An OTA stands for Online Travel Agency. Usually, any booking channel is referred to as an OTA. Common examples of OTA’s are Airbnb, Expedia and Booking.com.
You might also have heard about the term GDS (Global Distribution System). A GDS is a travel agency that operates on behalf of large companies and corporations. These services are sourced to book trips for their clients which includes accommodation, flights, car rental and other services.
Essentially the difference is that a GDS is B2B (business to business) whereas an OTA is B2C (business to customer).
Boutique hotels and B&B’s are not accepted by GDS as they do not have enough capacity in terms of rooms, these are usually for larger hotels and hotel chains. It is also rather expensive to initiate a GDS connection. Good examples of GDSs are Amadeus, TravelPort and Galileo. Visit their website if you want to find out more about their services.
Good to know
RoomRaccoon offers a connection with Travelport which is a GDS that provides distribution, technology, payment solutions for the travel and tourism industry.
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