Inodi makes independent hotels and hotel groups available in GDS systems to global travel agencies and corporations
For more information - Contact Inodi for a meeting or call
GDS stands for Global Distribution System, with systems like Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo and Worldspan. They were created by airlines over 40 years ago and their respective market share varies around the world. More than 600,000 corporate travel agencies use these systems to book flights, hotels and rental cars. Many companies also use the self-booking tools that the agencies provide for them, to facilitate travel bookings.
GDS reservations do not only come to big cities but also to smaller locations around the world, as the user base is very diverse around the world.
In the systems it’s possible to see public rates, Best Available rates and corporate rates for corporations and travel agencies.
Q: Isn’t it enough for a hotel to just have a good website and then be available in OTAs like Expedia and Booking.com?
A: GDS reservations represent a specific customer segment, instead of leisure travel this is mainly represented by corporate reservations from travel agencies and companies, and as such it complements OTA business very well. Many hotels see high numbers in revenue from GDS, all depending on hotel location, size etc. Even hotels in a smaller market can benefit from GDS reservations, more relying on what companies have a travel need to that location.
There are still many hotels that focus more on reservation fee and commissions and don’t consider the incremental revenue from corporate and GDS reservations that they would be unlikely to receive if the were not available in GDS systems.
Q: Is it true that GDS reservations are more expensive with fees and agency commissions than OTA reservations?
A: Very often not the case. It depends on for instance what room rate the hotel has, as well as how many nights they stay, and in most cases it is often a lower total cost per reservation with fees and commissions via GDS compared to OTA.
For GDS reservations hotels pay a fixed fee per reservation, not per room night. Reservations done at a negotiated rate are always Net, i.e. not travel agency commission is charged.
Best Available Rate reservations are charged a travel agency commission, and hotels can choose the amount between 0-10% depending on how competitive they want to be in the market. The higher the commission, the more likely the agency would be to use the hotel. The commission for an OTA booking depends on the agency but is based on the total amount of the reservation, typically between 15-25%.
Q: What is a CRS (Central Reservation System)?
A: It’s the central database that acts as the backend system to connect to various booking engines and typically connects well with and is integrated with front-end systems like PMS (Property Management System). In the CRS hotels create and manage guest profiles, reservations, rates and availability.
There are still many hotels that focus more on reservation fee and commissions, and don’t consider the incremental revenue from corporate and GDS reservations that they would be unlikely to receive if the were not available in GDS systems.
Fredrik Blomgren provides decades of experience from the travel and tourism industry and since 2003 runs a successful consulting, training and represeantion business for hotels in Europe, South American and Asia, providing personal knowledge in sales, distribution, marketing and much more.
Inodi makes independent hotels and hotel groups available in GDS systems to global travel agencies and corporations
