchronize reservations, compare prices from other tour operators and travel agents, and even publish real-time online pricing with just one click. Cruise lines, cruise ships, rooms, etc. are all available through our online cruise reservation system. Additionally, it assists the customer in choosing a product by uploading pictures of the boat, cabin, and deck, among other things.
Holiday Packages
Booking a desired package online is easy and hassle-free with the FlightsLogic package booking engine. Our solution is compatible with tablets, smartphones, laptops, and PCs. The ability to combine multiple vacation properties, such as hotels, cars, transfers, flights, and excursions, is provided by the package booking engine. In the same system, packages may be created for FIT or GIT.
With the help of our package booking engine, OTA may provide a variety of possibilities to their clients, who can select from a variety of available packages to their needs. Additionally, the worldwide distribution system allows for dynamic packaging, like airline + hotel, hotel + car, and hotel + vacation.
How does FlightsLogic help you with GDS?
To integrate the GDS web services on your booking platform, work with a seasoned travel portal development provider like FlightsLogic. Our GDS XML/API interface provides your travel business with real-time access to the inventory of thousands of airlines, hotels, and car rental services. We are the global leader in GDS integration with various web-based applications. We have expertise in travel agency portal development and website design.
We provide multiple GDS systems for hotel and airline reservations, depending on the business's strategy. We provide business-to-business (B2B), business-to-customer (B2C), and business-to-business-to-customer (B2B2C) transactions, as well as an administration module.
Benefits of FlightsLogic
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Effective in attracting international travelers
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24/7 access to inventory
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Enables business models such as retail travel agency and OTA (Online Travel Agency)
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Offer consumers increased pricing transparency
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Travel agents can get a global platform with a strong market penetration
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Provide the best rates to your customers which no other system can provide
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Place travel services to many clients without affecting your marketing budget
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Timesaving option to complete the entire booking process
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Provides a vast inventory of travel options at your fingertips
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Travel bookers gain direct access to booking systems of travel vendors, like airlines and hotels
CONCLUSION
GDS was at the forefront of digital change in the travel sector. It is still important in the tourism industry. GDS has increased in popularity in recent years since it eliminates the need to visit many websites for various travel requirements. By providing real-time data, it streamlines the booking process for both passengers and travel brokers.
For years, GDS has provided dependability, security, speed, and accuracy to airlines, hotels, car rentals, bus tickets, and many other industries. According to an IATA study, GDS has a bright future and will help to develop a solid e-commerce platform for the travel industry. GDSs will dominate the travel market if they continue to match the ever-changing demands of the airline and hotel businesses.
Global distribution systems have not only simplified the work of travel agencies but have also helped them to get more business and reach out to more potential clients. It also saves them time. It has also aided in increasing the number of bookings made by their clients, which indirectly helps travel companies generate more revenue.