What is Worldspan GDS?
Worldspan is a travel distribution company that utilises its global distribution system (GDS) to allow travel agents and other travel professionals to search, book and manage reservations on behalf of their clients.
Worldspan commands a significant market share amongst GDS vendors, so can be a significant source of bookings and revenue for travel service providers like hotels.
Does Worldspan GDS still exist?
Worldspan most certainly still exists, though it has evolved from an airline-centric platform to a more general travel booking system that handles bookings for hotels, car hire and other travel services too.
It is also now owned by Travelport, one of the three leading global GDS vendors (along with Sabre and Amadeus).
In this article we’ll take a closer look at Worldspan through the lens of a hotel looking to attract more bookings from a channel like the GDS. We’ll also answer a few key questions along the way: ‘how does Worldspan GDS work?’, ‘what are the Worldspan GDS advantages for hotels?’ and more.
Table of contents
Why engage a GDS partner like SiteMinder to access Wordspan?
As a key GDS vendor, Worldspan represents an incredible opportunity for a hotel to get in front of new customers, through a connectivity partner like SiteMinder.
Worldspan is used by over 16,000 travel agents, tour operators and corporate travel consultants, all of whom are looking to book accommodation for their clients. In the case of corporate travel, the resulting bookings can often fill mid-week lulls for your hotel, and can be large, long, low effort and high value.
By gaining access to Worldspan via a connectivity partner like SiteMinder GDS, you gain access to this valuable source of potential bookings.
What are the benefits of Worldspan for hotels?
Why offer hotel inventory through Worldspan? This GDS vendor offers a few unique benefits, including:
- Travelport integration: Worldspan is owned by Travelport, which is one of the three biggest GDS vendors. Any hotel listed on Worldspan is also automatically listed on the two other platforms that Travelport owns: Galileo and Apollo.
- Huge reach: Worldspan is used by tens of thousands of travel agents in 180 different countries.
- Higher value bookings: The corporate travel booked through Worldspan can be less price-sensitive than leisure travel, and mid-week bookings are more likely.
Gain access to every major GDS vendor with SiteMinder
Why limit yourself to Worldspan? With the help of SiteMinder GDS, you can connect your hotel to all of the major vendors – Travelport, Sabre and Amadeus – to generate more visibility, bookings and revenue than ever before.
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The evolution of Worldspan GDS software
Worldspan was created in 1990 as a joint venture between Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and TWA. The idea was to build on the success of TWA PARS, which became the first travel agency-accessible GDS way back in 1976. Worldspan GDS was designed to grant even easier airline ticket access to travel agents from around the world than its predecessor did.
It proved an instant success, and was eventually sold by its owner airlines in 2003, and again in 2007, ultimately landing in Travelport’s hands.
Since 2007 Worldspan has expanded to offer more than just airline tickets. Travel agents can now book hotel rooms, and any hotel listed on Worldspan is also listed on Travelport’s other platforms, such as Apollo and Galileo (which has historically been more hotel-oriented).
Worldspan GDS: How does it work?
As a hotel, you don’t connect or deal directly with Worldspan. You must work with a connectivity partner, such as SiteMinder GDS, to gain access and list your hotel on the various vendors that offer inventory to travel professionals that use the GDS.
With that in mind, here are some basics on how Worldspan works from the point of view of a hotel.
Real-time hotel inventory
Working through a solution such as SiteMinder’s channel manager, you can update the inventory, rates and availability you offer through Worldspan in real time. To take full advantage, you should choose a connectivity partner that fully integrates with your PMS and other key systems to automate the process of updating your offerings.
Seamless booking and confirmation processes
On the travel agent end of Worldspan, the booking process is seamless. Once a room is selected, the system automatically generates a booking confirmation that includes details like check-in/check-out dates, room type, rates and cancellation policies. On the hotel side, you need to ensure that your policies and rate plans (refundable, non-refundable, packages) are clear and correctly configured.
Corporate travel management tools
Worldspan allows hotels to cater to corporate travellers, which can form a particularly lucrative segment for your business. Using SiteMinder GDS you can offer better corporate rates and offer business-friendly perks like flexible cancellation terms, late check-out options, and workspace-friendly rooms, then restrict these deals to authorised travel agencies or corporate clients.
Maximising visibility through global reach
As a Travelport vendor, Worldspan boasts incredible reach. The network is used by tens of thousands of travel agents spanning nearly every country on earth. And when you connect to Worldspan/Travelport through SiteMinder GDS, you also secure connections with the world’s largest GDS vendors: Amadeus and Sabre.
How Worldspan GDS works with hotel systems
By connecting to Worldspan through a connectivity partner like SiteMinder, you’ll also have access to a whole ecosystems of solutions including PMS integration.This will allow much of the inventory management and admin to be automated: you can update your pricing and availability across all your distribution channels in real time, rather than one by one, and any bookings made are automatically updated in the relevant systems.
SiteMinder GDS also gives you connectivity to all major GDS vendors – not just Travelport/Worldspan, but Sabre and Amadeus too.