SiteMinder brings GDS representation in-house as hotel customers more than triple in one year

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Dallas, USA – Almost 900 hotels located in the world’s top destinations are poised to receive personalised GDS sales and marketing representation from the global hotel industry’s leading cloud platform. SiteMinder announced its new service at the 49th GBTA Convention Sunday on the back of a year that has seen its GDS connectivity solution, ‘GDS by SiteMinder’, gain its own chain code and more than triple in hotel users.

Through sales and marketing representation, those hotels can now access a network of GDS experts based in London, Paris, Munich, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Sydney that will work with travel buyers on their behalf to increase hotel brand exposure and revenue.

Jason Lewis-Purcell, Vice President, GDS at SiteMinder, says, “There is a tendency to overlook global distribution systems in today’s digital age, but the truth is they are still some of the highest performing sales and marketing channels for hotels. Over the past year, GDS by SiteMinder powered nearly 200,000 reservations worth over US$60 million in hotel revenue, showing how effective global distribution systems are in bringing guests hotels wouldn’t otherwise attract, especially from Monday to Friday when properties need business most.”

A former hotel sales and marketing director and 20-year hospitality industry veteran, Mr Lewis-Purcell has spearheaded SiteMinder’s dedicated GDS function over the last 12 months, growing the total number of GDS by SiteMinder hotel users from 250 to almost nine hundred. The hotels are located in the world’s top business travel destinations, including Barcelona, Berlin, London and Paris in Europe; Chicago, Los Angeles and New York in the United States; and Bangkok, Hong Kong, Sydney and Taipei in the Asia Pacific.

“SiteMinder has always known the crucial role the GDS plays, but we wanted to bring the legacy system into the modern world. GDS by SiteMinder uniquely brings cloud-based technology together with legacy GDSs that are as relevant today as they were thirty years ago, to provide hotels an incomparable total distribution platform. It’s now used by about sixty percent more hotels than our industry’s most renowned soft brands.”

GDS by SiteMinder provides hotels a single point of entry to the world’s major global distribution system providers – Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport – and travel agent network. In addition to sales and marketing representation, hotel users of the GDS connection receive free consortia advice, account management and local customer support.

Travel agents can find hotels listed through the connection by using the ‘GD’ chain code.

Media contact
Maria Franco
+61 2 8031 1287
media@siteminder.com

About SiteMinder
As the leading cloud platform for hotels, SiteMinder allows hotels to attract, reach and convert guests across the globe. We serve hotels of all sizes with award-winning solutions for independents and groups alike, wherever they are in the world.

SiteMinder’s products include The Channel Manager, the industry’s leading online distribution platform; TheBookingButton, a wholly-branded booking engine for direct bookings via the web, mobile or social; Canvas, the intelligent website creator for independent hoteliers; Prophet, the real-time market intelligence solution that takes the guesswork out of pricing rooms; and GDS by SiteMinder, a single-point of entry to a six-figure network of travel agents and the world’s major global distribution systems. With more than 26,000 hotel customers and 550 of the industry’s top connectivity providers as our partners, today we have presence in more than 160 countries on six continents.

For more information, visit www.siteminder.com.