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...
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