Global Distribution System

With 60 million people in the UK going on holiday a year, a method had to be created to control every aspect of a holiday. It has to be able to control the number of people booking, along with the different aspects each individual wanted to incorporate, this could be from a hotel, all the way through to a mode of transport. 

The major market force in online travel bookings is currently the Global Distribution Systems also known as GDS. There are a number of systems which are used, these include: Galileo, Sabre, Travel-Port, Amadeus along with many others. When GDS was first created in the late 1980's it was used for airline reservations. Since then the demands within the travel and tourism industry have increased dramatically, resulting in many GDS systems expanding further. In recent years aspects such as car hire have been introduced and this has worked very well. For travel agents who are using this system it makes it easier for not only themselves but also for their client as they can book all of the extras the client may want through one system. 

With GDS being live 24/7 it means the availability that is showing is correct providing a better service for the customer. 

Changes:

With all technology there will become a time when an aspect will need to be changed or improved. With the Global Distribution Systems a change was paramount. When the systems were first created the industry professionals who used them were highly skilled, and as the industry has developed these individuals do not have to be as skilled or qualified, resulting in the system needing to be clearer and more user friendly. To this day the system has been changed and has proved to be a huge success. Industry professionals are now able to write all details in full and then this will be de-coded by the system used. An example of this being:

• LHR - London Heathrow
• LAS - Las Vegas
• CPT - Cape Town

I personally believe GDS is a fantastic product which has been created, like all software over time more changes will have to be made. GDS has recently started to book hotel rooms, which is slowly but surely starting to take off. A number of the Global Distribution Systems book hotel rooms for Brooklands Hotel where i work, and in the last year i have sign an increase in the amount of reservations being booked through this method. I hope that this system will carry on increasing what it can sell for clients. I personally feel that systems like these make the travel and tourism industry one step ahead of other industries.