OTA – Online Travel Agency, Travel Agency Software, Travel Booking Software
OTA stands for online travel agency (travel web portal) that sells travel packages to customers on behalf of global consolidators of airlines, hotels, holiday packages, car rentals, cruise lines, railways and sightseeing packages.
The business model of Online Travel Agency is relatively different than a normal retail business. OTA would never keep inventories in hand, rather options are searched based on client’s request and booking is done at client affirmation. In B2C – Business to Customer model, clients can also search and book the tickets and packages on the online travel portal.
OTA today also uses the database of major CRS – Common reservation system, also known as Global Distribution Systems (GDS) including Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan. Some online travel software, also known as travel meta search engine allow visitors to compare the rates of flights and hotels to give more flexibility search and booking process. Meta search engines usually don’t have their own online booking engine.
Which are the top hotel APIs suppliers and consolidators in hospitality domain?
Globally, there are many top hotel suppliers. Expedia, GTA, Hotelbeds, Hotelspro to name a few. At local level, even some of the top DMCs also consolidate very good hotel inventory. One should select a hotel consolidator based on the target geography.
Author is Product Development Manager.
PROVAB TECHNOSOFT
Tags: travel booking software, travel agency software, online booking software, software tour operator, travel agents software
