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Glossary · Travel distribution & business models

What is GDS?

GDS (Global Distribution System)

A global reservation network — the largest are Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport — that aggregates real-time availability and fares from airlines, hotels and car-hire suppliers and distributes them to travel agencies. A GDS is a content source a platform connects to, not a booking platform itself.

Related terms

NDC (New Distribution Capability)
An IATA XML-based data standard that lets airlines distribute richer content — ancillaries, branded fares, seat maps and personalised offers — directly to…
PNR (Passenger Name Record)
The record in a reservation system that holds an itinerary and passenger details for one or more travellers, identified by a unique booking reference. PNRs are…
PCC / Office ID
The identifier for an agency location inside a GDS — called a Pseudo City Code (PCC) in Sabre and Travelport and an Office ID in Amadeus. It determines which fares,…
Bed-bank (hotel wholesaler)
A wholesaler that contracts hotel rooms in bulk and resells that inventory to travel agencies and platforms through an API. Examples include Hotelbeds, TBO and…
Travel API
A programming interface that exposes travel content and booking functions — search, pricing, booking, cancellation — so a developer can build them into their own…

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