A GDS is a tech platform used to compile and distribute real-time hotel inventory to dozens of sales channels, OTAs, travel agency booking systems, tour operators, corporate travel programs and metasearch engines.
Instead of hundreds of booking channels communicating with all hotels in their own unique ways, the GDS serves as a single connection point that takes hotel information and provides it in a uniform manner through set interfaces. This allows that clients don’t need to have a one-to-one integration, they just connect with GDS, and it manages the rest.”
The GDS is not a booking tool. It’s an inventory management and distribution system. When you look for a hotel room on Expedia or request it from your travel agent, the GDS is doing its work behind the scenes providing available inventory, rates and booking rules.
From thousands of hotels around the world, the GDS collects hotel information such as room availability, rates, cancellation policies, and services. This information comes from the Property Management System (PMS) of every hotel the system that hotels use to keep track of reservations and their operations.
Different PMS platforms are in use at hotels, with different data formats. The GDS normalizes all of this data into a common schema so that booking channels downstream get consistent, queryable data. For instance, a Paris hotel showing prices in EUR, a Bangkok hotel in THB or a Miami resort with prices in USD are all converted into same terms that are recognised across the board by any booking channel.
When data is collected and normalized, the GDS delivers it in several ways: API for direct connects, Web Services for OTAs/metasearch engines and XML feeds are used for batch processing; proprietary interfaces serve legacy systems. This multi-channel distribution is what makes GDS the lifeline of hotel distribution worldwide.
Hotels don’t connect directly to the GDS. The connection flows through a channel manager.
Hotel PMS → Channel Manager → GDS
The hotel’s PMS houses the ultimate source of truth for room availability, live rates and booking rules. The channel manager is a tool that works between the PMS and several distribution channels. Its main purpose is to keep current, i.e. download live data out of the PMS and upload it to multiple destinations at once.
Sample channel managers are STAAH, Gimmonix, Octorate and SynXis. They serve important roles:
After a channel manager sends data to the GDS, the system receives inventory updates from thousands of hotels at once, checks it for consistency, stores it in distributed data bases regionally, exposes that store through APIs and is able to route booking requests back to hotels.
Both OTAs (Expedia, Booking. com) and travel agencies reach hotel inventory via the same GDS infrastructure operated according to the same technical flows. The only difference, really, is how the user interface looks: consumer-centric for OTAs and professional for travel agencies.
Booking Channel (OTA or Travel Agency) → Request GDS API → Hotel Inventory Data → Booking Confirmation
When a user searches for hotels:
Whether you are Expedia with millions of consumer bookings, or whether you are a TMC with corporate bookings, both go through the same GDS infrastructure and the same technical flow.
The GDS achieves real-time synchronization between hotels and all booking channels through continuous data flow.
The cycle typically completes within 5-15 minutes, creating near real-time synchronization across all platforms.
These failures create inventory conflicts of rooms that have been sold through one channel but still show up as available on another.
Hotels adjust rates based on a variety of factors: date, type of room, how long you stay, where you book, and cancelation policy. The GDS transmits all of these variables to the booking channels to display accurate pricing.
Example is A 4-star London property may have
The channel manager sends all of those rates to the GDS, which then pushes them out into the marketplace, and consumers see €180 on Booking. com, corporate travel agencies see €160 on Amadeus and budget travelers see €150 no matter the channel.
Booking rules also applied uniformly across all channels: cancellation deadlines, minimum-stays and maximum-stay length, or advance-purchase requirements are consistent.
The GDS operates bidirectionally. When a user reserves using any of the channels:
The GDS operates bidirectionally. When a user reserves using any of the channels:
This process can take 15-60 seconds for the large chains, longer for independent properties. If confirmation is not successful or immediate, the channel could release the booking and appear as “pending”, while the user will receive confirmation later through email message.
Three platforms dominate global hotel distribution:
Most major hotel chains maintain connections to all three GDS platforms simultaneously, ensuring maximum distribution reach.
GDS queries for booking channels:
1. Search parameters are sent via API
2. Query is directed to local/regional data centers
3. Each branch searches for local inventory.
4. Results are compiled and sorted by relevance, price, rating
5. 100-500 matching properties returned
6. Search results are sorted so hotels with direct inventory push, highest commission, special partnership appear in the first clicks.
GDS platforms have real-time inventory (updated every 5-15 minutes), cached rates (refreshed hourly), and historical data for decay analysis. This combined method combines the benefits of both accuracy and speed.
The GDS data replicates in the three regional centers: Americas (US), Europe, Asia-Pacific (Singapore/ Hong Kong). A Paris booking channel serves the European hub, a Sydney one covers Asia-Pacific and reduce latency for both OTAs and travel agencies worldwide
The three major platforms process billions of bookings annually:
GDS channels represent for 40-50% of online hotel bookings worldwide:
This networked flow provides the opportunity for global hotel distribution at scale allowing hotels to distribute to millions through multiple channels and allow consumers access to practically any hotel in the world using desired booking methods.
The GDS is the distribution system that hotels use to tap into all of the hotel booking channels: OTAs, travel agencies, tour operators, and corporate systems. Instead of dealing with multiple connections that need to be managed by each channel, GDS becomes one hub where hotel inventory/ rates/ booking rules are able to be stored and retrieved in real time.
OTAs and travel agents use the same backbone infrastructure and APIs to connect GDSs with (the same) inventory data, routing bookings back through the same network. The only distinction is the user interface consumer end vs professional, but technically they are physically connected, and data out flow in much similar way.
Without the GDS, global hotelier distribution would be impossible or so inefficient it wouldn’t make economic sense. The GDS is the reason why hotels around the world are able to access millions of guests, OTAs and Travel Managers are able to connect with 500,000+ properties in one click , for travelers worldwide to be able to search, compare and book lodging globally, on-demand.
A GDS is a B2B system that connects hotels with travel agents and corporate travel programs, while OTAs are consumer-facing websites like Booking.com where travelers book directly.
Hotels connect indirectly through a channel manager, which links the PMS to the GDS and keeps inventory, rates, and bookings synced in real time.
The top three is Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport (Galileo) covering hundreds of thousands of hotels worldwide.
It expands a hotel’s reach to global travel agents and OTAs, ensures consistent rate visibility, and increases bookings from corporate and international markets.
The PMS sends updates to the channel manager, which pushes them to the GDS. The GDS then distributes this data instantly to all connected booking channels.
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