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Knowledgebase : Online Bookings > GDS and OTA Channels
The Global Distribution System (GDS) is an international, interconnected network of traditional travel agents and online travel agent (OTA) websites. Because the traditional GDS systems are only a fraction of the ways people research and book travel these...
TO CANCEL A BOOKING FROM MY WEBSITE When a booking comes from your website or any other non-commissionable sales channel, then follow the instructions below for cancelling. If a booking is an OTA or GDS booking, and needs to be canceled or modified, fo...
OTA (Online Travel Agent) Contract Rate programs are direct contracts between your property and a mass internet travel agent such as Booking.com, Hotwire, Expedia, and Priceline, as well as dozens of others. This direct contract enables you to build a per...
ONLINE BOOKING CANCELLATIONS AND FEES (WEBSITE, GDS OR OTA CHANNELS) Any booking made outside your property, or via your website, through the GDS or OTA Channels, are considered the primary travel relationship (or channel) between the guest and that GDS/...
GDS or Website Listing After a Name Change When a property changes a name (even a minor change), it usually means a change of ownership. Thus, the property is going to have to be 'vetted' by all the consumer websites and added to their editorial processe...
BookingCenter gives you the flexibility to allocate special rates, rooms, and number of rooms to each specific agent. This is especially helpful when off-setting some costs that come with certain agents. RATE LOADING FOR AGENTS (ALSO KNOWN AS CHANNELS):...
HEDNA is the organization that regulates the major GDS systems. To switch from one provider to a new one (such as BookingCenter) the process is defined so as to impact a minimum 'down time' for a property in the GDS' (usually no more than an hour or two) ...
Why can properties OFAC Sanctioned Countries not get listed on some travel sites? Because a great deal of the major travel distribution systems are USA-based corporations, they must follow the law of the OFAC Sanctions Program ( http://www.ustreas.gov/of...
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO CANCEL, MODIFY, OR 'NO SHOW' A GDS OR OTA BOOKING? * If a guest contacts you directly to modify or cancel a future reservation, please direct them to make the modification or cancellation with the agent they created the booking...
WILL MY PROPERTY APPEAR ON ALL MAJOR GDS TRAVEL WEBSITES? WHICH TRAVEL SITES ARE THESE? There is not a good way to tell when (or if) a property is fully populated on all the GDS related travel websites. Each GDS-fed travel company pulls/extracts in a fre...
The on-line travel business is a very dynamic and continually evolving. Currently, there are four chief criteria to gain visible placement and improve your exposure; however, nothing is ever guaranteed. The very complex 'algorithms' that determine your pl...
Exterior images/pictures of the property only show on Orbitz and Expedia for those properties participating in the Orbitz Saver Program or the equivalent Expedia NetRate Program. The Orbitz Saver Program is the Orbitz 'NetRate' Program. Details to part...
WHY IS MY PROPERTY’S MARKETING INFORMATION NOT SHOWING CORRECTLY ON THE GLOBAL BOOKING NETWORK? The Global Booking Network obtains your property's profile (marketing information, policy information, images, etc) directly from the information contai...
How long does it take for the Global Booking Network to update my new information (such as location description, policy message, room types, and images)? Once our Distribution partners have updated your new information, it can take anywhere from 1 minute...
HOW CAN BOOKINGCENTER HELP YOU GET BETTER PLACEMENT? 1. Analyze the rates that are being offered to customers for comparative properties in your area and meet or exceed them. BookingCenter offers the Marketing Services Organization (MSO) which tracks y...
WHAT OTHER RATE PLAN STRATEGIES CAN YOU EMPLOY TO INCREASE YOUR ON-LINE BOOKINGS? There are essential four major rate strategies that can be employed for participation on the GDS and Pegasus channels. These include: 1. Rack and Promotion only 2. Disco...
WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WHEN I UPDATE MY PROPERTY’S INFORMATION (ROOMS, RATES, POLICY, MARKETING INFORMATION, IMAGES, ETC)? The Global Booking Network has a 'real time' link to BookingCenter with respect to your rates and availability calendar. Un...
It is not infrequent that we receive a question from a customer - the guest checked in and said they paid Expedia/Travelocity/etc and they don't need to pay me. Is this correct? The answer to this question is simple: If you have NOT signed a specific co...
HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE IN THE AGODA.COM NETRATE PROGRAM? [HTTPS://DOCS.BOOKINGCENTER.COM/DISPLAY/MYPMS/AGODA+NET+RATE+PROGRAM] Agoda is one of Asia's top hotel booking sites. Please find the steps below to enrol your hotel with Agoda. Once you are live al...
HOW TO DETERMINE WHAT SOURCE GENERATED A BOOKING: WEBSITE, GDS NETWORK, OTACONTRACTRATE, NEGOTIATED RATE, IN-HOUSE PROMOTIONS? Because bookings come from BookingCenter form numerous places, it can be hard to differentiate between different types of booki...
It is not uncommon for a customer who is switching to BookingCenter to already use another company's Channel Manager to connect to an OTA Contract Rate, such as Booking.com or Expedia. To avoid disruptions or problems, you will have to inform your Marke...
All GDS booking will have a similar confirmation number. Something like 9M519LP2AN1W (a mix of letters and numbers). The GDS entity that makes the booking usually has no reference to this booking number and instead reference their own internally created b...
WEBINAR RECORDING - JULY 9, 2014 TAKE THE NEXT STEP IN GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION. GET MORE OUT OF YOUR OTA CHANNELS! The BookingCenter Contract Rates Program facilitates a direct connection for preferred placement on major OTA search engines like Booking.co...
If you have joined the GDS Network, but you are finding that your GDS bookings may not be populating as much as you would like them to be, here are a few tips: 1.) Make your GDS profile more descriptive, exact, well-rounded. Make sure to describe your r...
WHY IS THERE A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE RESERVATIONS CREATED TIME AS DISPLAYEDIN MYPMS AND THEBOOKING.COM EXTRANET? If you are a Booking.com OTA Contract Rate property that is interfacing with BookingCenter's PMS software, you may see that there is a dis...
BookingCenter's products - MyPMS, Desktop PMS, and Channel Manager Tool - can maintain separate deposit and cancellation policies in the following places: * Inside your PMS (for example, one confirm letter has a 50% deposit and another can be setup to ...
BookingCenter maintains a certified, 2-way complete PMS interface to the SynXis CRS and the Sabre Hospitality systems, based on the HTNG OTA certification spec. Each year we have to update the certification with Sabre, and we use this location to post our...
Currently SynXis does not support restrictions via derived rates. Rates from BookingCenter to SynXis for derived rates will correctly display, but not restrictions (Closed to Arrival, minimum length of stay, closed flag). For example, if you are sending...
We offer a full host of online distribution connections and programs. Boost your online marketing strategy with GDS Distribuiton, OTA Connections, and Meta Search. Offer unique rates and availability to multiple online channels with our Channel Manager ...
Manage and prepare for OVER bookings from Networks such as OTAs and GDS' All BookingCenter systems have a Room, a Room Type, and Rate called OVER. None of these can be edited or deleted, as the Central Reservation Service uses these to assign any
If you are using the "Reservation request" feature of airbnb, and a guest made a reservation request prior to making the booking, Airbnb _holds_ that room availability for 24hrs. This gives the guest a booking _if they_ confirm within that 24 hour time pe...
Sometimes Booking.com sends a fax or email to you when we can't pick up the message. These events usually happen due to network congestion or errors on Booking.com's side. We see them once in awhile, and there is nothing we can do about this, as Booking.c...
Booking.com has a feature called 'auto replenish'. With the auto-replenishment feature is set to Yes (or activated), when a reservation is canceled in Booking.com, the canceled room or unit immediately becomes available. We do not recommend having this fe...