The Global Data Network empowers suppliers and distributors of all sizes and types in the hospitality industry to do business with each other. The ultimate beneficiaries of this evolution are the consumers who increasingly enjoy more choices to fulfill their travel needs.
Whether you are a hotel distributor like an online travel agency (OTA) or a hotel supplier, you want an ever-increasing number of business partners. As a distributor, you’d like to broaden your hotel listings and add future ones as they open. As a supplier, you want to use as many distribution channels as possible to reach potential customers from all over the world.
To this end, making a direct connection between each supplier/distributor seems to be an intuitive solution. However, this approach runs into several issues, not the least is the delay in starting even a single connection.
For example, a small OTA wants to connect to a large hotel chain. The small amount of traffic this distributor represents means that the hotel gives this project a low priority, placing it at the end of a queue for consideration. So, it may be months before the project even starts. In order for this partnership to work well (or at all), connectivity should be quick, easy, and economical for everyone.
This is where Go by DerbySoft excels. With a single connection to Go, an OTA gains instant access to all suppliers on the DerbySoft connectivity service, from anywhere in the world.
There are many benefits to the Go service, including its robust functionality to serve most distributors’ business models. But, a notable benefit is the elimination of long wait times to implement a project, a common consequence of direct connections.
Four reasons why Go streamlines connections for small to midsized distributors.
1. Use your existing infrastructure to connect
When a supplier and a distributor connect, they need to work with each other’s platforms in terms of rates, availability, and booking information. Invariably, there are differences between these platforms, requiring transformation of data flowing between them.
In some cases, the differences are incompatible, causing breakdown in communication. For example, if the sender of the data expects the receiver to pull it and the receiver of that data expects the sender to push it, neither party will take action and nothing will happen.
Go by DerbySoft handles differences in these platforms and supports their interoperability. Players connecting to Go can retain their platforms without changes and still expect to talk to any partner of their choosing.
2. Forget rate code and room type limitations
Hotels have developed extensive selections of room types (single, double, king, queen, suite etc.) and rate codes (regular, and several different discounted rates) to offer guests. Part of the complexity of direct connections is accounting for these variations for each partner and adjusting the platform to handle them. Go has built-in ability to support availability, content, reservation, and dynamic pull transactions. There are no limitations to contend with.
3. Access over 77, 000 properties and counting
A small distributor needs a good supply of properties to market. DerbySoft has already established connectivity with these larger suppliers—offering over 77,000 properties. A small distributor, on completing the integration with the Go interface, instantly gains access to all of these properties, and can start marketing them.
Better still, as more suppliers come on board with DerbySoft, these future properties are also available to the distributors. A single connection to Go affords the distributors this ongoing benefit, and Go’s advanced architecture is designed to easily scale as volume increases.
4. Save on connection costs, with no real loss in performance
In theory, a direct connection would facilitate the most efficient communication between suppliers and distributors. However, connectivity through the DerbySoft network is likely to rival this efficiency and may even exceed it.
There are two main reasons for this happy anomaly:
First, the efficiency of a direct connection depends on how optimized the connections is. Suppliers and distributors may have limitations on their connection based on geography and the available resources for development efforts.
Second, DerbySoft is in the business of providing connectivity with the resources to optimize it. The global connectivity network through DerbySoft is extensive. With over 1,000 servers distributed around the globe and roughly 10 billion data points maintained continually and accurately, the network boasts an average response time of just 0.33 milliseconds.
When you connect using Go, you are tapping into this extensive network that DerbySoft maintains, leading to a performance competitive with direct connections. Most importantly, you get all of these performance benefits through a single connection to Go, as opposed to a connection with each supplier—saving you money and time.
The same benefits listed above for distributors also apply to suppliers connecting to Go. If you are a supplier, the benefit of instantly accessing properties on the DerbySoft network translates to instantly connecting to OTAs on this network. These OTAs can broaden your reach, providing you with the booking volume you want.
Not only does Go allow small to midsized distributors to connect with DerbySoft’s network of suppliers and bypass lengthy queues, Go easily integrates with distributors’ system and offers a lightweight API with an average time of three weeks to certify. For onboarding and ongoing support, an experienced DerbySoft team is also available to guide you. To learn more about Go, contact us for more information.
