GDS


GDS – Global Distribution System

There are 4 GDS’s specific to the travel industry; Galileo, Amadeus, World Span and Sabre.
Originally Galileo was created to store the airline reservations information for 11 of the world’s largest airlines so interconnecting flights could be made. Now Galileo and the other 3 GD’s store the majority of the world flight, hotel and car hire availability information.

Virgin Airways flight information will be processed by one of the GDS’s probably Galileo but maybe Amadeus. I expect the majority of Virgin Holidays bookings will be made with assistance from the GDS again probably Galileo but maybe Amadeus.
Either way, Galileo, Amadeus, Sabre or World Span. Virgin already has a significant relationship with a GDS.

My first dealings with the GDS was in 2002, much like now, I wished to draw availability information from the GDS into a database and present it to the public via a website.

In those days Galileo had a product called Kick Start or was it Jump start, This product was specifically designed to offer on line booking to SME’s websites, it was still in the development stage and its costs were about $10,000 a year plus set up.

We had meetings with Galileo SA’s management and found an excellent XML programmer that could make it happen, the trouble was I did not have the money at the time. Not to give up we teamed up with a Galileo rebel and South African royalty Dumani Mandela, Moyiqua and Chukka Sisulu representing their fathers BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) companies in a audacious bid to bring Sabre to Africa, but Sabre had no plans to go in to Africa at that time.

Disappointed I closed down my South African Hotel websites and concentrated on Villas rentals. Without a GDS link hotel bookings created far too much admin.

Anyway skip 9 years, I’m back again and It baffles me why an out the box gds solution does not exist. Anyway this is no longer my concern, Virgin will I’m sure be able to get a GDS feed one way or the other. Expedia has it, Hotels.com had it we need it, maybe we can piggy back of them, I think they are actually owned by one of the GDS’s alternately you can bet one of the others would like to compete.

What will a GDS link give us?

For a start its gives us a completely global booking capacity for car hire, flights and Hotels, not the information and media that has to be researched or provided and rates need to me negotiated, but Virgin Holidays will have already done this for most destinations in the world so were off to a flying start.

Lets look at the Ibiza based Villa company example made in the business plan..

“Example, by tacking Sienna’s feed an Ibiza based villa rental company could now offer Ibiza hotels, flights and Car Hire and a comprehensive presence in Majorca, Tenerife and Spain.”

The availability information for hotels, Car hire and flights comes from the GDS.

Give a tour operator or Villa specialist preferential rates, the power to reserve flights, hotels and car hire at the touch of a button and a website to show these products to their clients and they will have the power of a Travel Agent.

I know by having and using the tools provided in the Sienna package if I were to carry on with Cape Villas or Experience Africa I’d have the power to take them a long way, really compete on the world stage. The GDS is a great tool, as is the customisable website, combine them with the customer relationship and accounting tools, and it’s an even playing field. A one man show could be as effective as a Travel Agent. Eventually linking to Sienna will become essential for the industry.

ADS – Alternate Distribution System

As best I remember 2009 saw ADS’s overtake GDS’s in volume of tourism bookings, There are thousand maybe hundreds or thousands of ADS. Sienna is and ADS, the difference between Siena and a normal ADS is Sienna main task is to connect to other ADS’s

The companies we wish to interact with such as Leo Trippi have small portfolios maybe 50 venues to which they control the reservations, by tapping into their databases we add unique inventory to our portfolio. If we look at field AB “Outsourced” in the financial spreadsheet, this money has been set aside solely for the purpose of creating such integrations. By month thirty I have targeted 1730 companies to be linked in this way and set aside +/-$600,000 in programmers to do this maybe we need more maybe less but add the portfolios of 1730 or so independents to the GDS portfolio and we will store more travel reservation information than any other company. We will ourselves be considered a GDS.
 

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