The managed travel industry is looking toward an omni-channel future where airlines may do direct connects with an agency or even direct with a corporate online booking tool. A technology-first travel management company could establish itself as a hub of direct connects, but “NDC” and “direct connect” are not synonymous, especially now, as GDSs dive into the NDC initiative. Traditional TMCs could leverage GDSs for the majority of content through traditional pipes but also leverage these partners for certain personalized content through NDC pipes. Air content aggregators will continue to play a significant role. Chal-lenges remain: Interlining with additional carriers for one itinerary, servicing bookings at the TMC level and pushing trip data into back-office systems for reporting. Additional technology will have to solve those problems.
The managed travel industry is looking toward an omni-channel future where airlines may do direct connects with an agency or even direct with a corporate online booking tool. A technology-first travel management company could establish itself as a hub of direct connects, but “NDC” and “direct connect” are not synonymous, especially now, as GDSs dive into the NDC initiative. Traditional TMCs could leverage GDSs for the majority of content through traditional pipes but also leverage these partners for certain personalized content through NDC pipes. Air content aggregators will continue to play a significant role. Chal-lenges remain: Interlining with additional carriers for one itinerary, servicing bookings at the TMC level and pushing trip data into back-office systems for reporting. Additional technology will have to solve those problems.
  • Central reservation systems moved to the cloud to deliver consistent content to multiple distribution channels.

  • Cloud-based property management systems can bypass CRSs, but the small size and local nature of PMS companies, of which there are hundreds globally, limits their ability to keep up with changes in the distribution landscape.

  • Channel managers emerged as a way for CRSs and PMSs to distribute their inventory across multiple channels more effectively.

  • Before channel managers, switches directed content to multiple global distribution systems, but now they serve as alternative channel managerss

  • Innovators are looking at technology like blockchain to disintermediate switches, GDSs, wholesalers and aggregators and give hotels tighter relationships with the end user.


Acknowledgments: Created with assistance from Arise co-founder & CEO Nadim El Manawy & the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association.