Tag Archives: GDS

RateHawk records three-fold growth from India during Q4, 2024

RateHawk, a B2B platform by the UAE-based company Emerging Travel Group, which offers hotel booking services, air tickets and transfers has seen a three-fold growth in business from India during Q4, 2023, since foraying in this market mid-last year.

Talking about this, Victoria Vlasenko, Senior Sales Manager, Asia Pacific Region, RateHawk, said, “My first visit to India last year was to gauge the market potential, and the opportunities here. Now we have a team of four, including two local managers, and are gradually expanding the team here. Between Q3 and Q4 of 2023, we have seen a three-fold growth from India. We have doubled the number of companies that have started using our system reaching over 2000 partners.”

Currently, 2.54 million hotels across the world are listed on the RateHawk system. “We are one of the biggest platforms in hotel bookings space. We work with over 230 global accommodation wholesalers and also develop direct hotel contracts with hotels in India to make sure that we cover not only outbound but also domestic and inbound demand. While we also offer air ticket bookings and land transfers, hotel inventory remains our key offering. For airlines, we use the GDS, and for hotel bookings we have contracts via direct sales and through local B2B partners.”

Air India expands domestic, global distribution networks

Air India on Monday said it has ramped up its domestic and international distribution networks with extended multi-year agreements with global distribution systems partners Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport.

“The deals together enable travel agents, resellers, and corporations around the world to access Air India’s seat inventory and fares.

Air India’s new expanded agreements with the GDS partners now include the delivery of New Distribution Capability (NDC) products that provide travellers benefits such as personalised pricing, attractive fare bundles, and new ancillaries,” it said in a release.

The agreements with Amadeus and Sabre have been expanded to include the domestic content as well as distribution and servicing of NDC content, it added.

Tata Group took control of loss-making Air India in January last year and a transformation plan is underway at the airline.

Booking.com sees uptick in bookings for alternate accommodation

Launches Hindi as it’s 46th language

Online booking platform, Booking.com has seen an uptick in demand for alternate accommodation options in India, alongside 11-12℅ growth in listing of such properties on its platform, globally.

Santosh Kumar, Country Head – Indian Sub-continent & Indonesia, Booking.com, said, “Accommodation in general is a fairly complex distribution channel, globally, including in India. While airlines are distributed via the GDS, accommodation is a big puzzle because there are millions of options available. Today we have roughly 29 million listings, and that supply has gone up, and almost 7 million bookings are coming from the alternate accommodation space, which is only growing. For an important market like India, it is key that we provide our domestic customers the breadth of choice and availability of supply in that space.”

Kumar spoke about flexibility of booking and the design personalisation of their website and app are their key selling points.

Booking.com has been in India almost for a decade, and has grown it’s presence in India with a push of regionalisation. This year, Hindi has been launched as Booking.com’s 46th launguage. “It is important we talk to our audience in their language, and the travel trade is using Hindi on the extranet for bookings. We have opened a Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, and it’s workforce will go up to 500 in the coming months”

Building brand awareness is their area of focus in India, and partnership with ICC is important.

Leisure continues to be a big draw for Booking.com, and Indians continue to be confident for travel, especially for leisure as per Booking.com’s Travel Confidence Index. “There is recessionary pressure, but people are trying to book in advance to take advantage of deals.”

Kumar said that China has finally opened up for travel, however flight capacity is no where close to pre-Covid levels, and that only further shifts the perspective to India from an APAC view point. Terming India as their priority market, he said the importance of India is evident from the presence of international destinations, airlines, attractions and experiences here to tap the market.

Sabre, JetBlue signs long-term renewal agreement for PSS & GDS

Sabre Corporation has signed a multi-year renewal for JetBlue’s SabreSonic PSS (Passenger Service System) agreement. The agreement also extends the carrier’s long-term distribution agreement to continue offering its content on the Sabre GDS.

Sabre will help JetBlue deliver a more tailored customer experience and capture additional revenue opportunities through its PSS. Through the Sabre GDS travel marketplace, JetBlue will distribute its flights and services to Sabre’s extensive global network of travel buyers. This will allow Sabre-connected corporate, leisure and online travel agency subscribers to deliver even more choice and value to their travelers.

“We are excited to build upon our long-standing partnership with Sabre. As we move forward with our growth plans, this partnership will play a key role in our digital modernization strategy,” said Carol Clements, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, JetBlue. “We will continue to rely on Sabre’s technology to help us enhance the travel experience and bring our low fares, products and great service to more customers.”

JetBlue is also investing in Sabre’s Digital Connect and Digital Experience products to enhance the booking and post-booking experience for customers. The carrier is also leveraging the Dynamic Rewards product to enable expended loyalty capabilities.

JetBlue is also renewing their subscription to PRISM, a powerful solution that automates, aggregates and analyzes corporate sales information globally. Its forecasting function also allows each airline’s sales organization to model changes to contracts and optimize the right measures to help drive optimal business revenue.

“Sabre is thrilled to support JetBlue in its technology journey to enhance the customer experience. Growth, modernization, loyalty management and personalization are a priority for JetBlue, so we are proud to support their endeavor with our cutting-edge platform, retailing capabilities and global scope,” said Roshan Mendis, Chief Commercial Officer, Sabre Travel Solutions.

Based in New York City, JetBlue is the sixth largest airline in the U.S. and operates over 1,000 flights daily, serving over 30 million customers annually.

 

Hilton Partners with Amadeus to Drive Faster Content Distribution

Hilton has partnered with Amadeus to implement its application programming interface within the Amadeus global distribution system. The Amadeus GDS is the first to directly integrate with the company’s API (Application Programming Interface). According to the press release, both Hilton and Amadeus will benefit from a faster, more advanced connection to the GDS channel in areas such as credit card information, cancellation policies, and meal plan details. Previous connectivity through multiple APIs meant that changes to content could not be as easily accommodated. With the new integration of Hilton’s API into the Amadeus distribution system, Hilton will be able to scale up more effectively and roll out new features at a much faster pace than ever before.

The new API integration will also help to improve the overall customer experience and booking process for guests. Having a more advanced direct API connection will mean travel agents and their customers can see information in key areas, such as a cancellation policy, so that expectations can be set in advance of a guest’s stay.

Speaking on this, Oral Muir, Vice President, Partnership Development & Global Distribution, Hilton said, “At Hilton, we are always evolving to create a more frictionless travel experience and to meet and exceed the needs of our current and future customers. By partnering with Amadeus, we’re bringing a first-of-its kind technology solution to the hospitality industry and making important strides in our effort to employ the latest, award-winning innovations and standards to improve performance of our hotels and elevate service to our customers.”

Katja Bohnet, VP Hospitality Distribution, Hospitality, Amadeus, said, “We’re proud to partner with Hilton on this new API integration with the Amadeus GDS. This is a major milestone for both our industry and Hilton, as the new API looks to overcome the historical challenges of limited reach and connectivity. We are adopting a “one API, any channel,” approach to hotel distribution through the GDS, to ensure that the quality of content available for distributors is the most reliable and advanced it has ever been.”

Cleartrip to use Travelport’s ‘Travel Commerce Platform’

OTA major Cleartip and InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ), Travelport’s distributor for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan, have signed an agreement that renews and expands the former’s distribution agreement with the GDS company. Under the agreement, Cleartrip will make use of Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform. With its industry-first offerings such as ‘CT Flexmax, CT Flex, and CT Upgrade’, Cleartrip envisions to disrupt the OTA market.

As per the agreement, Cleartrip will make use of Travelport’s avant-garde platform to provide enhanced services to its larger customer base. Whereas ITQ will ensure Cleartrip gets access to its massive travel content featuring real time access to nearly 400 airlines. “As travel recuperates around the world, it is an exciting time to form new associations. Cleartrip is a celebrated name in the industry, and we are delighted to have partnered with them. We hope for a strong and mutually beneficial association,” said Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Operating Officer, ITQ.

“This partnership with Cleartrip will provide us with new and exciting opportunities to work closely on their strategic business expansion,” said Mark Meehan, Global Vice President and Managing Director for Global Operators at Travelport, while further adding, “I am delighted to see our shared vision for modern travel retailing continue to bring a wealth of cutting edge advantages for both our customers and our industry, thus enabling us to further transform the travel ecosystem.”

Speaking on the partnership, Ayyappan Rajagopal, CEO, Cleartrip, said, “With a busy travel period ahead of us, we are excited to partner with InterGlobe Technology Quotient for the use of their advanced solutions to provide enhanced services to its customer base. This is a key strategic partnership for us that will help us gain competitive advantage and offer a superior value proposition, and also play a significant role in the exponential growth journey Cleartrip has embarked on.”