Sunday 15 July 2007

GDS Chain Codes explained

Private Label Chain Code
A 'chain code' is a two-letter code used by the GDS to identify what chain hotels belong to.
Pegasus has two Chain codes, Utell and Unirez. Utell was the original code, it was used by the large chain hotel which were the first to get connected to the GDS. Utell was heavily promoted to the agents and has good visibility on the network. It uses the netbooker engine and is quiet expensive to set setup and maintain, the costs also cover advertising and promotion associated with Utell. Utell is the world’s largest representation service, representing more than 700,000 rooms worldwide
The Unirez code was purchased by Pegasus in order to offer a simpler lower cost "access only" to GDS. It has become popular with smaller hotel who could not afford the UTELL costs.
Many hotel chains and hotel marketing companies have their own 'private label chain code'. With a private chain code marketers can focus on marketing the unique characteristics of its members’ properties to the GDS and other electronic distribution channels. Agents who know the gds code often look for properties listed with it first. For example, "Special Hotels of the World" advertise and promote the "GW" chain code, a "GW" BRAND. Agents will often look for a brand they know to find hotels that fit that category.
The Unirez brand is considered the small hotels brand, whereas the Utell brand is associated with large chains. If a travel agent was looking for smaller hotels they might try the Unirez code rather than look for ALL brands or Utell.
The GDS chain code is an important sales tool used by hotel marketing programs.
© Ian Clayton, AXSES SCI 2007.
see arcRes solutions for tourism, AXSES web Solution

11 comments:

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Unknown said...

How would you position Synxis codes ?

we are a charm hotel of 44 rooms in PAris France

David Benizri
Owner

irclay said...

David Re Synxis:

i dont personally have any experience with Synxis. They have been around for a long time with several changes of ownership until taken over by Sabre in 2006. change. They are well respected. its an established Brand with wide coverage.


My colleague Ed Hoffler worked with them a few years ago and found the software they use very cumbersome. He was trying to program an interface to his property management System, and gave up in favor of Reserv.com. I expect thr solution is much better now!!.

If u are panning to use them, ask if the connection is now truly 2 way integrated and seamless.
Be sure that it is connected to GDS via Ultraswitch not Hotelfactory!!

Let me know if we can help u.

Unknown said...

Thank you Ian,

In fact we are operating a 45 room property in Paris and we have a contract with Rezonline ( RHN ) for GDs access ( they use Synxis ) which we want to change in order to developp more reservation ( today iti is less than 3% ) and to reduce costs - they take 9% of valid reservation.

Today they are not interfaced with our PMS, Hoteleasy or WEB Booking Engine - which is Availpro, so any improvement will be good for us.

I have also heard about Unirez as a low cost alternative.

Best Regards

David Benizri
Hotel Gotty
+33147701290
www.hotels-paris-opera.com

Anonymous said...

Can you tell me how we can get our own gds codes rather than going with any third party company. We are a chain of properties from India.

Anna

holy land tours said...

I never understood what these letters stand for. It actually makes some sense now that i understand that it's identify what chain hotels belong to. Thanks for clearing that up for me and shedding some light on the matter.

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Amisha said...

How do I create a private label chain code for my hotels?