When you break it down, hotel distribution is a complicated labyrinth of massive databases, each with its own purpose. Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport (which includes Galileo, Worldspan, and Apollo), connect a database of hotel inventory to travel agents around the world.
Travel agents and tour operators continue to make up a substantial portion of world-wide travel revenue, and an even more significant portion of corporate bookings. Travel agents book 22x more hotels than a consumers, and GDS usage is on the rise amongst travel agents worldwide (Source: 2019 Global Travel Agent Study).
Some of the core benefits of GDS distribution for hotels include:
- Increased corporate bookings
- Reach new geographic regions
- Boost brand awareness
Content Manager + GDS
Two-thirds of travel agents reference property photos while conducting research for clients, and another 22% reference photos while actively on the phone. High quality, accurate images are essential to winning over this growing market. Amongst travel agents, GDS usage is growing at a faster rate than other booking channels (Source: 2019 Global Travel Agent Study).
We deliver hotel photos to all major GDS through Content Manager. We have had strong partnerships with the GDSs for nearly two decades, which means we’re able to stay on top of trends and any GDS changes or requirements.
We have industry-leading property matching that ensures consistent, reliable display. Our image feeds are automated and normalized to ensure regular, reliable updates. We also harmonize information received from properties with the information GDS’ have about properties to reduce distribution errors.
Best Practices for Images on GDS
- Follow our general best practice guidelines for image quality and quantity
- Properly categorize all of your images as images tagged “other” are not ingested or displayed by GDS
- Sequence images first and foremost to help tell your property’s visual ‘story’ in a way that makes coherent sense
- Organize your images in Content Manager to provide a clear overview of the experience a travel agent can pass along to their guests
If you have any questions about how your content is delivered to GDS’, contact your Account Manager.