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      FAQ - GDS Glossary

      An alphabetical list of words relating to GDS

      The following glossary provides some useful definitions of GDS terminology.

       
      ACRONYM / TERM WHAT IT MEANS
      Amadeus A GDS Provider, serving over 200 markets around the world. Amadeus serves many different companies including airlines, travel agents, hotel operators and car rental companies.
      Abacus GDS system provided by Sabre
      ADS Alternative Distribution Site
      Apollo Apollo is a Global Distribution System (GDS) operated by Galileo International. Marketed in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa under the Galileo name and in the United States. Canada, Mexico, and Japan as Apollo.
      Central Reservations System (CRS) A Central Reservations System is a computerised reservation software used to maintain hotel information, room inventory and rates and book for a group of hotels. It allows the booking of multiple hotels from a central point. Benefits include having a central database of guest, travel agent and company profiles, cross selling to alternative properties as well as reporting. It can also be called a database distribution system, since the CRS of a hotel transfers data to the distribution channels.
      Chain Code The two-character code used to identify hotel chains within a GDS. Chain codes may vary by GDS.
      Chargeback Authority Generally used by a Travel Agency when giving a hotel authority to charge a third party corporate credit card. This is usually in the form of a written letter of authority advising payment instructions for a guest's stay.
      City Code 3-letter IATA code of a location that identifies the city or its' nearest airport
      Consortia Marketing organisations that link together small to medium sized independent travel agencies to leverage purchasing power and marketing opportunities.
      Corporate Rates (COR) Corporate Rates are different to Negotiated Rates, Corporate rates are generally accessible by all travel agents using a 'Corporate' search qualifier. Hotels generally offer discounts to corporate guests to get business into their hotel. Usually, some form of identification that the guest is travelling for business is required. These rates need to be loaded with the 'Corporate' indicator in Genares.
      Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Customer relationship management is a model for managing a company’s interactions with current and future customers. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronise sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support.
      Deposit A 'Deposit' implies that a specified amount will be charged for the customer's stay, in order to secure a booking.
      Derived Rates Rates that are linked to, and track another rate. Eg CONBTI linked to CONAMX but 5% less
      Galileo A global distribution system serving users in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. The Galileo system is managed by Galileo International, a subsidiary of Cendant Corporation, and uses “RoomMaster” for hotel bookings. It's parent company is Travelport.
      GDS Global Distribution System
      Geo-coding The process of defining locations using degrees of longitude and latitude.
      Government Rates (GOV) Government Rates are different to Negotiated Rates, Government rates are generally accessible by all travel agents using a 'Government' search qualifier. Hotels generally offer discounts to Government and non for profit employees guests to get business into their hotel. Usually, some form of identification that the guest is travelling for these purposes is required.
      Group PCC Identifier that distinguishes a whole group of agencies. A Pseudo-city code (PCC) is usually a three to five character code (alpha, numeric, or combination) depending upon the GDS. PCCs are necessary when adding negotiated rates, as these rates can be “defined” or secured to an agency by using their PCC.
      Group Rate Negotiated hotel rate for convention, trade show, meeting, tour or incentive group.
      Guarantee Credit card guarantee is the standard process for most bookings received from Travel Agent systems (GDS). Some properties also allow a Guarantee to be made using an agents IATA Number, however – this is generally not advised unless the property already has a trusted relationship with that agency. It is advised when a booking is received that pre clearance is sought from the credit card vendor for the cancellation fee. This way the hotel knows if there is an issue with the credit card before guest arrival. The Guarantee is not necessarily the Credit Card being used to pay for booking, but a security of payment for the hotel.
      Guaranteed Reservation A hotel reservation secured by a credit card number or Travel agent IATA. In exchange for card number or IATA, the hotel  promises to have a room for traveller no matter when you show up
      Non-guaranteed Reservation Insures that the hotel agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated reservation cancellation hour (Usually 6 p.m.) on the day of arrival
      IATA International Air Transport Association (IATA) – Geneva-based association of airline companies that operate international services and establish standard practices. IATA accredits would-be travel agents throughout the world. This certification includes issuance of an ID-code, termed an IATA number. IATA numbers are used as the travel agent identifier in reservations to allow suppliers, including hotels, to pay commissions.
      Internet Distribution System (IDS) Distribution using the Internet, World Wide Web, Intranets, extranets and on-line services.
      Lanyon (CVent) A a tool (marketplace) used to receive and to respond to RFPs from Consortia, Travel Managers (TMCs) Corporations. 
      Leisure Travel Travel for recreational, educational, sightseeing, relaxing and other experiential purposes.
      Markup The difference between the hotels selling and the merchant’s price offered to the consumer.
      Negotiated Rate A term used in global distribution systems to describe rates negotiated by a hotel company with a specific client. Viewership of these rates in the GDS (by a travel agent or other GDS user) is restricted, and the rate may be booked only after entry of either the agent or client identification code.
      Net Rate Generally used to describe a rate which does not offer commission to the Travel Agent. Also, the rate provided to wholesalers and tour operators that can be marked up to sell to the customer.
      Next Generation Seamless GDS Connectivity  An interface or connection between a CRS system and the four major GDS channels. The term “Next Generation Seamless” is used to illustrate the tight, reliable integration between a CRS and a GDS.
      No Show A customer with a reservation who fails to show up and does not cancel.
      Online Distributon Database (ODD) The Online Distribution Database that contains basic hotel information which is supplied 
      to those websites that use the Pegasus Booking Engine (via the Pegasus Switch)
      Office ID [See Pseudo City Code (PCC)]
      Online Booking Tool (OBT) or Online Booking Engine (OBE) An online self-booking tool that serves every aspect of corporations’ travel needs through a single entry point. Corporations keep the control of their corporate travel programmes and apply rules surrounding their corporate travel policies, preferred suppliers and negotiated rates, into one website while cutting their travel costs down. In terms of GDS, these self booking systems generally run as an interface for the GDS system. They also commonly have separate PCCs / Office IDs which are different to the travel agencies manual GDS. Popular corporate booking tools include, AETM (Amadeus E-Travel Management), KDS Portal (By Travelport), Sabre Online, GetThere (by Sabre), Concur Expense Management Tool and Serko. Major Travel Agencies may have developed their own self booking tools, for example – The Flight Centre Group created – Phoenix. Generally Travel Agencies offer these portals to save costs and time for both the Travel Agency and the Corporation with cheaper transaction fees. It is also implied that these tools allow the customer to make more informed choices on their travel bookings and costs.
      Online Travel Agencies (OTA) Websites offering comprehensive travel shopping and Reservations Solutions to consumers.  Examples include Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline, and many local and regional sites.
      Passenger Name Record (PNR) The GDS file or record that contains information about a passenger’s travel plans, including flight itinerary, hotel booking segments, car rental booking segments, and related details.
      Pegasus Distribution service offers "seamless connectivity" between the GDSs (above) and the hotel central reservations systems through its GDS Seamless Interface. This allows travel agents to "search and shop" for the right hotel room on a real-time basis.
      Pegasus distributes hotel inventory, rates and content across different sales channels to include direct bookings via hotels’ branded websites, voice, travel agents (GDS), online travel agents (OTAs) and metasearch partners.
      Property Management System (PMS) The application used by the hotel to control onsite property activities such as check in/out, folios, guest profiles, room status, requests, etc. PMSs can have interfaces between other applications such as the hotel point-of-sale (POS) or central reservations system (CRS).
      Pseudo-City Code (PCC) Identifier that distinguishes one travel agency location from another and can also be referred to as a Subscriber ID. A Pseudo-city code (PCC) is usually a three to five character code (alpha, numeric, or combination) depending upon the GDS. PCCs are necessary when adding negotiated rates, as these rates can be “defined” or secured to an agency by using their PCC.
      Rate Access Code (RAC) A unique Rate Plan code used by travel agencies to access a specific corporate rate in the GDS
      RELOC (Record Locator) When a passenger, travel agent or airline employee refers to a record locator they typically mean a pointer to a specific reservation which is known as a Passenger Name Record or PNR.
      Example record locators for the GDS are RMT33W, KZVGX5, IIRCYC.
      Request for Proposal (RFP) RFP means Request for Proposal. A company’s formal solicitation for bids on business from suppliers such as travel agencies, hotels or car rental companies.
      Run Of House (ROH)  Refers to a basic room type with no guarantee of specific amenities.
      Sabre A GDS offered by Sabre Holdings. Sabre Holdings is a provider of travel technology services and electronic travel distribution for the travel and transportation industries.
      Self Booking Tool (SBT) An online self-booking tool that serves every aspect of corporations’ travel needs through a single entry point. Corporations keep the control of their corporate travel programmes and apply tules surrounding their corporate travel policies, preferred suppliers and negotiated rates, into one website while cutting their travel costs down. In terms of GDS, these self booking systems generally run as an interface for the GDS system. They also commonly have separate PCC's / Office ID's which are different to the travel agencies manual GDS. Popular corporate booking tools include, AETM (Amadeus E-Travel Management), KDS Portal (By Travelport), Sabre Online, GetThere (by Sabre) and Concur Expense Management Tool. Major Travel Agencies may have developed their own self booking tools, for example – The Flight Centre Created – Phoenix. Generally Travel Agencies offer these portals to save costs and time for both the Travel Agency and the Corporation with cheaper transaction fees. It is also implied that these tools allow the customer to make more informed choices on their travel bookings and costs.
      SME SME Small and/or medium-sized business/es
      Subscriber Identification (SID) A unique 3-character code assigned to an agency by Worldspan. Each branch of an agency has its own unique SID. 
      Essentially, this is the Worldspan term for a Pseudo-City Code (PCC).
      Switch Moving from one GDS provider to another, involving a change in GDS Chain Code.
      TMC A TMC is a Travel Management Company. The agencies that are part of a TMC are either owned or are affiliated with that specific TMC. TMCs can mandate policy to their agencies. TMCs invest in corporate self booking tools, back office technology and concentrate on accumulating large to medium local, national and multinational corporate clients and servicing their accounts.
      Travel Agency Commission Settlement Program (TACS) A product that provides a service which assists properties to reconcile and pay all travel agent commissions with the TACSnet electronic commission settlement program. Genares can provide this via TACSnet who provides travel agents one consolidated payment in their country’s currency. Hotels and travel agents receive detailed online reports that serve to expedite commission settlement and eliminate the tedious and time-consuming manual payment process. Travel agents are more inclined to book with hotels using an automated commission settlement program and hotels appreciate the efficiency of a streamlined payment process.
      Travelport Travel Commerce Platform, focused on providing distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the $7 trillion global travel and tourism industry. It enables travel providers, travel agencies, corporations and developers to search, share, buy and sell travel. Travelport includes Travelport Apollo, Travelport Galileo and Travelport Worldspan, Travelport Digital
      Vouchers Forms or coupons provided to a traveler who purchases a tour that indicate that certain tour components have been prepaid. Vouchers are then exchanged for tour components like accommodations, meals, sightseeing, theatre tickets, etc. during the actual trip.
      Wholesaler Develop and markets inclusive tours and individual travel programs to the consumer through travel agents. Wholesalers do not sell directly to the public, however - may access the GDS to make their bookings.
      Worldspan Is a GDS that provides software used by travel agents to book airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, etc. Worldspan was formed in early 1990 when Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, and Trans World Airlines decided to merge their reservations systems into a single system. It's parent company is Travelport.