TRAVELPORT GDS DISTRIBUTES GULLIVERS TRAVEL
ASSOCIATES’
TRAVEL BOUND® HOTEL CONTENT
TO WORLDSPAN-CONNECTED TRAVEL AGENTS IN THE U.S.
Worldspan’s Industry-Leading XML Data Exchange Technology Enables GDS to
be First to Integrate Travel Bound Content into Hotel Booking System
LANGLEY, UK, April 23, 2008 – Global travel technology provider Travelport GDS today
announced that its Worldspan GDS system in the U.S. has made Gullivers Travel Associates’
(GTA) Travel Bound hotel inventory bookable by Worldspan users. The Worldspan by
Travelport system is the first GDS to offer Travel Bound hotel content integrated into the hotel
booking system enabled by its industry-leading XML data exchange technology. This creates a
live interface between Travel Bound’s internal reservations system and Worldspan, providing
travel buyers with real-time property availability, rates, rules and immediate confirmations
directly from Travel Bound’s internal system. The connection adds thousands of properties,
along with Travel Bound’s retail rates, to the Worldspan Hotel Select® global shopping and
booking system in use by traditional travel agencies.
“Travelport GDS is committed to offering travel suppliers direct connections and seamless
distribution through a GDS and providing travel agency partners with comprehensive access to
content,” said Jeff Horch, vice president, Strategic Content, Americas. Added Horch, “In
eliminating the manual booking processes previously involved, such as visiting a separate web
site, making a phone call and manually entering the data into the GDS for reporting, we enable
both suppliers and travel agencies to increase revenue while improving efficiency and
productivity.”
“Worldspan’s XML technology enables us to effectively market our hotel inventory to travel
agents booking through the Worldspan GDS in real-time, making it an incredibly efficient
marketplace for both Travel Bound as the supplier and Worldspan agents as sellers,” said Nico
Zenner, general manager, Travel Bound. “Booking independent hotels just became a whole lot
easier and agents will earn Travel Bound commissions paid at time of booking, based on
volume and consortia affiliation."
Worldspan XML technology is the first and leading end-to-end data exchange solution for direct
connections between travel suppliers and a GDS. It supports the exchange of a broad range of
transactional, informational and descriptive content between host systems. Worldspan's XML
solution eliminates the need for suppliers and retailers to use third-party solutions for GDS
interface, and employees the latest Open Travel Alliance (OTA) universal data transmission
specifications for travel.
(more)
-2-
About Travel Bound
Selling exclusively through travel agents, Travel Bound is a leading wholesale provider of travel
products for independent and group travel, offering more than 90,000 hotel rooms every night in
129 countries worldwide plus a wide range of sightseeing tours, excursions, transfers and other
travel services. A brand of GTA (Gullivers Travel Associates), Travel Bound maintains a global
network of 31 offices to ensure local coordination and assistance. The company is an active
member of ASTA TOP and USTOA Travelers Assistance Program.
About Travelport GDS
Travelport GDS is one of the world’s largest global distribution system (GDS) providers
operating both the Galileo and the Worldspan brands, providing real-time travel information and
booking capabilities to online and offline travel agencies in over 145 countries. It also operates
Business Intelligence which provides data and critical analysis to the industry, and includes its
Shepherd Systems subsidiary; and IT Services & Software, which offers mission critical
reservations, related software and services management to the world’s leading airlines.
Travelport GDS is a convergence of traditional and online travel distribution services that
empower airlines, travel suppliers, travel agencies, Web sites and corporations to provide
informed choice to travelers on a global platform. Travelport GDS is a division of Travelport, one
of the world’s largest service providers to the travel industry. More information is available at
www.travelportgds.com.
For media inquiries:
Jill Brenner 1. 973. 939.1325 (jill.brenner@travelport.com)