British University of Nicosia Computer Systems in Travelling Industry I

Home , ATPCO, EDreams, First class (aviation), Flight tracking, Opodo, Passenger name record

British University of Nicosia Faculty of Business School of Tourism and Hotel Management

Computer Systems in Travelling Industry I

TRZM105

Instructor:

Assist. Prof. Dr. Hossein Olya

Email: [email protected]

Webpage: www.olyah.com

2015-2016 Academic Year, Fall Semester

Table of Contents

Travel Technology ...... 4 Travel Technology Applications ...... 5 Travel Technology Growth ...... 5 Computer reservations system ...... 6 History...... 6 Remote access ...... 6 Travel agent access ...... 8 Global Distribution System...... 10 Easy Connectivity ...... 12 Automatic Content Update ...... 13 Own White label Solution ...... 13 24x7 Bookings Worldwide ...... 13 Broadened Market Reach ...... 13 GDS Organisations ...... 13 Major GDSs ...... 16 Sabre GDS ...... 17 Sabre System ...... 17 Amadeus GDS ...... 18 Amadeus System ...... 18 Amadeus functions...... 19 Travelport GDS ...... 20 Travelport GDS System ...... 21 Benefits of partnering with Travelport ...... 22 Galileo GDS ...... 24 Galileo System ...... 24 Why travel agents need access of GDS systems like Amadeus, Galileo & Sabre? ...... 25 Typical CRS Functions ...... 26 Airline Reservation System ...... 27 Airline Reservation System Functions...... 28 Passenger Name Record (PNR) ...... 29

Parts of PNR ...... 30 Storage ...... 33 Privacy concerns ...... 33 Machine-readable passport ...... 34 Flight manifest ...... 35 Hotel Reservation System ...... 35 Top Features of B2B / B2C Hotel Reservation System ...... 37 Car Rental Software ...... 38 Online Car Rental software ...... 39 Easy Management of Booking and Quotation ...... 39 Customization ...... 39 Reporting...... 40 Car Control and Security ...... 40 Cost Saving ...... 40 Customer service ...... 40 Bus Reservation System ...... 40 Online Bus Reservation System...... 41 The benefits for implementing Bus reservation system ...... 41 Web Booking Expert Online Reservation System ...... 43 Multiple Selling Channels...... 44 Multiple Inventory Sources...... 44 Multiple Payment Options ...... 45 Mid & Back-Office Tools ...... 46 References ...... 48

Travel Technology Travel technology (also called tourism technology, and hospitality automation) is the application of Information Technology (IT) or Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. One form of travel technology is flight tracking.

Since travel implies locomotion, travel technology was originally associated with the computer reservations system (CRS) of the airlines industry, but now is used more inclusively, incorporating the broader tourism sector as well as its subset the hospitality industry. While travel technology includes the computer reservations system, it also represents a much broader range of applications, in fact increasingly so. Travel technology includes virtual tourism in the form of virtual tour technologies. Travel technology may also be referred to as e-travel / etravel or e- tourism / etourism (eTourism), in reference to "electronic travel" or "electronic tourism". eTourism can be defined as the analysis, design, implementation and application of IT and e-commerce solutions in the travel & tourism industry; as well as the analysis of the respective economic processes and market structures and customer relationship management.

From a communication science perspective, eTourism can be also defined as every application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within both the hospitality and tourism industry, as well as within the tourism experience.

Travel technology is increasingly being used to describe systems for managing and monitoring travel, including travel tracking and flight tracking systems.

In other contexts, the term "travel technology" can refer to technology intended for use by travelers, such as light-weight laptop computers with universal power supplies or satellite Internet connections. That is not the sense in which it is used here.

Travel Technology Applications Travel technology includes many processes such as dynamic packaging which provide useful new options for consumers. Today the tour guide can be a GPS tour guide, and the guidebook could be an audio guide, pod guide or I-Tours, such as City audio guides. The biometric passport may also be included as travel technology in the broad sense.

XML-based technologies have become increasingly important for the travel industry. XML can be used to support air reservation booking or to implement optional services and merchandising functions in the booking process. Another important application of XML is the establishing of direct connections between Airlines and Travel Agencies. In order to create a generally accepted XML-standard, the Open Axis Group was founded.

Travel Technology Growth Travel industry technology is growing rapidly worldwide on base of online travel software and Computer Reservation Systems (CRS). Online travel sales have increased to more than $600 billion in 2014, most of which is coming through B2C travel portal, ARS, hotel reservation system, B2B travel software systems. Mobile devices are becoming the most preferred medium for using travel technology. Big data, analytic tools and social media are becoming the latest trend among travel technology companies.

Computer reservations system A computer reservations system (CRS) is a computerized system used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions related to air travel, hotels, car rental, or activities. Originally designed and operated by airlines, CRSes were later extended for the use of travel agencies. Major CRS operations that book and sell tickets for multiple airlines are known as Global Distribution System (GDS). Airlines have divested most of their direct holdings to dedicated GDS companies who make their systems accessible to consumers through Internet gateways. Modern GDSes typically allow users to book hotel rooms, rental cars, airline tickets as well as activities and tours. They also provide access to railway reservations and bus reservations in some markets, although these are not always integrated with the main system.

History In 1946, American Airlines installed the first automated booking system, the experimental electromechanical Reservoir. A newer machine with temporary storage based on a magnetic drum, the Magnetronic Reservoir, soon followed. This system proved successful, and was soon being used by several airlines, as well as Sheraton Hotels and Goodyear for inventory control. It was seriously hampered by the need for local human operators to do the actual lookups; ticketing agents would have to call a booking office, whose operators would direct a small team operating the Reservoir and then read the results over the telephone. There was no way for agents to directly query the system.

Remote access In 1953, Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA) started investigating a computer-based system with remote terminals, testing one design on the University of Toronto's Manchester Mark 1 machine that summer. Though successful, the researchers found that input and output was a major problem. Ferranti Canada became involved in the

6 project and suggested a new system using punched cards and a transistorized computer in place of the unreliable tube-based Mark I. The resulting system, ReserVec, started operation in 1962, and took over all booking operations in January 1963. Terminals were placed in all of TCA's ticketing offices, allowing all queries and bookings to complete in about one second with no remote operators needed.

In 1953, American Airlines CEO C. R. Smith chanced to sit next to R. Blair Smith, a senior IBM sales representative, on a flight from Los Angeles to New York. C.R. invited Blair to visit their Reservoir system and look for ways that IBM could improve the system. Blair alerted Thomas Watson Jr. that American was interested in a major collaboration, and a series of low-level studies started. Their idea of an automated airline reservation system (ARS) resulted in a 1959 venture known as the Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment (SABRE), launched the following year. By the time the network was completed in December 1964, it was the largest civil data processing system in the world.

Other airlines established their own systems. Pan American World Airways launched its PANAMAC system in 1964. Delta Air Lines launched the Delta Automated Travel Account System (DATAS) in 1968. United Airlines and Trans World Airlines followed in 1971 with the Apollo Reservation System and Programmed Airline Reservation System (PARS), respectively. Soon, travel agents began pushing for a system that could automate their side of the process by accessing the various ARSes directly to make reservations. Fearful this would place too much power in the hands of agents, American Airlines executive Robert Crandall proposed creating an industry-wide computer reservation system to be a central clearing house

7 for U.S. travel; other airlines demurred, citing fear of antitrust prosecution. Main CRSes are listed in following figure.

Travel agent access In 1976, United began offering its Apollo system to travel agents; while it would not allow the agents to book tickets on United's competitors, the marketing value of the convenient terminal proved indispensable. SABRE, PARS, and DATAS were soon released to travel agents as well. Following airline deregulation in 1978, an efficient CRS proved particularly important; by some counts, Texas Air executive Frank Lorenzo purchased money-losing Eastern Air Lines specifically to gain control of its SystemOne CRS.

Also in 1976 Videcom international with British Airways, British Caledonian and CCL launched Travicom, the world's first multi- Figure 1. Key CRSes and correspondence airlines access reservations system (wholly based on Videcom technology), forming a network providing distribution for initially 2 and subsequently 49 subscribing international airlines (including British Airways, British Caledonian, TWA, Pan American World Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, SAS, Air Canada, KLM, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific and JAL) to thousands of travel agents in the UK. It allowed agents and airlines to

8 communicate via a common distribution language and network, handling 97% of UK airline business trade bookings by 1987. The system went on to be replicated by Videcom in other areas of the world including the Middle East (DMARS), New Zealand, Kuwait (KMARS), Ireland, Caribbean, United States and Hong Kong. Travicom was a trading name for Travel Automation Services Ltd. When BA (who by then owned 100% of Travel Automation Services Ltd) chose to participate in the development of the Galileo system Travicom changed its trading name to Galileo UK and a migration process was put in place to move agencies from Travicom to Galileo.

European airlines also began to invest in the field in the 1980s initially by deploying their own reservation systems in their homeland, propelled by growth in demand for travel as well as technological advances which allowed GDSes to offer ever- increasing services and searching power. In 1987, a consortium led by Air France and West Germany's Lufthansa developed Amadeus, modeled on SystemOne. Amadeus Global Travel Distribution was launched in 1992. In 1990, Delta, Northwest Airlines, and Trans World Airlines formed Worldspan, and in 1993, another consortium (including British Airways, KLM, and United Airlines, among others) formed the competing company Galileo International based on Apollo. Numerous smaller companies such as KIU have also formed, aimed at niche markets not catered for by the four largest networks, including the low-cost carrier segment, and small and medium size domestic and regional airlines.

By passing the time CRS converted to GDS and one of the main reasons is acceleration of reservation process with huge amount of data. Following figure illustrates Life of a travel agent before GDSs.

Figure 2. How travel agents use CRS The main drawbacks of CRS are:

 Travel agents required individual connections to airlines  If two or more airlines used different mainframe systems, travel agents had to use and be trained on different mainframe clients  Inability to perform direct searches across airline systems  Combining airline inventories a tedious process because inventory searches and reservations had to be performed in individual airline CRSs separately

Global Distribution System A global distribution system (GDS) is a network operated by a company that enables automated transactions between third parties and booking agents in order to provide travel-related services to the end consumers. A GDS can link services, rates and

10 bookings consolidating products and services across all three travel sectors: i.e., airline reservations, hotel reservations, car rentals, and activities.

GDS is different from a computer reservations system, which is a reservation system used by the respective vendors (See figure above). Primary customers of GDS are travel agents (both online and office-based) to make reservation on various reservations systems run by the vendors. GDS holds no inventory; the inventory is held on the vendor's reservation system itself. A GDS system will have real-time link to the vendor's database. For example, when a travel agency requests a reservation on the service of a particular airline company, the GDS system routes the request to the appropriate airline's computer reservations system (See following figure). This enables a travel agent with a connection to a single GDS to choose and book various flights, hotels, activities and associated services on all the vendors in the world who are part of that GDS.

Figure 3. Life of a travel agent after GDSs Global distribution system or GDS also includes the other products and services related to the travel agent, online reservation sites and large corporations. One of the major name included in the list of global distribution system is Galileo GDS. It is owned and operated as a part of the joint venture operation including the major airlines, hotel groups and car-rental companies. The various features included under Galileo global distribution system includes airline reservation, train reservation, cruise reservation, hotel room booking and car-rental.

Easy Connectivity GDS system providers started selling the inventories through the mode of XMLs / APIs. Using the airline XML, Hotel XML and Car XML Travel companies could

12 connect to GDS systems to check online availability and do the bookings. This also helped the travel agents to integrate these XMLs (GDS system) on their own website in the form of API's to get their airline booking system / hotel booking system operational for B2C users.

Automatic Content Update Integrating GDS system allows the update of inventory information (availability / pricing) automatically. All the agents and B2C users, get the same seamless information.

Own White label Solution As the travel industry is changing to online mode from offline, travel agents have started asking for while label software / white label solution from the hotel suppliers and GDS system providers to sell the hotels and airline / flight tickets with their own brands, logo and contact information.

24x7 Bookings Worldwide By having global distribution connectivity to more and more travel agents, customers and corporate across the world can view and book flight, hotel, tours and transfers on 24 X 7 basis.

Broadened Market Reach GDS system is extensively used to broaden the market reach. A single global distribution system is connected through several B2B, B2C, B2E and B2B2C websites.

GDS Organisations In order to promote fair competition and to ensure that consumers do not receive inaccurate or misleading information on travel services, it is necessary to have regulations on GDS. Organisations work together with governments, and other

13 relevant authorities to help define the correct regulatory framework for the travel and transport industry. There are several organisations, such as:

 IATA - International Air Transport Association  ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization  ETTSA - European Technology and Travel Services Association  ATPCO - Airline Tariff Publishing Company  IATAN - International Airlines Travel Agent Network  SITA - Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques and many others.

IATA - International Air Transport Association The International Air Transport Association (IATA /aɪˈɑːtə) is a trade association of the world’s airlines. These 250 airlines, primarily major carriers, carry approximately 84% of total Available Seat Kilometres air traffic. IATA supports airline activity and helps formulate industry policy and standards. IATA was formed in April 1945 in Havana, Cuba. It is headquartered in Montreal, Canada with Executive Offices in Geneva, Switzerland.

IATA supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy and standards on critical aviation issues, such as:  Security of passengers and cargo  Airline safety  Airline revenues  Infrastructure issues  Chargers and economic regulation and taxation  Fuel  Airline distribution  Environment.

ETTSA - European Technology and Travel Services Association The European Technology and Travel Services Association (ETTSA) was launched in 2009 to represent and promote the interests of global distribution systems (GDSs) and travel distributors, towards the industry, policy-makers, opinion formers, consumer groups and all other relevant European stakeholders. The association,

14 based in Brussels, encourages and supports full transparency, fair competition and consumer choice in the travel distribution chain.

ETTSA's members include Amadeus, ebookers, Expedia, Odigeo (and its brands eDreams, GoVoyages, Opodo and Travelink), Sabre (including its affiliate lastminute.com), and Travelport. ATPCO and OAG are Supporting Partners of ETTSA.

ETTSA’s main activities include:

 Engaging in policy-making  Providing insight and information  Reporting new developments

SITA - Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques SITA is a multinational information technology company providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry. The company provides its services to over 430 members and 2,800 customers worldwide which is around 90% of the world's airline business.

SITA's portfolio services include:

 Airport operations, including airport management, safety and security, and passenger processing

 Aircraft operations, including operational communications, e-Aircraft services (for EFBs), and in-flight communications

 Baggage operations

 Cargo operations

 Commercial management, including distribution, fares and pricing, revenue optimization, and voice and convergence

 Communications and infrastructure, including hybrid networks, airport operational communications, community messaging, and infrastructure management

 Passenger operations

 Transportation security, including border management

SITA's shared infrastructures include Airport Hubs, AirportConnect, CUTE and BagMessage Services, as well as systems for passenger processing, reservations and fares.

Major GDSs There are three main GDSs, namely, Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport (the umbrella company for the Galileo, Apollo, and Worldspan).

Following figure illustrates GDS bookings market share in international scale.

Sabre GDS Sabre GDS system is the connect between the travel services buyers and sellers. Sabre GDS is supported (travel inventory) by more than 400 flight carriers, 125000 hotels, 200 tour operators and several car and cruise providers. Sabre system is connected to more than 400,000 travel agents worldwide, who are serving to end clients. Sabre GDS system processes more than a million travel booking transactions per minute during the high season. Sabre GDS also provides great support to travel agent through the online chat, call and email support. B2B and B2C travel portals with Sabre software system are surging in United States, Europe, UAE, India, Africa (Nigeria, Egypt) and Indonesia.

Sabre System Most of travel websites, which are connected with sabre GDS, do have flights, hotels, cars, cruise, rails and other value added services.

Sabre GDS system integration

 Sabre GDS is supported (travel inventory) by more than 400 flight carriers, 125000 hotels, 200 tour operators and several car and cruise providers.  Sabre GDS system is connected to more than 400,000 travel agents worldwide, who are serving to end clients  Sabre system processes more than a million travel booking transactions per minute during the high season.  Hotel Booking System  Sabre GDS also provides great support to travel agent through the online chat, call and email support.  Bus Reservation System  Sabre's new mobile friendly, sub-second response time shopping and intelligence APIs enable developers to build new capabilities for the travel industry.

Amadeus GDS Amadeus GDS is one of the most preferred GDS systems today. Global travel management companies are either using Amadeus GDS to access online travel contents including airline, hotels, transfers, sightseeing, cars, and other value added services. Amadeus GDS processes the highest number of transactions on a day to day basis. In the last 18 years, Amadeus GDS has become the largest GDS system and the biggest travel content aggregator around the world.

Amadeus was originally created by Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa and SAS in 1987 in order to connect providers' content with travel agencies and consumers in real time. The creation of Amadeus was intended to offer a European alternative to Sabre, the American GDS. The first Amadeus system was built from core reservation system code coming from System One, an American GDS that competed with Sabre but went bankrupt, and a copy of the Air France pricing engine. These systems were respectively running under IBM TPF and Unisys. At the beginning of Amadeus, the Amadeus systems were functionally dedicated to airline reservation and centered on the PNR (Passenger Name Record), the passenger's travel file. Throughout the years, the PNR was opened up to additional travel industries (hotels, rail, cars, cruises, ferries, insurance, etc.).

Amadeus System Amadeus GDS system had maintained its position as the global leader in travel technology and travel distribution solutions for tourism industry, by constantly introducing innovations. Set of solutions like e power suites, web services, APIs and other value added services, let client choose what they like. Amadeus GDS tools are built to deliver the professional travel portal solutions. It helps the agents to deliver comprehensive travel itineraries quickly and efficiently.

Some company, such as PROVAB TECHNOSOFT- being a leading Amadeus system development company, integrate Amadeus GDS to deliver best in class travel software to global travel management companies. The Provab integrates Amadeus GDS to access the inventory for flights, hotels, transfers and cruise through web services given by Amadeus. Client's credentials are used for the authentication and data processing. As a travel technology company, Provab delivers custom travel software with B2C, B2C, corporate module and white-label.

Amadeus GDS system has all the core competencies and merits to succeed in the long run, not only because it's a comprehensive travel management system, but also its diversity in aggregating the travel contents. Over 90,000 travel agencies globally, use the Amadeus GDS system. Amadeus is structured around two major competencies, GDS and travel IT solutions. Amadeus system also provides airlines the next gen DCS - departure control systems to airlines. Amadeus IT team processes the transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry. Amadeus is a member of IATA, OTA and SITA. Its IATA airline designator code is 1A.

Amadeus functions Amadeus as a technology provider for airlines have the below functionalities

 In Inventory Management

 Reservation process

 PNR Generation

 Passenger Profiling

Amadeus’ principal IT solutions is depicted in below figure

Figure 4.IT solution of Amadeus

Amadeus, which is a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, has emerged as leading GDS system. With great technical support, that it offers - things can be big for Amadeus. Integrating Amadeus GDS web services will definitely take the travel agency to another level, as it can access the huge set of travel contents governed by Amadeus GDS.

Travelport GDS At present every travel agent or travel management companies wants to get associated with the global distribution system or GDS. This helps in taking their business a step forward and helps in providing their customers with more options. This is the main reason that GDS has gained such a huge importance in the Travel industry. Among the various GDS that is available at present Travelport GDS is leading the race. Travelport GDS is the leading travel commerce platform and know for providing solutions like distribution, technology and payment for the global

20 travel and tourism industry that is worth around $7 trillion. At the annual TTG travel award, Travelport have been honoured for being the best GDS system in the Asia- pacific for the sixth consecutive year.

Travelport GDS System The travel GDS system integration platform for Travelport acts as the centric point for travel providers, travel agencies, corporate and developers to get connected. This acts as the means for increasing profitability and helping the online booking system and other sources to achieve commercial success in the B2B (business-to-business) travel network.

Travelport has utilized the rising demand of the travel industry to redefine the distribution system involving the core elements of airlines and the ancillary products. The organization is also known for paving the path for the growing need for travel commerce which includes hotel, rail, tour operators, car rentals and cruise.

With the vision of redefining the travel global system integration with every passing day, Travelport have maintained their domain expertise in the travel industry, which has helped them to remain the best GDS system integration in the travel domain.

One of the most prominent example of the effort made by Travelport to remain as the leader of global distribution system integration, is the initiative taken to design the B2B payment solution, which was the first of its kind in the history of travel domain. The B2B payment solution was the answer to the much awaited demand of the travel intermediaries to accomplish the travel transaction securely. What makes Travelport superior among the GDS providers is the efficiency with which it accomplished its additional services like advertising solutions, data services for business intelligence, services for subscription and providing analogical marketing tools for travel agencies, travel data users and travel providers.

Benefits of partnering with Travelport A GDS distribution system is termed to be the best form the benefits that it renders to its partners. Partnering with a GDS system is done with the intention of having a through support system to serve the client and be able to have the highest level of customer satisfaction in return. You may partner with Travelport Apollo, Travelport Galileo or Travelport Worldspan, its the same level of service rendered.

The benefits that Travelport has brought for the travel agencies and the travel management companies are:

Performance enhancement

Travelport through its online and classroom training services aims at improving the performance of the travel agencies and the travel management companies. This is something which could be regarded as the extra cream on the cake provided by the organization

Growth for the travel management company

The Travelport Account Management is designed and developed with the aim of maximizing the investment of its partner and implement service and technologies, which bring business enhancement.

Effective communication

The best part of Travelport is the continuous communication that it renders to its partners. The communication is in regards to product update, the changing trend of the travel industry, advisories for the service provided and update in regards to the training provided.

Products and Services offered by Travelport

The products and services offered by Travelport has a great share in its success. The various products of Travelport that has made it as the most preferred GDS includes:

Travelport Smartpoint

Travelport Smartpoint helps in utilizing the latest technology and latest content, which would in the course of time take the business towards the peak of growth. The advantage for travel agencies and travel management companies are productive gains, improved customer service and cost reduction

Travelport Universal API

Travelport’s has produced the first universal API for the Global Distribution System (GDS) in the form of Universal API. It has the feature of using single API connection for providing information about the content and functionality

Travelport Merchandising Platform for Airlines

This constitutes of a range of travel sales and market retailing capabilities through the GDS platform. It helps the airline companies to promote product and services to the right buyer, at the right time and right place

Travelport Mobile Agent

This feature help in accessing Travelport’s Global Distribution System (GDS) with the help of Smartphone or tablets. This is an Android and iOS application which helps the travel agent to access Travelport Galileo GDS, Travelport Apollo and Travelport Worldspan GDS at any time and location with the mobile devices.

Galileo GDS Galileo GDS system - offered by TravelPort, is one of the most sophisticated global distribution systems for travel domain. Galileo GDS provides global distribution services for the travel industry with advanced computer reservation software, top of the line travel system and web services XMLs. B2B and B2C travel software with Galileo Distribution System are surging in India, United States, Mexico, Europe, South Africa and Malaysia.

Galileo System Galileo system commands lead position in airline software and connected to almost all the leading airlines. Galileo GDS provides solutions to travel agencies by offering the desktop solutions (search & book) and web services XML to connect to core database. Galileo GDS offers flights, hotels, cars, cruise, and holiday packages among others.

Galileo GDS gives you access to a world of content and functionality through web services APIs and desktop connection. It is designed to run alongside existing API solutions for an efficient and low-risk implementation. Galileo GDS provides you access to worldwide low cost carriers, high speed rail providers and multi-source content via a single API can help you clear the clutter of multiple programming interfaces, while saving valuable time and money.

There are many qualified companies that are able to deliver top class reservation systems and well trained in web services integration, user/sub-user modules and XML live certification process.

With Galileo GDS (web services integration), following options have been offered:

 Online Travel Agent Software (including B2B, B2C, B2B2C, Corporate module)

 Single or Multiple PCC interface

 Flight Reservation System

 Hotel Booking System

 Car Reservation System

 Bus Reservation System

 Modules for Rails / Visa / Cruise / Holiday Packages

Why travel agents need access of GDS systems like Amadeus, Galileo & Sabre? Starting a travel agency few years back, was more dependent on the traditional travel model. Travel agents were more replying on the local inventory to sell to their internal contacts. Travel software were not much in use at that time. Travel software development has been a real boon for the travel industry. The more interesting part was the integration of travel software with the GDS systems. There were two main categories of agents, which were doing the travel business.

In order to be an IATA travel agents, there were thorough process including the training, fee and detailed documentation. But it certainly gave the travel agents a solid background to start. IATA certification was need to access the GDS systems – Global Distribution Systems, which was the major source of travel contents worldwide.

Today things have changed a lot. Most of the travel agents can access the contents of GDS systems as the Amadeus and all leading GDS are offering multiple access models (products & web services) to share the contents. With these accesses, the travel agents can connect to airlines, hotels, cars, packages and several other services.

It been pretty interesting to see, how non IATA travel agents have increased the transaction using the travel portal development model, either by accessing the third party XML or by using the access from the existing IATA travel agent. The growing travel ecommerce have changed the equations of travel sales.

With booming low cost airline model also have increased the sales through travel ecommerce channels. Many leading low cost airlines, don’t offer 100% of the contents through the GDS systems but they have a major chunk open for travel ecommerce. Following are the models available for travel ecommerce.

1. GDS / XML / API Integration

2. Third Part Web Services Integration

3. Affiliate Module

4. White Label Module.

Global travel management companies are integrating the GDS systems like Amdeus, Galileo and Sabre to access the top inventory across the globe. Access of the GDS system gives them the access of travel contents including airline, hotels, transfers, sightseeing, cars and other value added services. Next few quarters will be interesting to watch and many new airlines and low cost airlines are entering into new geographies and this is bound to create a huge change.

Typical CRS Functions 1. Flight schedule information (Days and times for flights operated by the airline) 2. Availability information (Seat availability on a flight by service class (i.e. Economy, business, first class))

3. Fare quotes (A consolidated fare for an itinerary based on flight, day, time, service class and passenger types chosen) 4. Reservation information (Seat bookings) 5. Ticketing information (Generating and storing tickets) 6. Refunds and cancellations (Cancellation of existing reservations and tickets)

In following figure, framework of CRS has been demonstrated:

Figure 5 CRS Architecture

Airline Reservation System Airline Reservation System is web based booking engine connected with global GDS systems including Amadeus, Galileo and Sabre, which consolidates the data from all the airlines. The booking engine connected with GDS systems, provides better inventory and rates to end customers and travel agencies. Global travel companies are going for online airline reservation software because of 24/7 availability and real time bookings.

Technically airline reservation systems consist of the exchange of data through the global distribution systems such as Amadeus, Galileo/Travelport or Sabre, which consolidates the worldwide airline availability and pricing information and share through web services APIs / XMLs. Using these web services on airline reservation system interface, the information for the airline availability & pricing can be published on a user friend GUI interface. End user can select the flight and proceed for the booking.

Over the last few years, travel agencies have shown greater reliance on airline reservation system, travel technology and mobility solutions to grow. With round o clock availability, great user engagement, multiple display options and dynamic packing are key points for these airline reservation systems to succeed.

Airline Reservation System Functions

 Airline Hosting System

 Airline Inventory Management

 Booking Engine

 Reservation Management

 B2C - End User Reservation

 B2B - Travel Agents' Reservation

 GDS Integration - Amadeus, Travelport, Sabre

 For IATA & Non IATA Agents

 eTicketing

 Amadeus, Sabre, Worldspan, Galileo, Abacus

 3rd Party Interface

 XML Out

 Airline Mobile Booking App (Android & iOS)

DCS – Departure Control System

 Fully Automated DCS

 Seat Layout Map

 Web Check-in

 eTicketing

 Boarding Pass Generation

 No Show Users Management

 Connecting Flight Module

 Baggage Weight Module

 Agent Confirmation Module

 Addon Service Module

Passenger Name Record (PNR) In the airline and travel industries, a passenger name record (PNR) is a record in the database of a computer reservation system (CRS) that contains the itinerary for a passenger, or a group of passengers travelling together. The concept of a PNR was first introduced by airlines that needed to exchange reservation information in case passengers required flights of multiple airlines to reach their destination (“interlining”). For this purpose, IATA and ATA have defined standards for interline messaging of PNR and other data through the "ATA/IATA Reservations Interline Message Procedures - Passenger" (AIRIMP). There is no general industry standard for the layout and content of a PNR. In practice, each CRS or hosting system has its

29 own proprietary standards, although common industry needs, including the need to map PNR data easily to AIRIMP messages, has resulted in many general similarities in data content and format between all of the major systems.

When a passenger books an itinerary, the travel agent or travel website user will create a PNR in the computer reservation system it uses. This is typically one of the large Global Distribution Systems, such as Amadeus, Sabre, or Travelport (Apollo, Galileo, and Worldspan) but if the booking is made directly with an airline the PNR can also be in the database of the airline’s CRS. This PNR is called the Master PNR for the passenger and the associated itinerary. The PNR is identified in the particular database by a record locator.

When portions of the travel are not provided by the holder of the Master PNR, then copies of the PNR information are sent to the CRSes of the airlines that will be providing transportation. These CRSes will open copies of the original PNR in their own database to manage the portion of the itinerary for which they are responsible. Many airlines have their CRS hosted by one of the GDSes, which allows sharing of the PNR.

The record locators of the copied PNRs are communicated back to the CRS that owns the Master PNR, so all records remain tied together. This allows exchanging updates of the PNR when the status of trip changes in any of the CRSes.

Although PNRs were originally introduced for air travel, airlines systems can now also be used for bookings of hotels, car rental, airport transfers, and train trips.

Parts of PNR From a technical point, there are five parts of a PNR required before the booking can be completed. They are:

 The name of the passenger

 Contact details for the travel agent or airline office.

 Ticketing details, either a ticket number or a ticketing time limit.

 Itinerary of at least one segment, which must be the same for all passengers listed.

 Name of the person providing the information or making the booking.

Other information, such as a timestamp and the agency's pseudo-city code, will go in to the booking automatically. All entered information will be retained in the "history" of the booking.

Once the booking has been completed to this level, the CRS will issue a unique all alpha or alpha-numeric record locator, which will remain the same regardless of any further changes made (except if a multi-person PNR is split). Each airline will create their own booking record with a unique record locator, which, depending on service level agreement between the CRS and the airline(s) involved, will be transmitted to the CRS and stored in the booking.

A considerable amount of other information is often desired by both the airlines and the travel agent to ensure efficient travel. This includes:

 Fare details, and any restrictions that may apply to the ticket.

 The form of payment used, as this will usually restrict any refund if the ticket is not used.

 Further contact details, such as agency phone number and address, additional phone contact numbers at passenger address and intended destination.

 Age details if it is relevant to the travel, e.g., unaccompanied children or elderly passengers requiring assistance.

 Frequent flyer data.

 Special Service Requests (SSR) such as meal requirements, seating preferences, wheelchairs, and other similar requests.

 "Optional Services Instruction" or "Other Service Information" (OSI) - information sent to a specific airline, or all airlines in the booking, which enables them to better provide a service. This information can include ticket numbers, local contacts details (the phone section is limited to only a few entries), and other details such as a passenger's language or details of a disability.

 Vendor Remarks. VRs are comments made by the airline, typically generated automatically once the booking or request is completed. These will normally include the airline's own record locator, replies to special requests, and advice on ticketing time limits. While normally sent by the airlines to an agent, it is also possible for an agent to send a VR to an airline.

In more recent times, many governments now require the airline to provide further information included to assist investigators tracing criminals or terrorists. These include:

 Passengers' gender

 Passport details - nationality, number, and date of expiry

 Date and place of birth

 Redress number, (if previously given to the passenger by the US authorities).

 All available payment/billing information

Storage The majority of airlines and travel agencies choose to host their PNR databases with a Computer Reservations System (CRS) or Global Distribution System (GDS) company such as Sabre, Galileo, Worldspan and Amadeus.

Privacy concerns Some privacy organizations are concerned at the amount of personal data that a PNR might contain. While the minimum data for completing a booking is quite small, a PNR will typically contain much more information of a sensitive nature. This will include the passenger’s full name, date of birth, home and work address, telephone number, e-mail address, credit card details, IP address if booked online, as well as the names and personal information of emergency contacts.

Designed to “facilitate easy global sharing of PNR data,” the CRS-GDS companies “function both as data warehouses and data aggregators, and have a relationship to travel data analogous to that of credit bureaus to financial data”. A cancelled or completed trip does not erase the record since “copies of the PNRs are ‘purged’ from live to archival storage systems, and can be retained indefinitely by CRSs, airlines, and travel agencies”. Further, CRS-GDS companies maintain web sites that allow almost unrestricted access to PNR data – often, the information is accessible by just the reservation number printed on the ticket.

Additionally, “through billing, meeting, and discount eligibility codes, PNRs contain detailed information on patterns of association between travelers. PNRs can contain religious meal preferences and special service requests that describe details of physical and medical conditions (e.g., “Uses wheelchair, can control bowels and bladder”) – categories of information that have special protected status in the European Union and some other countries as “sensitive” personal data.”[Despite the sensitive character of the information they contain, PNRs are generally not 33 recognized as deserving the same privacy protection afforded to medical and financial records. Instead, they are treated as a form of commercial transaction data.

Machine-readable passport A machine-readable passport (MRP) is a machine-readable travel document (MRTD) with the data on the identity page encoded in optical character recognition format. Many countries began to issue machine-readable travel documents in the 1980s.

Most travel passports worldwide are MRPs. They are standardized by the ICAO Document 9303 (endorsed by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission as ISO/IEC 7501-1) and have a special machine-readable zone (MRZ), which is usually at the bottom of the identity page at the beginning of a passport. The ICAO Document 9303 describes three types of documents. Usually the passport is a Type 3 travel document. The machine- readable zone of a Type 3 travel document spans two lines, and each line is 44 characters long. The following information has to be provided in the zone: name, passport number, nationality, date of birth, sex, passport expiration date and personal identity number. There is room for optional, often country-dependent, supplementary information.

The advantages of machine-readable passports include:  Faster processing of arriving passengers by immigration officials.  More reliable than a human read, compared to the manually read passports that preceded them.

Flight manifest A flight manifest is a list of passengers (or in the case of a cargo flight, parcels) and crew of an aircraft compiled before departure based on flight check-in information. It is securely guarded to protect passengers' privacy.

Hotel Reservation System Online hotel reservation system has provided the travel agencies a new dimension. Travel companies can provide their users the facility of choosing top hotel rooms, both nationally and internationally. Connected with top hotel APIs and self- contracted inventories, hotel reservation systems are popular as they connect users niche hotel inventories across thousands of destinations worldwide.

Online hotel reservation system empowers agencies, travel companies, hospitality partners to manage online hotel bookings quickly and effectively (See following Figure).

Figure 6. Hotel reservation process The hotel reservation system comes with B2C (Business to Customers) and B2B (Business to Business) modules to along with comprehensive admin module. The hotel booking systems are compatible for 18 hotel xmls including Expedia, GTA travel, Hotelbeds, Tourico, Travco, Special Tours, HotelsPro, transHotels, Miki

Travels, Sun Hotels, Darina Holidays, DOTW, Asian trials and Versys. This hotel reservation system (B2B, B2C, B2B2C) is a feature rich, robust and scalable web based OTA solution for leading travel companies, where in the return data from GTA, Kuoni, Hotelbeds, Tourico, Travco, Special Tours, HotelsPro, Path Finder and Versys, merged into one XML feed using proprietary algorithm to get various sorting options from a total of over 100,000 hotels worldwide.

Top Features of B2B / B2C Hotel Reservation System 1. Global Hotel Rooms Inventory

While dealing with global market, having global hotel room inventory is a must. Hotel reservation system software must be connected with top hotel inventory to provide best deals to global clients.

2. B2C & B2B both the interfaces

Being an online travel agency, you should always opt for a hotel reservation system that has the capability of B2B and B2C both the interfaces. There should be distinct identifier separating the B2B and B2C version of the hotel reservation system. This separation could be achieved through implementing customized customer interface with distinct features.

3. Multiple Payment Gateways

An excellent travel agency would be the one that has the capability of possessing multiple payment gateways. There would be some customers who would prefer paying through credit or debit cards and there would be other you would prefer using Paypal. There would be users who would change to another travel agency when he/she is unable to use their preferred payment option.

4. CRM / Client Retention Tools

Retaining of the old client is equally important to attracting new clients. Hotel reservation system should have the facility of providing timely alerts for booking status and cancellation status through emails. One of the effective methods used by the hotel reservation system for retaining client is pushing the relevant content to them through mapping the hotels, cities and countries with the helps of a one stop shop in business home page.

5. Google Map & Street View Option

Clients always prefer dealing with real business. When you integrate the Google map street views with the hotel reservation system, will enable the client to locate the business with ease. Google map also helps you in getting connected to clients who prefer to deal face to face.

6. Logs for the Agents

An online travel agency is regarded to be excellent when it is capable of developing an excellent agent activity, which further simplifies the process of user behavior analysis. The result of the analysis helps in determining the strong and weak points and also helps in product development.

7. Graphical Booking Reports

This gives agents a clear idea about the progress, which is happening on their front.

Car Rental Software Technology has evaded every sphere of our life and it has shown its effect in the field of travel management too. Car rental companies in the recent times, have shown the elevation, is far from what, we could have imagined. It is all because of the technological advancement, that the car rental companies are capable of providing a

38 smooth and organized service to its customers. Car rental software is to be credited for making stride in the world of travel Management. Car rental software with native apps (Android & iOS), is specially designed for travel management companies, destination management companies, travel aggregators, B2B B2C travel agencies and tour operators to cater clients worldwide.

Online Car Rental software Car rental software has made life easy for the car rental companies, through adding features like taking reservation, tracking of the vehicles and monitoring rate management. Though these features were available earlier, but with the implementation of car rental software, these features has been standardized and any car rental company irrelevant of its size has the capability of dominating the car rental market. Every car rental company present in the market has implemented the car booking software to survive the competitive market.

Easy Management of Booking and Quotation Installation of the Car booking software helps the Car Rental Companies to manage the quotes or booking, immediately after the customer inquire about the same through their mobile or through the company's website. The Car Rental Software helps in managing the business through a simplified process of effective management of fleet efficiency. It also allows the customer to know about the booking status along with adding the element of customer satisfaction.

Customization Vehicle fleet along with the management and the scheduling of Rental are the important elements for the success of any Car rental company. User defined vehicle definition, vehicle make and model forms a part of customization achieved through best car rental software. It is possible to track the cost of the vehicle through providing details of schedules and workshop servicing.

Reporting Car Rental Software makes the process of reporting easy for the Car rental company by providing options like daily reporting, monthly reporting and sales analysis.

Car Control and Security A Car Booking Software helps in adding and changing features to the existing list, providing a better control and security to the Car Rental Company.

Cost Saving Installation of Car Booking Software helps in saving cost by tracking the maintenance and saving time for the staff and the admin.

Customer service Implementation of rental car software enhances the Customer service offered by the Car Rental Company. This is done through reducing over the counter time, easy online booking of the vehicle, checking status of the rental car online and communicating with the customer through email or sms.

To stay ahead, taxi operators and car rental companies across India, Nigeria, United States, Bangladesh, United Kingdom Africa and Middle East, are combining forces with car rental software providers to set up best in class mobile based car rental software.

Bus Reservation System With the number of travelers increasing with each passing years, the demand for a well-equipped bus service has increased. Bus travel has gained a very eminent position when it comes to travelling within the country. Bus reservation system has become an important part of the travel technology and travel portal development initiatives. Travel portal development companies are working towards development of bus reservation system and mobile apps, which are user-friendly for the travelers

40 and a source of revenue generation for the travel management companies. Bus booking system with mobile apps (Android & iOS), is specially customized for travel management companies, destination management companies, travel aggregators, B2B B2C travel agencies and tour operators to cater global customers.

Online Bus Reservation System Bus reservation system comprises of an online bus booking software which is designed with the main intension of generating an automated system for ticketing purchase, with the help of an online booking system which would be easy to use. An online bus reservation system for business website would help in an easy management of reservation, ticket availability and data of the client who are using online bus reservation service. The customized features that a travel management company can add to a bus reservation system includes route scheduling, display the data in regards to availability of the seats, availability of the seat map for the travelers and the option for the travelers to select their seat from the seat map.

The benefits for implementing Bus reservation system 1. Bus Routes

The Bus reservation system helps in the easy scheduling of the bus route with features like start destination, stop destination and end destinations. It also helps in managing the traveling time and bus schedules.

2. Bus Seat Booking

The users would be most happy when they have the privilege to select the set of their choice. The same thought have been implemented for bus seat booking. This option would have the availability of seat map, giving the travelers with the option of selecting the seat of their choice form the available seats.

3. Rates and Tickets

One of the aspects associated with the online bus reservation system is the bus ticketing system. The bus reservation software facilitates the travel management company with the option of managing tickets rates, managing discount, generating ticket template with the help of the editor available in the bus reservation software.

4. Multi Lingual Support

The bus reservation system comes with the option of translating the script into multiple languages. This could be achieved by implementing a multi-language bar in the front-end, which helps in easy switching of the language.

5. Booking Reports

One of the most important features of the bus reservation software is the generation of the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly report. Some of the aspects of booking report are generation of time table and daily bus scheduling data, which help the travel management company to keep a track on their business.

Web Booking Expert Online Reservation System Web Booking Expert Online Reservation System is a fully web-based platform that provides a multi-channel reservation and distribution engine which consists in a single user-friendly selling interface that gives access to a wide range of travel products for individual travelers, such as hotels, tours, transfers, flights, car rentals.

The system offers a powerful and ingenious administration engine which can easily sustain multiple operations of all levels of the system, empowering users to manage their inventory through intuitive mid and back office tools, to offer global integration with online suppliers and to sell travel products via multiple selling channels: B2B, B2C, White Label and XML Out (See following Figure).

Figure 7. Framework of Web Booking Expert Online Reservation System

Multiple Selling Channels B2B: Provides travel agents with access to your website in order to use your inventory database to search and book in the name of their clients.

B2C: Allows end users to access your websites in order to use your inventory database to book directly and fast.

XML Out: Enables a 3rd party business to interface and distribute your products through a simple XML integration. The 3rd party can automatically transfer and display your products on their websites.

Agents Login Websites: Allows reservations/call center employees online access to your website for all bookings operations.

White Label: Your Travel Agents provide to both sub-agents and end users (B2B2B and B2B2C) with access to your inventory database using their own website, under a customized interface.

Multiple Inventory Sources In-house Contracts and Allocations – Efficiently manage your exclusive contracts by setting up availability, rates and other static data (description, pictures, maps, etc). Manage allocations and configure range of special offers (e.g. pay 5 stay 7, etc.).

Online XML Suppliers – Link through a XML / API Gateway to numerous wholesalers for various services and worldwide content. Consistently access and sell your client’s preferred suppliers. Apply rules-based pricing and transaction fees by supplier and client.

Hotels, Tours and Transfers Extranet – Upload your own contracted hotels, tours and transfers, manage their data (allotments, rates, policies, etc) and easily sell them via B2B or B2C.

Hotel Channel Manager – Connect through a single API integration to global hotel channel managers in order to get full access to wider inventory, real time rates and availability.

B2S Portal – Secure access for suppliers (inventory providers) to directly update rates, availability and static content with or without restrictions. Easily load and maintain supplier contact information.

Multiple Payment Options Pay by Credit Limit – Book now and pay later – By using the complete credit management system your agent doesn’t have to pay instantly for every reservation. According to an agent statement report generated by the Finance module your travel agent has the possibility to use a credit limit with a certain value that will be reduced accordingly at each booking completion. If the credit limit is exceeded no more reservations can be completed unless some of them will be paid.

Pay in Cash – Pay and reserve – Choosing to pay in cash your agents will be able to complete the booking and generate the reservation voucher only after the payment is done. If the payment is not accomplished inside the cancellation period the booking will be automatically cancelled. No last minute, refundable bookings can be done.

Pay by Bank Transfer – Rapid and secure – Paying by bank transfer your agents will be able to complete the booking and generate the reservation voucher only after the money transfer is registered. If the payment is not confirmed inside the cancellation period the booking will be automatically canceled. No last minute, refundable bookings can be done.

Pay by Credit Card – Book any time of day and night – In order to complete a reservation your agent has to pay on the spot by entering the credit card details in

45 the system. We are using several well-known payment gateways, such as PayPal, Wirecard, NMI and others, but we are also flexible to integrate your preferred e- payment supplier.

Mid & Back-Office Tools Markup Definitions – Set different levels of markup which will be automatically applied to your net buying rates and displayed as your selling rates in the reservation system: per destination, per agency, per supplier, flat per room type, per service etc.

Agent Commission – Ensure the control of the commission for your clients at any level, for example per agent, group of agents, all agents, per service type, product etc. You may choose to show or hide the agent commission, depending on their requirements.

Cancellation Policy – The cancellation rules will be displayed prior to making a booking, so the travel agents will know exactly the cost of the cancellation after the deadline.

Setup & Operations – Control and manage reservations and release of allocations to suppliers, either manually or by applying an automated routine:

 Create users, manage their roles, rights and passwords

 Manage provider list, provider timeouts, enable/disable a provider

 Supplier setting management (safety days cancellation deadline, time out settings per supplier)

 Search bookings per different criteria

 Manually check booking status on supplier system for synchronization

 Export booking list in Excel spreadsheets

 Send remarks to travel agents (messaging system between root and agent on a reservation)

 Send newsletter to B2C clients

 Build special offers and top destinations for B2B and B2C

 Edit the booking vouchers with relevant information

References

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 Buhalis, Dimitrios (2003). Etourism: Information Technology for Strategic Tourism Management. Harlow, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-582-35740-2.

 Cantoni, Lorenzo; Xiang, Zheng (2013). Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013. Berlin – Heidelberg: Springer. ISBN 978-3- 642-36309-2.

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 Tesone, Dana V. (2005). Hospitality Information Systems and E-Commerce. New York: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. ISBN 978-0-471-47849-2.

 Werthner, Hannes; Klein, S. (1999). Information Technology and Tourism. A Challenging Relationship. Vienna: Springer. ISBN 978-3-211-83274-5.

 Zhou, Zongqing (2004). E-commerce and Information Technology in Hospitality and Tourism. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Learning. ISBN 978-0- 7668-4140-6.

 http://www.provab.com