GDS stands for Global Distribution System. This is the one-stop shop for booking tickets for flights, vehicles, hotel rooms, cruises, and other services. There are several major global distribution systems that hold and process the great majority of information from hotels, airlines, and other distributors. These include Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo, Worldspan, Apollo, and Pegasus.

Global Distribution Systems (GDS) are in charge of providing consistent access to a massive inventory of flights, hotel rooms, car rental companies, cruises, and other services to booking websites.

It is advantageous for travel businesses to get services from various providers such as hotels, airlines, cruise lines, transfers, and car rental companies in a single platform. Online Travel Agencies may expand their company by accessing a larger audience by integrating a single GDS API.

How Does GDS Booking System Work?

GDS systems are one of the most effective ways to promote your hotel in the worldwide business travel market. It is one of the most popular and preferred systems used by travel agencies worldwide, with over 600,000 travel agents using a GDS every day on behalf of businesses to book flights, hotels, car rentals, and destination activities.

A GDS operates as a middleman between a travel agency and a hotel’s (or airline’s) central reservation system. The GDS allows travel companies to monitor real-time prices and inventory for a given hotel, but it does not have its inventory. It’s simply a portal into the hotel’s system that displays available room types, prices, and restrictions. When a travel agency books a room, the GDS sends the reservation information to the hotel’s system and removes the room from the hotel’s inventory.

Here are the Leading GDS Booking Systems

Amadeus GDS System

Amadeus, one of the most popular and leading global distribution systems, operates in over 190 countries worldwide. Amadeus web service is an application programming interface (API) that uses SOAP/XML communications to offer specific Amadeus content.

Flights. Amadeus offers a highly effective and interactive reservation solution that assists OTAs in expanding their booking scopes by distributing air and non-airline content via a wide range of distribution channels. Integrating the Amadeus GDS Booking System into your travel site or booking engine may give massive real-time data and the ability to book flights online with many options.

Hotels. Amadeus gives basic hotel booking capabilities, with search and pricing details. Amadeus hotel API enables you to search, analyze, and book rooms at over 350 of the world’s best inn networks, and to increase your productivity with specific data, images, visualizations, and evaluations.

Car rentals. Apart from basic car booking, Amadeus has rich visual content and airport shuttle/transfer options. Agents can integrate Amadeus GDS into their existing online travel booking system to gain access to a large selection of car rental content and enable their clients to book the vehicle of their choice quickly and easily. The car rental global distribution system enables agents to provide real-time rental car booking information to keep their business ahead of the competition.

Cruises. Amadeus Cruise Web Services offers a wide range of cruise booking options, including transfers, special services, excursions, bus availability, and more. Aside from standard booking, it also allows for modifications and cancellations.

Railways. Acceptable rail bookings via Amadeus include standard search and tickets and a few additional services like lodging.

Insurance. Amadeus differs from other GDSs in that it offers insurance shopping in addition to booking. It connects OTAs and retail agencies with hundreds of global and local insurance providers, allowing them to create insurance details with pre-filled information.

Sabre GDS System

Sabre is a global leader in technology and data-driven solutions, assisting airlines, hotels, and travel agents in growing their companies and transforming the traveler experience.

Various travel suppliers use this network, including around 400 airlines, 200,000 hotels, 200 tour operators, 50 rail carriers, 40 car rental shops, and 17 cruise lines.

Flights. Sabre provides sophisticated flight booking tools, such as mileage tracking, seat maps, queue activities, and more.

Hotels. Sabre offers hotel data availability, basic search, booking, cancellation, and access to reward program data. Sabre intends to make the hotel platform more robust with additional hotel shopping features.

Car Rental. Sabre provides many APIs for car rentals, allowing you to develop a full search and booking platform: calculating rates based on length and fees, geo search, search by particular needs, and so on.

Cruises. Despite having a small cruise provider portfolio, Sabre provides access to comprehensive cruise content, including interactive maps and cabin photographs.

Railways. Aside from standard services, Sabre lets travelers purchase rail cards, check station codes, and plan train excursions.

Travelport GDS

Travelport GDS aggregates and distributes information on airline, train, cruise, and car rental access across several channels. It also enables the extraction of information about available hotels and trips. Travelport’s distribution channel includes 650,000 hotel properties, 400+ airline partners, 125 low-cost airlines, car rental units in over 38,000 locations, 50 cruise lines, and 19 railway carriers.

It provides technology, distribution, API, application, and payment solutions to the travel sector. Travelport owns the Worldspan, Galileo, and Apollo GDS systems. The GDS system allows hotel owners and other travel businesses to distribute their inventory to travel agents all over the globe.

Flights. Travelport allows you to book direct flights, connecting air and train connections, as well as auxiliary services like luggage, meals, and insurance.

Hotels. Travelport provides bargains from non-GDS sources like Agoda, Tourico, and others in addition to basic hotel information and booking. Corporate clients can also benefit from support reductions.

Car rental services. Search, price, images, vehicle specifications, and cancellation are all standard features of Travelport’s car rental service.

Cruises. It is important to note that Travelport now only offers cruise booking to travel agencies that request direct booking via a web-based platform.

Railways. Travelport focuses primarily on combining air and railway booking availability, including data on ideal connections with flights, ticketing air-rail as a single ticket, and arranging rail transfers straight to and from an airport.

Worldspan GDS

Worldspan is a Travelport GDS platform partner and a technological pioneer in web-based travel eCommerce, providing solutions for all aspects of the online travel industry.

Apollo GDS

Apollo GDS is the industry’s most well-known Global Distribution system. This API provider serves the travel sector by offering online distribution, IT services, and other payment processing solutions.

Pegasus GDS

Pegasus aims to reduce friction and promote simplicity in an otherwise complex world. Pegasus Solutions pioneered the hospitality bookings sector. The firm is a global leader in the electronic processing, administration, distribution, sales, and marketing of hotel inventory, pricing, and content through various sales channels such as direct reservations via hotels’ branded websites, travel agents (GDS), OTAs, and metasearch partners.

How Does GDS Booking System Play an Important Role In The Travel Industry?

The travel industry is the major contributor to the GDP of a country, making it highly competitive. Staying ahead in the competition demands travel companies upgrade to integrate GDS System.

It connects travel companies to leading GDSs globally including, Amadeus, Sabre, Worldspan, Travelport, etc. GDS plays a significant role in the travel industry as it has transformed the complete picture of the travel industry. Global Distribution Systems act as an online booking system for travel businesses.

The GDS is operated by a company that allows the transaction between the travel service and the travel agency. Majorly, with the integration of the GDS Booking System, the agent can get data on travel services such as airlines, hotels, cruises, activities, and car rentals. The system can be developed for several modules like B2B, B2C, B2B2C, etc.

FlightsLogic GDS Booking Engine offers travel companies a seamless flight booking engine, hotel booking engine, car rental booking engine, and many other travel-related services.

Benefits of the GDS Booking System

Effective in attracting international travelers
Inventory is available around the clock.
Enables business models such as retail travel agencies and OTA (Online Travel Agency)
Increase pricing transparency for customers.
Travel agencies may benefit from a worldwide platform with extensive market penetration.
Provide the best rates to your customers
Place travel services to many clients without compromising your marketing expenditure.
Automatic content update
Multiple channels for distribution and utilization
Easy GDS connectivity
Broaden your market reach
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