CSTC COLLEGE OF SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY AND

COMMUNICATION, INC.
CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
Quezon R4A
Registrar’s Office: 042 3290850 / 042 7192818
CSTC IT Center: 042 7192805
Atimonan Contact Number: 042 7171420

SCHOOL OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Instructional Module in
Applied Business Tools and Technologies

Preliminaries
I. Lesson Number 9
II. Lesson Title Global Distribution System (GDS)
III. Brief Introduction This topic will discuss about the different languages and
of the Lesson terminologies used in travel industry in relation to Global
Distribution System. It will also discuss the vital role of GDS in
disseminating information to all travel organizations.
IV. Lesson Objectives a. To be able to know how GDS works in the distribution of
information about airlines, hotel and other tourism service
to the different travel organizations.
b. To be able to easily communicate with travel professional
using their language and terminologies.
c. Familiarize with different GDS system.
d. To be able to differentiate CRS and GDS.

Lesson Proper
I. Getting Started

Guess the name of the place and its location:

II. Discussion

A GDS is a global conduit between travel bookers and suppliers, such as hotels
and other providers of accommodation. It communicates to travel agents and online
booking engines live product, price and availability data, and enables automated
transactions.
The GDS is also used because it has the ability to present hotels, flights, and car
rentals in an easy, convenient interface to tap into the corporate travel market. The GDS
can be used as the preferred booking tool for many businesses that arrange trips for
their employees.

Glossary of Terms
 ADS – Alternative Distributions Site
 CSTC COLLEGE OF SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY AND
COMMUNICATION, INC.
CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
Quezon R4A
Registrar’s Office: 042 3290850 / 042 7192818
CSTC IT Center: 042 7192805
Atimonan Contact Number: 042 7171420

 Central Reservation System (CRS) – A Central Reservation System is a

computerized reservation program used by a group of hotels to manage hotel
records, room inventory and rates and to book. It enables several hotels to be
booked from a central stage. Benefits include providing a single guest database,
travel agent and business profiles, cross-selling and reporting of alternative
properties. It can also be called a delivery system for databases since a hotel’s
CRS transfers data to the distribution channels.
 Chain Code - The two-character code that is used to identify hotel within a GDS.
According to the GDS, the chain codes may differ.
 Chargeback Authority- Generally used when granting a hotel authority to
charge a third party corporate credit card through a travel agent. Normally, this is
in form of a formal authority letter advising payment orders for the stay of a
visitor.
 City Code - IATA 3-letter code for a location identifying the city or its nearest
airport
 Consortia - Marketing organizations that connect independent small to medium-
sized travel agencies together to exploit buying power and marketing
opportunities.
 Corporate Rates (COR) - Corporate rates are different from negotiated rates,
and all travel agencies typically have access to corporate rates using a
'Corporate' search qualifier. In general, hotels offer corporate guests discounts to
get business in their hotel. Typically, it needs some sort of identification that the
guest is traveling for company. The 'Corporate indicator in Genares needs to be
filled with these rates.
 Consumers Relationship Management (CRM) - Management of customer
relationships is a model for handling the experiences of a business with current
and potential clients. It includes using technology for sales, marketing, customer
service, and technical support to be coordinated, automated and synchronized.
 Deposits - A ‘Deposit’ means that, in order to obtain a booking, a specified
amount will be paid for the stay of the customer.
 Derived Rates - Rates that are correlated with another rate, and monitor it. For
e.g., CONBTI was linked to CONAMX, but 5% less.
 GDS - GIobal Distribution System
 Geo-coding - The method of using degrees of longitude and latitude to identify
locations.
 Government Rates (GOV) - Government rates are different from negotiated
rates, and government rates are normally accessible for all travel agents using a
‘government' search qualifier. Hotels typically give government and non-profit
staff guests discounts to get business in their hotel. Typically, it requires some
sort of identification that the guest is traveling for these purposes.
 Group PCC - Identifier that differentiates a whole category of agencies.
Depending on the GDS, a Pseudo-city code (PCC) is usually a three to five
character code (alpha, numeric, or combination). When adding negotiated rates,
PCCS are necessary, as these rates can be "defined" or secured to an agency
using their PCC.
 Group Rate - For conference, trade show, meeting, tour or reward party,
negotiated hotel rate.
 Guarantee - For most bookings obtained from Travel Agent networks, credit card
guarantee is the basic form for (GDS). Some properties often allow a promise to
be made using the IATA number of agents, but this is normally not suggested
unless the property already has a trustworthy relationship with that agency. When
a booking is made, it is advised that prior approval for the cancellation charge is
 CSTC COLLEGE OF SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY AND
COMMUNICATION, INC.
CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
Quezon R4A
Registrar’s Office: 042 3290850 / 042 7192818
CSTC IT Center: 042 7192805
Atimonan Contact Number: 042 7171420

obtained from the credit card vendor. This way, the hotel knows if there is a credit
card problem before the guest arrives. The guarantee is not actually the credit
card used to pay for the reservation, but a guarantee of payment for the hotel.
 Non-guaranteed Reservation - Ensures that the hotel continues to retain a
guest room until the specified cancellation time of the reservation (usually 6p.m.)
on the day of arrival.
 IATA - This is a Geneva-based association of airline companies operating and
developing best practices in international services. All over the planet, IATA
accredits would-be travel agents. This qualification covers the issuance of an ID-
code, known as an IATA number. In reservations., IATA numbers are used as the
travel agent identifier to allow suppliers, including hotels, to pay commissions.
 Internet Distribution System (IDS) - Internet Distribution, World Wide Web,
Intranets, Extranets, Online Services.
 Lanyon -A tool used by consortiums and companies to obtain and respond to
RFPS,
 Leisure Travel - Travel for leisure, educational, sightseeing, relaxation and other
forms of experience.
 Mark Up - The disparity between the hotels sold and the price offered to the
customer by the merchant.
 Negotiated Rate - A term used to describe prices agreed by a hotel business
with a particular customer in global distribution networks. The viewing of these
rates in the GDS (by a travel agent or other user of the GDS) is limited and the
rate can be reserved only after either the agent or customer identification code
has been entered.
 Net Rate - In general, a rate that does not give commission to the travel agent is
defined. The rate given to wholesalers and tour operators that can be marked up
to sell to the customer is also available.
 Next Generation Seamless GDS Connectivity - An interface or link between
the four main GDS channels and a CRS device. To demonstrate the tight, stable
integration between a CRS and a GDS, the word "Next Generation Seamless" is
used.
 No Show - A reservation client who fails to turn up and does not cancel.
 Online Distributors Database (ODD) - An online delivery database containing
the basic hotel data that is given. To all websites that use the booking engine of
Pegasus (via the Pegasus Switch)
 Online Travel Agencies (OTA) - Websites that provide travelers with robust
travel shopping and booking solutions. Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline and
several local and regional sites are examples.
 Passenger Namne Record (PNR) - A GDS file or record that contains travel
schedule information fora passenger, including fight itinerary, segments of hotel
bookings, segments of car rental bookings, and related data.
 Property Management System (PMS) - The hotel's application for on-site
property management activities such as check-in/out, folios, guest profiles, room
status, requests, etc. Interfaces between other systems, such as the hotel point
of sale (POS) or central reservation system, can be given by PMSS (CRS).
 Pseudo-City Code (PCC) - An identifier that separates one location of a travel
agency from another and may also be referred to as a Subscriber ID. Depending
on the GDs, a Pseudo-City Code (PCC) is typically a code of three to five
characters (alpha, numeric, or combination). When adding negotiated rates,
PCCS are necessary, as these rates can be "defined" or secured to an agency
using their PCC.
 CSTC COLLEGE OF SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY AND
COMMUNICATION, INC.
CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
Quezon R4A
Registrar’s Office: 042 3290850 / 042 7192818
CSTC IT Center: 042 7192805
Atimonan Contact Number: 042 7171420

 Rate Access Code (RAC) - A special Rate Plan code used in the GDS by travel
agencies to access a particular corporate rate
 RELOC (Record Locator) - Usually, when a traveler, travel agent or airline
employee refers to a record locator, it means a pointer to a particular reservation
known as a Passenger Name Record or PNR.
 Request for Proposal (RFP) - RFP means Application for Proposal. The formal
petition of a corporation for business tenders from suppliers such as travel
agents, hotels or car rental companies.
 Run of House (ROH) - It refers to a basic type of room with no guarantee of
particular amenities.
 SME - Small and /or medium-sized enterprises/es
 Subscribers Identification (SID) - A Special 3-character code assigned by
Worldspan to an organization. Each of an agency's branches has its own special
SID.
 Switch - Moving from one GDs provider to another, including a GDS Chain Code
shift.
 TMC - A Travel Management Business is a TMC. The divisions that are part of a
TMC are either owned or affiliated with that particular TMC. TMCS will require
their agencies to have a policy, TMCS invest in corporate self-booking software,
back-office infrastructure and focus on accumulating and serving large to
medium-sized local, national and multinational corporate clients.
 Travel Agency Commission Settlement Program (TACS) - A product that
offers a service that allows properties with the TACSnet electronic commission
settlement program to reconcile and pay all travel agent commissions. Genares
can provide this through TACSnet, which offers travel agents a single unified
payment in the currency of their region. Detailed online reports are obtained by
hotels and travel agencies to expedite commission settlements and eliminate the
cumbersome and time-consuming manual payment process. Travel agents are
more likely to use an automatic fee settlement scheme to book hotels, and hotels
enjoy the efficacy of a simplified payment process.
 The Travelport - Travel Commerce Network, which focuses on supplying the $7
trillion global travel and tourism industry with distribution, technology, payment
and other solutions. It allows scan, exchange, buy and sell travel to travel
suppliers, travel agents, companies and developers. Travelport comprises Apollo
Travelport, Galileo Travelport and Worldspan Travelport, Travelport Digital
 Vouchers - A traveler who purchases a tour that shows that such tour elements
have been prepaid is provided with forms or coupons. On the actual ride,
vouchers are then traded for tour items such as hotels, meals, sightseeing,
theater tickets, etc.
 Wholesaler - Inclusive tours and individual travel plans sold to the customer by
travel agents. However, wholesalers do not sell to the public directly - they can
access the GDS to make their bookings.

What are the major GDS systems?

The bulk of data from hotels, airlines, and other distributors is stored and
processed by many large global distribution networks. Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo,
Worldspan, Apollo, and Pegasus are among these.

 Amadeus GDS
For more than 30 years, Amadeus has been designing vital solutions to
assist airlines, hotels, trains, travel agents, tour operators and more in running
their company and optimizing their travel experience. Amadeus, with the ability to
 CSTC COLLEGE OF SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY AND
COMMUNICATION, INC.
CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
Quezon R4A
Registrar’s Office: 042 3290850 / 042 7192818
CSTC IT Center: 042 7192805
Atimonan Contact Number: 042 7171420

attract millions of visitors, has the highest global presence of all of the GDSs. The
organization operates in more than 190 markets and hires more than 17,000
people.

 Sabre GDS
Sabre is a leading provider of technology and data-driven solutions to help
airlines, hotels and travel agencies expand their companies and improve the
experience of travelers. For online travel agencies, corporate booking software,
revenue management, and web and mobile itinerary tools, to name a few, Sabre
is seen as a leader. The global business-to-business travel marketplace of Sabre
Travel Network consists primarily of the GDS and a wide range of solutions that
integrate with the GDS. Travel providers, including 400 airlines, 175,000 hotels,
200 tour operators, 50 rail carriers, 40 car rental outlets and 17 cruise lines, use
this marketplace.

 Galileo GDS
Galileo traces its history back to 1971, when its first computerized central
reservation system was developed by United Airines. In an effort to gain market
share in the computer reservation system market, Worldspan and Galileo were
developed by other airline groups due to the high market penetration of the Sabre
and Apollo systems, operated by American Airlines and United Airlines,
respectively. In 2008, after the merger of Travelport and Worldspan, the Galileo
system was relocated from Denver, Colorado, to the Worldspan data centre in
Atlanta, Georgia (although they now share the same data centre, they continue to
be run as separate systems).

 Apollo
As a leading GDS, Apollo provides travel distribution, technologies and
services for thousands of travel companies worldwide, including travel agencies,
corporations, travel suppliers and travel web sites. The Apollo reservation system
was used by United Airlines until 2012, when it switched to SHARES, a system
used by its former Continental Airlines subsidiary. Apollo is still used by Galileo
International (now part of Travelport GDS) travel agency customers in the United
States, Canada, Mexico, and Japan.

 Abacus GDS
Abacus was founded in 1988 and became a leading provider of travel
solutions and services in the Asia Pacific region.
The company is headquartered in Singapore and owned by Sabre Holdings.
after Sabre acquired a full stake off 11 Asian airlines who were holding a majority
share. Abacus represents more than 100,000 travel agents across the 59
markets of the Asia-Pacific region and has both multinational and uniquely local
airline and hotel partnerships, including the leading low-cost content portfolio and
Chinese airline content.

 Pegasus GDS
In an otherwise complex environment, Pegasus aims to eliminate friction and
establish simplicity. The hospitality reservations market was pioneered by
Pegasus Solutions. The business is a market leader in the electronic production,
management, delivery, sales and marketing of hotel inventory, prices and content
including direct bookings through branded hotel websites, speech, travel agents
(GDS), OTA and metasearch partners, through various sales channels.
 CSTC COLLEGE OF SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY AND
COMMUNICATION, INC.
CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
Quezon R4A
Registrar’s Office: 042 3290850 / 042 7192818
CSTC IT Center: 042 7192805
Atimonan Contact Number: 042 7171420

What does GDS do?

While those involved in hotel management are seeking to increase the amount of
direct bookings they attract, it helps to use a global distribution system to reach a larger
number of clients. This is because the GDS offers a single point of entry to thousands of
travel agents around the world, who can then book hotel rooms for their customers.
Moreover, for a hotel that aims to draw business or corporate travelers, a GDS can
be especially useful. This is because a large number of businesses now turn to a travel
agent to book business travel rather than attempting to book directly, since it can be
easier for them to handle expenses this way.

The differences between CRS and GDS

For a long time, the GDS had a dominant position in the travel industry, but airlines
began selling flights directly from their websites in order to bypass them and thereby
avoid their fees. Another way of circumventing them would be by using direct ties to
distribution organizations such as travel agencies. Today, GDS is in heavy talks with
airlines about every five years over (full) content and delivery fees.
From time to time, airlines and CRSS are also tackling a transition to a new hosting
system (inventory system), but this is much less common as it requires a significant
technical migration with many risks. American Airlines recently abandoned their
suggested migration from Sabre to HP. Mergers also require a transition, too, to a
combined CRS, So what's important: The CRS is typically by the GDS and that's why
the terms associated with GDS and CRS are considered by most individuals. There are
two distinct stages of value production: inventory management (CRS) and distribution.

GDS Core Functions

There were a lot of changes in the airline industry itself from the very start. In the
aviation industry, this also brings developments in information technology and its
applications. Sudden changes, from paperwork to computer technology, in the airline
reservation system have fully transformed global air tourism and transport. Magnetronic
Reservation, which included temporary storage based on a magnetic drum, was
introduced in 1952 as the first electronic reservation system. American Airlines and IBM
powered the originally mechanized reservation system Sabre (semi-automated business
research environment) in 1959 and completed it in 1964 to become the main major
common information processing systems. Sabre was available to operators across the
globe and was incredible in its ability to hold the right stock steadily. After the 1978
deregulation of the airline industry, ARS (Airline Reservation System) became more
applicable to the travel industry.
Global travel companies, airline reservations, and others within a travel business
are enabled by the global distribution system or GDS system to exchange travel
products and services, including hotels, flight tickets, and car rentals.
Usually, a GDS scheme is one of the most important distribution networks for those
in the airline industry since it will make the airline aware of travel agents who would then
be able to book airlines for the benefit of their passengers. This will completely increase
the number of appointments the airline is making at the moment.
The ultimate aim of the GDS is access to a worldwide distribution network. The
system is connected to various airline and travel bureau organizations. The customer
will search for the particular time and destination, and other important emphasis. As the
system is related to such a large number of organizations and airlines, this information
will be taken from all the connected organizations on where and where the customers
wants to go and will be reviewed. It will then be able to return to the customer, who is
the person at the travel office, with accessibility to those organizations. It can also
demonstrate what accessibility is and allow the customer to hold on to it.
 CSTC COLLEGE OF SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY AND
COMMUNICATION, INC.
CSTC College Bldg. Gen. Luna St. Maharlika Hi-way, Pob. 3, Arellano Sub. Sariaya Province of
Quezon R4A
Registrar’s Office: 042 3290850 / 042 7192818
CSTC IT Center: 042 7192805
Atimonan Contact Number: 042 7171420

The advantages that this can offer the organization are quite simple. The travel
organization must follow any organization, each in turn, in order to look for accessibility.
FlightLogic, one of the leading travel technology providers, offers GDS integration for
flight, airline inventory, and tour packages, etc. The integration of flight logic GDS offers
a broad range of data solutions to enable airline to efficiently serve their customers and
market themselves. It is an efficient and cost-effective distribution channel that allows
carrier to extend entertainment and business travel to their customer scope.

III. Application(Performance Task -40%)

Please see your LMS
IV. Assessment(Written Works-30%)
Please refer to your LMS
V. Reflection(Performance Task -40%)
Please refer to your LMS
VI. References
James DC Saycip. Applied Business Tools and Technologies, 2021. ISBN 978-621-8179-24-0.

Prepared by:

PRINCESS AIRENE G. MABULAY

Instructor

Reviewed by: Approved by:

DIANA GRACIA T. EVANGELISTA,M.M. JESS JAY M. SAJISE, DBA

Program Head, School of Tourism & Hospitality Vice President of Academic Affairs External
Management