Agents Set to Break Record for GDS Hotel Bookings This Year
by Michele McDonald /Brick-and-mortar travel agents are on track to set a new record this year for hotel bookings made through GDSs, according to TravelClick, a provider of cloud-based revenue optimization tools for the hotel industry.
A new study of more than 900 travel agents in 48 countries around the world correlates with TravelClick’s own hard data, which predicts that agents will book an additional 1 million hotel rooms in 2015.
That will bring the total to 62 million, “more than they were booking when there were 36,000 travel agencies,” John Hach, the company’s senior industry analyst, said.
The planets have been all aligned for a new record.
The Internet has matured, and the novelty of booking travel online has worn off for many travelers, Hach said.
The GDS companies have been aggregating new content to provide a better selection of hotels through deals with companies like HRS, which brought tens of thousands of properties, many of them independents in Europe, into the GDS channel. The GDSs also have engaged in “creative exercises” such as bringing in non-GDS content from online agencies, he said.
Hotels, recognizing that traditional agents deliver bookings at the highest average daily rate of all channels, have done a good job of keeping agents on their radar, he said. And the fact that occupancy is up helps, too. “It’s a good time to be a hotelier.”
Meanwhile, travel agents are doing a better job of being consumer advocates, Hach said. For example, they will “actively work” to save their corporate clients money. More than half said they actively book away from hotels that do not offer their best rates within the GDS.
Travelers “derive greater value” from the agency channel, Hach said. “That’s good news: It’s reassuring to know that the agent is working for you.”
The irony is that for two decades, pundits have predicted the demise of both the GDS industry and the traditional travel agency through disintermediation by the Internet, he said. Instead, both have reinvented themselves.
GDSs have become much more effective as “the one-stop shop,” he said.
With the end of base airline commissions, agencies have moved to a fee-based business model with a focus on what consumers want.
“Disintermediation never happened,” Hach said.