INFORMATICS FOR TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY NOTES
INFORMATICS FOR TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT NOTES
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DIGITAL MARKETING
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Digital marketing meaning
Digital marketing, also called online marketing, is the promotion of brands to connect with potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This includes not only email, social media, and web-based advertising, but also text and multimedia messages as a marketing channel.
Digital marketing is the component of marketing that utilizes internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services.
OWNED MEDIA
Owned media is any online property owned and controlled by a brand, such as a blog, website or social media channels. The more owned media channels a business has, the larger their digital footprint, which means more potential reach to customers and followers.
WEBSITE
a set of related web pages located under a single domain name, typically produced by a single person or organization.
A website is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server.
A website is a collection of publicly accessible, interlinked Web pages that share a single domain name.
BLOG
A regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.
A blog is a is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page
NEWSLETTER
A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of interest to its recipients. A newsletter may be considered grey literature.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and information through the building of virtual networks and communities. By design, social media is Internet-based and gives users quick electronic communication of content. Content includes personal information, documents, videos, and photos. Users engage with social media via a computer, tablet, or smartphone via web-based software or applications.
Social media are interactive technologies that allow the creation or sharing/exchange of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and network
The figures for the most popular social media websites as of January 2021 are as follows:
Facebook (2.74 billion users)
YouTube (2.29 billion users)
WhatsApp (2 billion users)
Facebook Messenger (1.3 billion users)
Instagram (1.22 billion users)
Whatsapp (1.21 billion users)
TikTok (689 million users)
QQ (617 million users)
Douyin (600 million users)
Sino Weibo (511 million users)
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers. The major social media platforms (at the moment) are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat.
The term social media marketing (SMM) refers to the use of social media and social networks to market a company's products and services. Social media marketing provides companies with a way to engage with existing customers and reach new ones while allowing them to promote their desired culture, mission, or tone.
“Social media marketing (SMM) is the use of social media websites and social networks to market a company's products and services.”
Influencer marketing (also known as influence marketing) is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field. Influencers are someone (or something) with the power to affect the buying habits or quantifiable actions of others by uploading some form of original—often sponsored—content to social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat or other online channels. Influencer marketing is when a brand enrolls influencers who have an established credibility and audience on social media platforms to discuss or mention the brand in a social media post.
Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that uses influencers to promote a brand to a larger market. Influencers are opinion leaders with a social following base. They appear as experts or trustworthy sources of information.
Search engine marketing (SEM)
Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising. SEM may incorporate search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content and site architecture to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages to enhance pay per click (PPC) listings.
SEM or, search engine marketing, is a highly effective way to increase your ranking on search engines like Google, and attract qualified traffic to your website. Investing in SEM is a great way for you to grow brand awareness and increase sales.
Search engine marketing (SEM) is a digital marketing strategy used to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Search engine marketing is also alternately referred to as paid search or pay per click (PPC).
With an increasing number of consumers researching and shopping for products online, search engine marketing has become a crucial online marketing strategy for increasing a company’s reach.
In fact, the majority of new visitors to a website find it by performing a query on a search engine.
In search engine marketing, advertisers only pay for impressions that result in visitors, making it an efficient way for a company to spend its marketing dollars. As an added bonus, each visitor incrementally improves the website’s rankings in organic search results.
Since consumers enter search queries with the intent of finding information of a commercial nature, they are in an excellent state of mind to make a purchase, compared to other sites such as social media where users are not explicitly searching for something.
When setting up a campaign within an SEM network, the marketer is prompted to:
Conduct keyword research and select a set of keywords related to their website or product;
Select a geographic location for the ad to be displayed within;
Create a text-based ad to display in the search results;
Bid on a price they are willing to pay for each click on their ad.
Text-only ads are easy to produce. Marketers enter a headline, text for the body of the ad, a call-to-action and a URL for the hyperlink.
🔰CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT 🔰
Customer relationship management is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study large amounts of information.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a technology for managing all your company's relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers. The goal is simple: Improve business relationships. A CRM system helps companies stay connected to customers, streamline processes, and improve profitability.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an enterprise-wide strategy for presenting a single face to the customer. A long-term relationship with customer gives the service marketers a competitive edge. A company’s revenue, profit and market share come ultimately from the customers. The need for building a relationship has become the essential part for the long-term success of the organization.
Objectives of CRM
The following are the important objectives of CRM
Turning prospects into advocates
Minimizing defections
Having a large proportion of loyal advocates
Having a profitable relationship of the type the customers would desire and with those who desire them.
Using cross selling opportunities without annoying customers.
1. Turning prospects into advocates: The service marketers should identify and qualify prospects. Customer forms the basis on which all strategic activities should be built. The service company should convert prospects into customers. CRM uses the inputs of customer database of the company extensively. The company has to select prospective customers and identify the customer groups. Then, it should convert the customers gradually into advocates. Needless to say, satisfied customers recommend the use of services to their friends and relatives.
2. Minimizing defections: One of the important objectives of CRM is minimizing customer defections. CRM defines customer defections and determines the exact rate of customer defection.
3. Having a large proportion of loyal advocates: A customer goes through stages in his relationship with a brand. He may finally reach the advocate stage where he actively canvasses for a brand. The service firm should try to convert its good customers into advocates, who in turn, would become the ambassadors of the brand. This follows from the first objective and should result in a large number of loyal customers
4. Having profitable relationship: Customers vary in attitude and behavior. In a competitive market place, customers are exposed to hundreds of selling messages. Customers have limited ability to process information. A number of constraints influences their decision making.
5. Using cross selling opportunities without annoying customers: Customers can be groomed for purchasing not one product of the company but for a series of products from the same organization.
ORM
Online reputation management (ORM) means taking control of the online conversation. Its techniques and strategies ensure that people find the right materials when they look for you on the Internet.
The purpose of online reputation management is to create balance, counteract misleading trends, and allow you to put your best foot forward.
Reputation management refers to the influencing and controlling or concealing of an individual's or group's reputation . Originally a public relations term, the growth of the internet and social media led to growth of reputation management companies, made search results can make core part of an individual's or group's reputation
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it means removing as much of the middleman
What Is an Online Travel Agent (OTA)?
An online travel agent is a third-party website that sells travel-related services offered by their partners, such as hotels, hostels, airlines, car rental companies, event organizers, and more. It’s a website where people can search for and compare various services and make bookings without an actual travel agent.
Top Global Online Travel Agencies
There are too many global OTAs to list them all here, but these stand out due to exceptional quality, wide reach, credibility, trust, and first-class support.
1. Booking.com
Founded as bookings.nl, merged with Bookings Online, and later acquired by Booking Holdings (formerly Priceline Group), Booking.com has become the go-to booking website for all things travel. It’s one of the largest global OTAs that sells tons of activities, tours, vehicle rentals, rooms, and airfare.
It dominates the industry, along with Expedia. According to HotelTechReport, Booking Holdings and Expedia control 95% of the online travel market.
Founded: 1996
Headquarters: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Operating in: 120,000+ destinations in 220+ countries
Listings: 28+ million, including 6.2+ million accommodation units
Commission: 10-15% (15% global average)
Best for: Any accommodation type (hotels, hostels, motels, B&Bs, apartments, vacation homes, cottages, cabins, villas, resorts, boats, luxury tents, etc.), airlines, and companies offering airport taxis, car rentals, and experiences
2. Expedia
Owned by Expedia Group, Expedia.com offers hotel rooms, vacation rentals, airfare, cruises, car rentals, and activities. It also offers package deals that can include flights, stays, and/or cars.
By partnering with Expedia, travel providers can tap into Expedia Group’s network of over 200 booking websites, including Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotels.com, Wotif, and CarRentals.com.
Founded: 1996
Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, USA
Operating in: 220+ countries
Listings: 1.8+ million vacation rentals, 590,000+ hotels, 35,000+ activities, 500+ airlines, 175+ car rental companies
Commission: 10-30% (10-15% for big brands; 15-30% for independents)
Best for: Any accommodation type, airlines, car rental companies, cruise lines, and tour operators
3. Viator
Just like its parent company, TripAdvisor, Viator isn’t an OTA. It partners with OTAs offering travel activities, tours, and attraction tickets, and lets them create a TripAdvisor listing to grow sales.
It offers top-notch experiences, including VIP tours, which is why it’s prized in the industry as one of the best metasearch engines.
Founded: 1997
Headquarters: Needham, Massachusetts, USA
Operating in: 48+ countries
Listings: 345,000 activities, tours, and attraction tickets
Commission: 8%
Best for: Travel companies offering experiences
4. Hotelbeds
With over 60,000 travel distributors in over 140 markets, Hotelbeds is one of the top B2B travel agents. It has been growing exponentially after acquiring Tourico Holidays and GTA in 2017.
This Spanish OTA offers hotel stays, car hires, flight tickets, attraction tickets, airport transfers, and activities.
Founded: 2001
Headquarters: Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Operating in: 185+ countries
Listings: 180,000+ hotels, 24,000+ transfer routes, 18,000+ activities and tickets, 500+ car rental suppliers, 40+ airlines
Commission: 20-30% (23% average)
Best for: Hotels of any size, companies offering travel experiences, airlines, and car rental companies
5. Hostelworld
Although it specializes in hostels, Hostelworld also promotes hotels and B&Bs. Additionally, it offers airport transfers, car rentals, flight tickets, tours, and activities.
Showcasing over 13 million guest reviews, it aims to help travelers, particularly millennials, find the best deals and experience various cities like locals. It’s especially popular among backpackers.
Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland
Operating in: 178+ countries
Listings: 36,000+
Commission: 10-25% (15% average)
Best for: Hostels and tour operators
The winner: Booking.com
Booking.com takes care of entire vacations seamlessly, which is why most travelers prefer it. It’s excellent for all accommodation properties and other travel providers, and its commission rates are generally lower than the other OTAs’.
Top Online Travel Agencies in APAC
The Asia-Pacific region boasts of various OTAs with top-quality services and low commission rates.
1. Agoda
Owned by Agoda Company, a subsidiary of Booking Holdings, Agoda is a major player in APAC with growing connections in Europe and the US.
It offers hotel accommodation, vacation rentals, apartments, villas, and bungalows. It also provides flights, airport transfers, car hire, and activities, but those rely on metasearch to find the right OTAs for such services.
Founded: 1998
Headquarters: Singapore
Operating in: 65+ countries
Listings: 2.5+ million
Commission: 15%
Best for: Hotels, especially in Asia
2. Trip.com
Trip.com is the largest OTA in China that went through many acquisitions over the years. Expedia owned it at one point before Trip.com Group (formerly CTrip) acquired it in 2017.
This Chinese OTA specializes in hotels but also provides fights, car rentals, train tickets, activities, tours, and attraction tickets.
Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Shanghai, China
Operating in: 200+ countries
Listings: 1.2+ million hotels, of which 700,000+ are international
Commission: 4% average (up to 19%)
Best for: Hotels
3. MakeMyTrip
MakeMyTrip is a large OTA in India that provides hotel rooms, flight tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, and holiday packages.
It leverages AI, machine learning, and big data, enabling it to increase its partners’ bookings. It has been one of the most innovative OTAs in India from its humble beginnings.
Founded: 2000
Headquarters: Gurugram, India
Operating in: 180+ countries
Listings: 460,000+
Commission: 15.5% average
Best for: Hotels
4. Klook Travel
Klook Travel is a smaller APAC player than the previous three, but it’s a relatively new company.
Still, it has grown into a popular OTA in China, offering a wealth of travel experiences, transportation options, and hotel bookings. We believe it’ll play with the big guys in the near future. It certainly has what it takes.
Founded: 2014
Headquarters: Hong Kong, China
Operating in: 400+ destinations in 28+ countries
Listings: 40,000+ accommodation units, 100,000+ activities
Commission: 15-25%
Best for: Hotels and tour operators
5. Veltra
Veltra is a tour operator company that deserves a spot on this list because of its extraordinary offers. It partners with tour operators that offer fun things to do around the globe, including cultural events, sightseeing tours, spa getaways, and many other activities.
Founded: 1991
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
Operating in: 78+ countries
Listings: 13,000+ tours and 6,000+ activities
Commission: 8-10%
Best for: Tour operators
The winner: Trip.com
Trip.com wins this race because of its wide reach, a plethora of different offers, and some of the lowest commission rates for participating partners.
Top Online Travel Agencies in Latin America
There are fewer OTAs in the LATAM market than in the rest of the world, and most of them have a narrower reach. These are the most popular.
1. Despegar
Despegar is the largest OTA in Latin America that serves the entire region and then some. It has been growing in popularity in recent years, so we might see it expand to more markets. Expedia owns a portion of its shares, so it’s sure to keep growing.
It specializes in hotels and flights but also provides vacation rentals, car rentals, activities, and packages.
Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Operating in: 50+ countries
Listings: 500+ airlines, 520,000+ accommodation options, including 150,000+ hotels
Commission: 19% average
Best for: Hotels and airlines
2. BestDay.com
Offering its services to countries in America, Asia, and Europe, BestDay.com is becoming more popular worldwide, especially since Despegar acquired it recently.
It’s the largest OTA in Mexico that also offers bookings for hotels, flights, car rentals, tours, activities, and vacation packages. Additionally, it provides airport transfers at the convenience of its travelers.
Founded: 1984
Headquarters: Cancún, Mexico
Operating in: 50+ countries
Listings: 230,000+ hotels, 70+ airlines
Commission: N/A
Best for: Hotels
3. PriceTravel
PriceTravel specializes in hotel and flight bookings and offers packages and tours as well. It provides bookings of some of the top destinations in Mexico, the US, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean.
We especially love it because it promotes social responsibility and human and environmental well-being.
Founded: 2000
Headquarters: Cancún, Mexico
Operating in: 30+ countries
Listings: 249,000+ hotels and 500+ airlines
Commission: N/A
Best for: Hotels and airlines
4. Tiquetes Baratos
Tiquetes Baratos (lit. cheap tickets) is owned by PriceTravel and has the same connections. It’s primarily a flight OTA and provides hotel bookings, airport transfers, car rentals, package deals, bus tickets, cruises, and tours.
Apart from excellent offers at competitive prices, it stands out because of its personalized services, which include weekly emails with prominent recommendations.
Founded: 2009
Headquarters: Bogotá, Colombia
Operating in: 30+ countries
Listings: 249,000+ hotels and 500+ airlines
Commission: N/A
Best for: Airlines and hotels
5. Almundo
Almundo may not be as big as Despegar, but it’s just as popular in Argentina and the rest of LATAM. CVC Corp.’s Avantrip acquired it recently, which seems quite promising for Almundo’s future growth.
Almundo is an OTA with some of the lowest commission rates, and it offers bookings for hotels, flights, car rentals, packages, activities, and even travel insurance.
Founded: 1992
Headquarters: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Operating in: 18+ countries
Listings: 100,000+ hotels
Commission: 2-7%
Best for: Hotels
The winner: Despegar
All of these OTAs specialize in hotels and flights and offer additional travel services, but Despegar is the obvious winner. It may have higher commission rates, but its high-quality services and wide reach make the fees worth paying.
Top Online Travel Agencies in Europe
The European market doesn’t have a shortage of high-quality OTAs. Apart from Booking.com, Hostelworld, and Hotelbeds, there are plenty more that you could consider for a partner. Here are some of the best.
1. Atrápalo
Atrápalo, or Catch It, is a widely-favored OTA that offers airfare, hotels, car rentals, train tickets, event tickets, cruises, and packages.
It was always focused on European travelers, but it recently started expanding into Latin America. It provides its partners with Atrápalo Extranet, a feature-rich platform with tools for boosting their ranking and improving profitability.
Founded: 2000
Headquarters: Barcelona, Spain
Operating in: 13+ countries
Listings: N/A
Commission: N/A
Best for: Hotels
2. On the Beach
On the Beach is a metasearch platform that helps travelers find hotels, flight tickets, and airport transfers provided by OTAs.
We decided to include it here because It’s massively popular in the UK, especially among Britons looking to book a package holiday.
Founded: 2004
Headquarters: Manchester, England, the UK
Operating in: N/A
Listings: N/A
Commission: N/A
Best for: Hotels and airlines
3. eDreams
eDreams is one of the largest OTAs in Europe. It’s part of eDreams ODIGEO Group that operates in more than 46 countries worldwide.
It provides hotels, airfare, flight + hotel packages, vacation rentals, activities, car rentals, and airport transfers.
Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Barcelona, Spain
Operating in: 40+ countries
Listings: 1.1+ million accommodation units, 665+ airlines
Commission: 20% average
Best for: Hotels and airlines
4. Skyscanner
Acquired by Trip.com Group in 2017, UK-based Skyscanner is a metasearch platform that offers services from over 1,200 travel providers.
Dedicated to simplifying travel, it offers only the most essential services – flight tickets, hotels, and car rentals. It’s focused on sustainable travel and makes bookings a breeze.
Founded: 2003
Headquarters: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Operating in: 50+ countries
Listings: 1.8+ million hotels
Commission: N/A
Best for: Hotels and airlines
5. Kiwi.com
According to Deloitte, Kiwi.com is the fifth fastest-growing tech company in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It’s one of the most innovative metasearch engines that offers flights, hotels, trains, and car rentals.
Thanks to partnerships with Booking.com and Rentalcars.com, it offers travel providers excellent opportunities to improve sales.
Founded: 2012
Headquarters: Brno, Czech Republic
Operating in: N/A
Listings: N/A
Commission: 3%
Best for: Airlines
The winner: eDreams
Most of these OTAs haven’t disclosed their commission rates, countries of operation, and the number of listings. Still, we believe eDreams might be the best to partner with, as it’s part of the world-renowned eDreams ODIGEO Group, which offers numerous benefits.
Top Online Travel Agencies in the US
Apart from Expedia, the US travel market is rich with many other high-quality online travel agencies. Most of those below are part of Expedia Group.
1. Getaroom
Founded by Dave Litman and Bob Diener, the former CEO and President at Hotels.com, respectively, Getaroom is a big player in the US that’s great for finding special deals.
It’s a unique OTA that offers hotel bookings, but with a twist. While people can book rooms without an agent, they can also call a toll-free number to get discounts or other best-value offers.
Founded: 2009
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Operating in: 50+ countries
Listings: 130,000+ hotels
Commission: N/A
Best for: Hotels and independent boutique properties
2. Travelocity
Ever since Travelocity was acquired by Expedia Group in 2015, it has become a household name globally. Avid travelers keep flocking to it for cheap hotel deals and other discounted offers.
Travelocity specializes in hotels and all-inclusive resorts, but its services also include flights, cars, vacation packages, cruises, and various experiences.
Founded: 1996
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Operating in: 70+ countries
Listings: 50,000+ hotels, 700+ airlines, and 50+ car rental suppliers
Commission: 15% average
Best for: Hotels and resorts
3. Hotels.com
Also part of Expedia Group, Hotels.com focuses on deals on hotels and vacation rentals. Its partners are major hotel chains, self-catering properties, and independent hotels.
It also provides car rentals, airfare, and vacation packages.
Founded: 1991
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Operating in: 200+ countries
Listings: 325,000+ hotels in 19,000+ locations
Commission: 8%
Best for: Hotels
4. Hotwire
Yet another Expedia Group company, Hotwire, has partnered with Hotels.com and offers the same deals – flights, hotels, cars, and vacation packages.
The site is a bit quirky in that it uses opaque pricing, meaning it hides hotel names. Travelers can see the names only after they make a booking. As Hotwire states on the website, it does so to help customers “score 4-star hotels at 2-star prices.”
Founded: 2000
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Operating in: 200+ countries
Listings: N/A
Commission: 15% average
Best for: Four-star hotels and resorts
5. Orbitz
Owned by Orbitz Worldwide, a subsidiary of Expedia Group, Orbitz is yet another big OTA in the US travel market, especially in North America. It offers hotel deals, airfare, vacation rentals, car rentals, packages, activities, and cruises.
Orbitz also serves as a metasearch engine. Its Vacation Value Finder feature helps travelers secure the best deals from other OTAs.
Founded: 2001
Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois
Operating in: 70+ countries
Listings: 500,000+ hotels, 455+ airlines, 25+ car rental suppliers, and 18+ cruise lines
Commission: 15% average
Best for: Airlines and hotels
The winner: Travelocity
It’s hard to single out just one of all these massive OTAs, especially since most are Expedia Group companies. All of them provide first-class services to both their partners and customers.
However, Travelocity stands out because it’s more intuitive and provides travelers with useful content for booking the best adventures. That also helps its participating travel providers increase sales. Hotels.com offers the lowest commission rates, so it may be the first choice for many hotels.
global distribution system (GDS)
🛑GDS in the hotel industry
A GDS is a worldwide conduit between travel bookers and suppliers, such as hotels and other accommodation providers. It communicates live product, price and availability data to travel agents and online booking engines, and allows for automated transactions.
The GDS is often used to tap into the corporate travel market because it has the ability to present hotels, flights, and car rentals in one simple interface which is convenient. Many companies organising trips for their staff will use the GDS as their preferred booking method.
The history of global distribution systems dates back to the 1960s when a more sophisticated method was needed to keep track of flight schedules, availability, and prices.
As early as the 1970s GDSs were some of the first companies in the world to facilitate business to business (B2B) electronic commerce (now more commonly known as ecommerce). Airlines realised that by automating the reservation process for travel agents, they could make the travel agents more productive and essentially turn them into an extension of the airline’s salesforce.
Four of the major legacy GDSs are:
- Amadeus
- Galileo
- Sabre
- Worldspan
Hoteliers are always looking at ways to increase their reach to attract more customers, increase revenue, and make a profit. It seems a global distribution system (GDS) is a valuable channel to achieve this. A GDS passes on hotel inventory and rates to travel agents and travel sites that request it and also accepts reservations
Benefits Hotel -GDS
Although those in operating in hotel management aim to maximise the number of direct bookings they attract, using a global distribution system helps to reach a larger number of customers. This is because the GDS provides a single point of access for thousands of travel agents across the globe, who can then book hotel rooms for their customers.
Costs of Using a Global Distribution System
While there are numerous benefits of using a GDS, it comes at a cost too. Standard practice is that a hotel will pay a small initialisation fee, followed by transaction and/or agent fees on every booking that is made. These fees can vary significantly, but it is not unusual for the fees to account for around 10 percent of the amount paid.
The ‘Big Three’ Global Distribution Systems
Hotels can turn to a number of different GDS systems around the world, with each one having its own unique features and target markets. However, it is generally accepted that there is a ‘big three’ within this industry, which are responsible for the vast majority of travel agency bookings.
1. Amadeus GDS
When looking at market share for global distribution systems, Amadeus GDS ranks as the market leader and it is estimated that somewhere in the region of 40 percent of all travel agency bookings using GDS systems go through this particular network. However, most of these bookings are linked to flights, rather than hotel rooms.
2. Sabre GDS
The Sabre global distribution system is the closest competitor for Amadeus when it comes to total market share, and it is actually more proportionally reliant on the hotel industry than Amadeus is. In total, it is estimated that more than 200,000 hotels use the network to connect with travel agencies.
3. Travelport GDS
Finally, Travelport is a company that owns the Worldspan, Galileo and Apollo systems. While the parent company is based in the United Kingdom, the Worldspan and Galileo GDS databases are situated in the United States. As an organisation, it provides GDS services and a variety of other travel industry solutions
Connecting Hotel to All Global Distribution Networks
For the most part, hotels connect to GDS networks via a GDS provider. Such a provider will function as an intermediary between the hotel and the global distribution system, and in most cases a GDS provider will actually connect your hotel to all of the three major GDS systems at once, rather than focusing on a single one.
GPS
GPS stands for global positioning system and it has truly affected the globe in the way we travel. ... Even vehicles are equipped with GPS to find routes and also the vehicle in case it is stolen. When the vehicle is equipped with GPS, it is in the constant connection with the satellite to track its actual location
A travel itinerary is a schedule of events relating to planned travel, generally including destinations to be visited at specified times and means of transportation to move between those destinations
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