Going with the flow of the wind, Travel Agency Businesses of all Sizes are today looking around for service providers who can help them with the software design and development of Travel Portal or acquire readymade off-the-solutions to be able to sell online. Doing In-house vs outsourcing vs Software as a Service, all the models can help achieve the same set of results but with restrictions, cost impact and IP ownership questions. While choosing such a provider itself it a trick, we think choosing the right set of suppliers is even more critical.
Talking about Online Sales, one of the very first questions is about the content source which shall be visible on the Online sales Channel (be it a Website or Mobile App or Market Place) typically for Travel Businesses, when they intend to achieve this, develop their own Portal (Travel Portal) which can open the online sales channel, it is one of the early questions asked i.e. what will be the APIs required to be integrated.
Looking around the Travel ecosystem, which is a major contributor to the total e-commerce transactions, Every Content owner is running the race to bring the content online be it Airlines, hotels, Transfers, Sightseeing, Cruise Operators etc in one or the other way. Next in line, the reseller of these services are putting their best efforts to bring the aggregated content online and are making it available to the next line of sellers for easier access, transactions and bookings. In scenarios where the entire supply chain is not automated, the middle layer (Aggregators or consolidators) also is taking the risk of maintaining offline inventory records at their own level and risk, basis certain assumptions and restrictions.
With all this going on, it is one of the very early and important decisions to be taken i.e. what are the various content sources that shall be integrated to bring the content online, available for sales.
In our opinion, the following are must-haves to kick off the Online Sales.
- Services-specific content API (i.e. Flight API for flight services)
- Payment Gateway API (if you are exclusively a B2B player, it may be skipped however Affiliates still want to pay using their Credit/Debit cards/Net Banking as well.
- SMS API – required for sending SMS notifications from Portal.
- EMAIL API – for sending emails.
- For Flights/Airlines, as the standardization is achieved to a great scale, the Choice is between GDS (Amadeus/Galileo/Sabre), Content Consolidators, Aggregators, Direct Airlines and Extranet content API.
While GDS offers full Services Carrier content only, consolidators and Aggregators can offer all the consolidated content in a single API specific to a service type i.e. Flights. For beginners it may be a good start however as you scale up, Priorities and Preferences to change. Some of the Agency businesses are not much bothered about the price sensitivity and are more keen on maintaining the identity with the content owner as well.
A little deep into the GDS Systems, the Global distribution system is a computerized network system operated by a company that enables transactions between travel industries service providers, mainly travel agencies, car rentals, airlines, and hotels. The GDS mainly uses real-time inventory to service providers. GDS in the travel industry originated from a traditional legacy business model that existed to inter-operate between airline vendors and travel agents. During the early days of computerized reservations systems flight ticket reservations were not possible without a GDS.
Travel agents are the primary customers of GDS to make reservations on various reservation systems run by the vendors. The GDSs have adapted to the challenge of content fragmentation by introducing new financial models for airlines and travel agencies and investing in new technology to support airline merchandising and sales of optional services
Below are the major and known GDS operations in India.
- Amadeus
Amadeus is a leading transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, providing transaction processing power and technology solutions to both travel providers (including full-service carriers and low-cost airlines, hotels, rail operators, cruise and ferry operators, car rental companies, travel insurance companies and tour operators) and travel agencies (both online and offline).
Amadeus Offers an easy-to-implement second-generation API i.e. Amadeus Web Services, which is a unique point of access for all Amadeus content and has been built on scalable Open System architecture and Xml formatting to ensure that Travel Business (Specially OTA) always remain at the cutting-edge of architecture and technology.
- Galileo
Travelport is a leading distribution service and e-commerce provider for the global travel industry. Travelport powers the travel industry on a global scale by connecting buyers and sellers through agency, online and corporate travel channels.
Galileo Web Services™ is an application program interface (API) that enables you to seamlessly integrate applications with the Galileo global distribution system (GDS) to create powerful desktop and web-based booking applications. Regardless of your business models and/or connectivity needs, using Web Services you are able to utilize the Internet to implement this low-cost, quick connection between the GDS and your third-party applications, Internet booking engines (IBE), back-office systems and more.
- Sabre Travel Network
Sabre is the leading provider of technology, distribution and marketing services for the travel industry. Over 56,000 Sabre-connected agencies around the world are connected to the Sabre system with instant access to content from airlines, hotels, car rental companies and more. The Sabre GDS features the industry’s robust travel content. They also offer a broad range of products and services that enhance travel agency operations and their ability to serve the traveller. Sabre Travel Network is a subsidiary of Sabre Holdings Corporation with minority equity held by Abacus International.
Customers generally have an active relationship with the GDSs and are largely dependent on advice from the GDS representatives while they choose the product/services though not anyway.
We recommend spending some time on this topic as well so that a judicious decision can be done to meet the expectations and goals of your business.
