What is GDS in Travel and its meaning

The GDS meaning is a Global Distribution System that connects tourism service providers such as hotels, airlines, and car rental companies with travel agencies worldwide. In this context, understanding the GDS meaning becomes important for the hotel sector, as the GDS is a significant distribution channel.

How?!

Through Global Distribution Systems, hotels can distribute information on rates, room availability, and other relevant details in real time, making the booking process easier for travel agents and enabling hotels to reach a potentially global audience.

For instance, have you ever been to a travel agency and noticed how your travel agent can book flights, hotels, and other tourist services with a few clicks? Well, he or she was most likely using a GDS. Among the most famous ones, we find Amadeus and Galileo, which are concrete examples of how these systems can improve and simplify the distribution of hotel rooms, further expanding the GDS meaning in the hospitality industry.

What are the benefits of a GDS in hospitality?

Using Global Distribution System in Hospitality offers several advantages in the travel sector.

Firstly – as mentioned – it allows hotels to increase their visibility and reach a wide network of travel agents and potential customers. This translates into greater exposure of the hotel and an increase in bookings.

In addition, a Global Distribution System simplifies the booking process for travel agents, allowing them to quickly compare rates and room availability of different hospitality structures. This encourages more effective collaboration between travel agents and hotels, reinforcing the role of it in hospitality.

How to leverage GDS in hospitality

To make the most of GDS in the travel industry and truly comprehend the GDS meaning, it’s important to adopt some key strategies.

Firstly, hotels should integrate a Booking Engine that interfaces with the Global Distribution System. This allows the management of direct bookings and automatic synchronization of rates and room availability on distribution channels.

Additionally, collaborating with travel agencies and participating in marketing programs with GDS can increase hotel visibility and attract a wider clientele, further emphasizing the importance of the GDS meaning.

Finally, implementing a property management system (Hotel PMS) compatible with the Global Distribution System simplifies the management of bookings and data synchronization, solidifying what GDS means in travel.

OTA vs GDS: What are the differences?

An important question that arises when talking about distribution channels in hospitality is: what distinguishes a GDS from an OTA (Online Travel Agency)?

OTAs, like Booking.com or Expedia, are online platforms directly accessible by travelers. These travelers can search and book flights, hotels, and other tourist services without necessarily going through a travel agency (as the OTAs themselves act as intermediaries between hotels and potential customers, allowing the latter to compare rates and reviews on a structure to make an informed decision).

On the other hand, the GDS is primarily used by travel agencies to book flights, hotels, and car rentals on behalf of their clients. It’s a kind of backstage in the travel booking industry, a hub where travel agencies have access to a vast catalog of travel options.

Therefore, the main difference between GDS hotel and OTAs lies in their nature and approach to distribution.

Global distribution systems are mainly aimed at travel agents and group bookings, facilitating distribution on various channels and providing tools for managing bookings and data synchronization. OTAs, on the other hand, focus primarily on direct booking by travelers, offering a unified platform to find and book rooms in different hotels.

GDS codes: the language of Global Distribution Systems

To function properly, the GDS uses specific codes, known as GDS codes. These codes are used to uniquely identify each hotel within the global distribution system. This means that each hotel has its unique GDS code, greatly simplifying the booking process and reducing the possibility of errors.

Harness the Potential of GDS Hotel with Octorate

The hospitality and tourism industry is a sector in constant evolution. Today, it is essential for hotel to be present on the main distribution channels like the GDS, as you’ve understood from what you’ve read so far.

Did you know that the Channel Manager of Octorate Hotel Division – Octorate’s Hotel Management Software – thanks to robust integrations with some of the most important Global Distribution Systems, allows you to instantly share prices and availability on GDS?!

This way, whether you manage a small B&B or a large resort, you can maximize your online distribution on booking channels worldwide, exploiting all the advantages ensured by Global Distribution Systems!

Book a demo now or start your free trial to see how Octorate can improve your Hotel’s performance!

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Frequently asked questions

Airbnb algorithm: how does it work

First of all, before understanding how Airbnb Reviews can affect the visibility of your property on this platform, it is necessary to understand how Airbnb’s algorithm works.

Whenever a user looks for a vacation rental on Airbnb, this platform acts like a real search engine: it returns results in a certain order.

As it happens with Google, Airbnb’s goal is to return the best possible result in terms of usefulness and user experience and, in this case, the goal is to bring together hosts with travelers that are best suited to their accommodation and vice versa.

The order of the listings, therefore, is not random. It is decreed by an artificial intelligence – that is, an algorithm – that relies on more than 100 different factors to determine which listings are the best available.

The most important ranking factors on Airbnb

At this point, the question naturally comes up: what are the most important ranking factors on Airbnb? Being at the top of page listings, being second or third – as you can imagine – makes all the difference in the world in order to increase the profitability of your property.

So, taking however into account that Airbnb’s algorithm looks at almost 100 factors to determine how search results work, in 2022, the main qualitative characteristics concerning listings to climb organic research are 5:

1. Price
2. Location 
3. Five-star reviews
4. Instant book
5. Quick responses

We can also add:

• Cancellation policy
• Number, quantity and quality of photographs
• Title of the listing, description and type of accommodation
• Facilities that match the needs of the travelers (a best practice is to update all the facilities in your accommodation, paying particular attention to those that are increasingly popular among travelers such as pet-friendly policy, wi-fi, air conditioning, washing machine and TV)
• Competitive daily rate

The Price

Before going into Airbnb reviews, the main ranking factor, let us quickly analyse the other characteristics that reflect the quality and thus the visibility of a listing.

Pricing strategies have a decisive influence on search results.
A recommended way to improve the performance of your listing, for instance, is to offer discounts. On Airbnb, different types of rates and sales promotions can be set up, namely:

• Weekly/Monthy
• Non-Refundable
• Early Bird
• Last Minute

Enhancing listing content with photos

Quality photographs help you show your vacation rental at its best.
More than just a question of image (the cover photo, like the title, are the first and only elements that can encourage a click for travelers looking for accommodation).

In fact, your listings should contain at least 20 photos (preferably even more), concentrating all the best features of the accommodation in the first five photos.

Improving listing content with titles and descriptions

As mentioned, the title of the listing is not only the first business card of your accommodation. In 2022, descriptions on Airbnb should be at least 175 characters or more. In addition, it is essential to set the best type of accommodation for your property.

Five-star reviews

Reviews as a ranking factor

Once we have analysed the importance of aspects such as Price, Promo, Photos and Listing Descriptions, it is now time to address one of the main ranking factors on Airbnb: five-star reviews.

The American OTA is very clear about this: the more satisfied your guests are with their experience, the more five-star reviews your property gets, the higher you rank on travellers’ search queries and you increase your chances of generating further bookings thanks to a high ranking. A true vicious circle.

5 tips to increase five-star reviews on Airbnb

How, then, to improve reviews on Airbnb? It is the platform itself that offers us some valuable tips. Just set the subtitles in your language and watch the video below!?

In the above-mentioned article, Bryan, one of the two superhosts interviewed by Airbnb, explains: “as a host, no matter how luxurious your home is, if you can offer an exceptional stay, your reviews and occupancy rate will be positively affected“.

Together with his wife Catherine, Bryan identifies five key aspects to increase the number of five-star reviews.

1. Clear communication to generate real expectations: your vacation rental doesn’t have to be perfect, but title, description, photos and services should be explained in detail, clearly and accurate, also to prevent any problems that might arise during the stay experience. Basically, try to include all information in your listing. This will also help you find the perfect guests for your accommodation by selecting only travellers who are perfectly suited to the characteristics of your property.
2. Respond as quickly as possible to your guest requests – Responding beyond 24 hours is a totally erroneous practice according to Airbnb’s algorithms, because it is not considered a  quick response. Catherine and Bryan, the two superhosts of the video, did even better: they almost always answer within 5 minutes of the first ring! Impossible? Also consider getting an Airbnb co-host to help you stay on track!
3. Furnishing the vacation rental home to make the guests feel at home– When we explained on this blog how to furnish a vacation rental home,  our first tip was to be express your personality when furnishing and, above all, to aim at “creating a space that represents your personality and your way of conceiving your guest stay experience”. Always bear this in mind!
4. Always take into account the location of your accommodation – Your vacation rental is not a place detached from its context. On the contrary, it is part of a local space (a country, a city, a neighbourhood ) that influences the experience and the perception of your accommodation. Add local products that reflect this context and provide your guests with the opportunity to take advantage of facilities close to you (such as discounted guided tours, gift cards for restaurants, bars, cafes, transport services and anything else that can be useful to give your guests a truly unforgettable experience)
5. Being ready to manage unexpected events – Despite all efforts to receive good reviews on Airbnb, the unexpected is always just around the corner. It is important to always be prepared! First of all, if something unpleasant should happen (the breakage of an appliance, the malfunction of a certain service, for example) always consider providing a refund or a gift, to sugarcoat a stay that was not outstanding/special. Also in this case, the help of a co-host can facilitate your resilience in dealing with an unexpected situation.

To further enhance the guest experience and garner positive reviews, having a solid Bed and Breakfast business plan can be instrumental in setting clear objectives and operational guidelines for your Airbnb listing.

Airbnb guest reviews

There is also another very effective way to improve your reviews: Airbnb guest reviews, that is, writing feedback yourself to guests who have stayed in your property.

Never done it?! Well, it is a very profitable practice! First of all, by writing a review on your host before him, you could activate what is called the coherence principle.
Having received a positive or excellent evaluation – if the stay, of course, was truly smooth – the traveller would be encouraged to return the evaluation, enhancing the positive aspects of the stay or softening the negative ones.

Furthermore, Airbnb guest reviews are a classic play unexpected, useful to surprise the host for the treatment he or she received. Travellers, in fact, rarely expect so much attention to such a detail from the host. A surprise effect that could trigger a useful chain reaction!

5 Examples of positive reviews for Airbnb guests

So, what to write in a Airbnb guest review? What aspects should you focus on? Try starting from these 5 sentences to build a five-star relationship with your guests:

1. [Guests name] were fantastic! They were respectful, friendly and quiet. I would recommend them to anyone who wants to welcome pleasant and polite guests. I would host them again without any doubt. 100% recommended!
2. [Guest name] was a really super host: well mannered, respectful and very polite. Any future Airbnb host should think about welcoming them. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your journey!
3. Perfect house, just as it was left. Thank you for your kindness! I look forward to welcoming you back again. You will always be welcome!
4. It is always a pleasure to host people like [Guest name]! Highly recommended to any host: respectful of the rules described in the listing and very polite. Very positive experience. Highly recommended!
5. All of my house rules were respected with [Guest name]. The stay was very pleasant. I highly recommend them to other hosts!

Manage Airbnb reviews with Octorate

Now that you have figured out how to get better and better reviews, you’re ready to reach the top of Airbnb’s organic search!

However, there is one last aspect to consider in order to increase your guests’ satisfaction even more.

For example, did you know that you can now manage all your Airbnb reviews directly from Octorate?
This means that, without ever entering the extranet portal, you can answer, report and monitor the status of all your reviews coming from the reservations of this platform, along with everything you manage using our Channel Manager, Booking Engine, PMS o RMS!

In this way, you can perfectly manage the entire post-stay phase of your guests, building their loyalty by encouraging upselling or fixing a difficult experience, saving valuable time.

If you still don’t use Octorate, why don’t you book a free demonstration? One of our experts will be happy to examine your specific situation and propose an ad hoc solution to improve the management of your accommodation!

Frequently asked questions