The major GDS companies are Sabre, Apollo/Galileo, Worldspan and Amadeus, each of which require their own access code, "where travel industry members can push their availability and rates via their channel manager. We use SiteMinder," says Robert Nienaber of the City Accommodation Group. He adds, "Getting onto the GDS involved a lengthy setup and integration process, but one which I believe will result in good dividends."
The benefits for the City Accommodation Group, which has recently listed their Windhoek-based Arebbusch Travel Lodge on the GDS, are likely to include:
• New business in the way of travel agents
• New business in the way of private clients
• Ease of booking for existing clients
Currently, there are only a handful of hotels/accommodation establishments in the Windhoek area connected to the GDS. "When an overseas travel agent or tour operator, say one that is Frankfurt-based, runs a GDS search for accommodation in Windhoek, we will appear alongside only three or four other hotels that are currently listed. This obviously opens up a massive market for us," enthuses Robert. "We will basically pop up whenever the approximately 5,000 global travel agents, making use of the system, run a search in Windhoek via the GDS portal." Additionally, no direct marketing is needed and bookings can be made in real time.
Additionally, many of the GDS companies, along with the travel agents, airlines and car rental companies that they link to, offer online-booking portals which clients can use to book their own travel-related services – bringing in more private clients, says Robert. "While we do already integrate with a lot of online travel agents, for example Expedia, we will now pop up on many more platforms when potential private clients run direct searches for accommodation in Windhoek," he says.
The process is also simplified for existing clients (i.e. travel agencies), who use the GDS and who already make regular bookings with a vendor, by the vendor listing on the GDS too, comments Robert. "They no longer need to email or phone us to check availability, confirm rates and make a booking. They simply log onto their GDS portal of choice, input the relevant code and all the info appears before them to aid real-time bookings with us." He adds that bookings made in this way pull straight through to their reservations grid, cutting out all the time-consuming manual work.
