Global Distribution
Systems (GDS)

Connect to the world’s largest travel marketplace

Be seen where the most lucrative bookings are through STAAH GDS. Our GDS Hosting distributes your hotel globally for bookings by over 500,000+ travel agents and travel management companies.

Attract more business travellers with GDS

We make it easy for you to harness the power of GDS by simplifying this technology connection and its management.

Manage GDS like any other OTA

STAAH GDS easily bolts into your channel manager so you can manage your rates and availability from a single interface, in real-time.

Global reach

You will be connected to over 500,000+ travel agents around the world via the 4 major GDS systems - Sabre, Amadeus, Worldspan and Galileo PLUS IDS Channels such as Pegasus.

Maximising revenue

After loading your room types, descriptions and images. STAAH GDS sets their order to maximise GDS reservations.

Participate in Consortia and TMC programmes

Discounted participation for selected Consortia and TMC programmes, including completing and submitting RFPs for properties and loading negotiated rates and sending renewal reminders.

Personalised support

We know GDS can be complex. STAAH GDS offers a dedicated team to help structure your GDS rates, cancellation policies andNegotiated Rates, as well as onboarding.

Content management

Our STAAH GDS team takes charge of loading all your GDS content and ensures the best presentation of your hotel content, such as Property and Room descriptions and images.

Save $$$

By joining STAAH GDS Hosting, your hotel will be distributed globally to all GDS systems - Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo and Worldspan PLUS IDS systems such as Pegasus - saving you money.

Detailed analytics

You’ll have full visibility of your revenue and transaction data so you can ensure that this is another high-performing and effective distribution channel for you.

Why GDS?

Why would you not want to tap into the marketing power of the GDS to a high-paying corporate clientele?

Diversify and increase revenue

GDS expands your distribution to reach travel agents who book Business Travel and Leisure Travel. Typically GDS reservations are higher than average daily rate bookings. Regular Business Travellers are often become repeat Guests and consistently book more than 1 night.

Presence on a corporate travel platform

By getting exposure to public, negotiated and Consortia/TMC business, you can maximise your booking potential as 500,000+ travel agents look for the right property for their corporate clients.

Exposure to high-paying clientele

As part of a GDS hotel booking system, your property will be exposed to a more targeted, professional travel community that can be difficult to target through your hotel website or online travel agencies (OTAs).

Host more meetings and events

Open your door to new revenue streams by raising awareness of your property’s available conference and event spaces.

HOW IT WORKS?

All Travel Agents globally use ONE of the following GDS Platforms to make reservations - Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo or Worldspan. These GDS Systems allow a travel agent to book your hotel.

However, a hotel must be GDS hosted to be receiving such reservations. STAAH GDS is a Hosting Service.

  • Travel agents can see real-time rates and inventory for a given hotel via the GDS.
  • The GDS doesn’t actually hold its own inventory. It is simply a window into the connected hotel’s system, which shows available room types, rates and restrictions.
  • Any GDS reservations made by the travel agency are transferred to your channel manager and CRS, and related inventory removed just as with all the other OTAs.

Key Features

Increased visibility:
By connecting to a GDS, hotels can increase their visibility and reach a wider audience of travel agents and corporate travel bookers. This can lead to increased bookings and revenue for the hotel.

Real-time inventory management:
GDS platforms allow hotels to manage their inventory, rates, Stop Sells  and Minimum nights via their Channel Manager connection for Special Events and Seasonal Peak times in real-time, ensuring that availability and pricing information is always up-to-date. The Hotel Channel Manager connection prevents overbooking or underbooking on the GDS, just like other OTA connections, and enables hotels to optimize their GDS pricing strategies based on market demand.

Access to corporate travel bookers: GDS Reservations, in addition to being made by Travel Agents, can also be made by large Corporate Travel bookers, which often have strict travel policies and booking requirements. By connecting to a GDS, hotels can ensure that they are visible to these Corporate Travel bookers and can meet their specific booking requirements.

Streamlined operations:
GDS platforms can help streamline hotel operations by automating the booking process and integrating with STAAH Channel Manager. This can help reduce manual data entry, improve efficiency, and reduce the risk of errors.

Reporting and analytics:
GDS platforms provide detailed reporting and analytics on hotel bookings, enabling hoteliers to track their performance and make data-driven decisions. This can help identify trends in market demand and adjust pricing strategies accordingly.

Partner Stories and Experiences

FAQs

Global Distribution Systems (GDS) refers to is an online system that delivers real-time hotel, airline, train, and car rental inventory, room rates and discounts to travel agents and travel management companies around the world.
For hoteliers, GDS is a crucial middleman that connects the property’s CRS or PMS to agents who are making high-spending, multi-night bookings on behalf of mostly business travellers. Some travel agencies also provide self-service portals (Egencia, CWT) to travellers that use GDS inventory but operate similarly to today’s online travel agencies.

There are three main GDS providers – Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport (Galileo, Apollo and Worldspan). All three are leaders, having played the foundational role in setting up this technology system. By connecting to the STAAH GDS, you will be connected to all three GDS providers.

GDS services are only available to authorised users, who are licensed and registered, including travel agents and TMCs.
For hoteliers, you can individually sign-up for every GDS or enjoy the benefits of a real-time, seamless connection via your channel manager.

Hotel owners can load two types of rates for GDS:

Public rates: These are visible and bookable by all agencies and are subject to the commissions paid to the booking agency. Here you would typically use your corporate, government or best available rates.

Negotiated rates: These are visible only to companies with which you have a special agreement. The authorised agents use a GDS hotel code (Rate Access Code) to call on these rates. There is no commission on these bookings.

Negotiated rates are typically reserved for large corporates and government.

The STAAH GDS is a seamless connection from your channel manager to leading GDS. This real-time, seamless connection ensures you can optimise your rates and availability for this channel from a single dashboard. In addition to the technology support, we offer one-on-one onboarding sessions, content management for GDS, rates negotiation and support for RFP as needed to ensure you are getting the maximum benefit from your GDS connection.

Resources

GDS Playbook

An excellent GDS Hosting platform, that ensures the GDS listings of its customers match the industry’s best practices to maximize potential bookings

Fun Facts about GDS

One of the oldest distribution platforms, a GDS connects your hotel to travel agents looking for the right accommodation for their clients. Let’s look at some fun facts on GDS.

GDS – IS IT RELEVANT FOR YOU IN 2023?

With more than 600,000 travel agents worldwide still accessing the global distribution systems, its relevancy has not diminished post-pandemic, let;s learn is it still important for us?