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Travelport, one of the world’s leading providers of global distribution systems (GDS) and operator of the Galileo and Worldspan platforms, has announced that it has teamed up with Marriott International for hotel training courses designed for the Middle East travel trade.
The classroom-style seminars, which are being held across the region, are giving Galileo-connected travel agents the opportunity to learn how to make hotel bookings through the system, as well as how to sell Marriott’s international properties even more effectively to their customers.
During the sessions, participants are demonstrated key hotel booking features offered by Travelport including Galileo Room Master, a shopping solution which provides access to hotel properties worldwide, as well as the GDS provider’s ‘Best Available Rate Programme’, a comprehensive database containing the best publicly-available hotel rates in real-time.
Travel agents also have the added benefit of learning more about the hotel properties they are booking for their customers. During the course, representatives from Marriott International are on hand to explain the brand’s value proposition and provide the trade with tools and incentives to book its wide range of hotels, including the Marriott Hotel Excellence and Best Price Guarantee Programme.
“With such an extensive network of travel agents worldwide, Travelport’s GDS is becoming an increasingly important sales channel for major hotel groups such as Marriott to optimise their room inventory,” said Greg D’Souza, Director of E-Commerce and Intermediaries at Marriott International. “Our training courses with Travelport provides agents with the knowledge and tools to book our hotel rooms efficiently through their preferred channel.”
Over the past several months, Travelport has been focused on increasing its visibility in the Middle East as an effective sales channel for hotel bookings, partnering with several major hotel groups to raise awareness of its hotel offering and educate local travel agents on the ease of booking non-air segments on the Galileo platform.
“We are delighted to team up with renowned hotel suppliers such as Marriott International and will continue to work closely with leading hotel groups to encourage and facilitate hotel bookings through the Galileo GDS,” said Jennifer D’Souza, Regional Commercial Director, Travelport GDS.
With a strong global network and extensive hotel and car content, Travelport provides travel agents with access to more than 430 hotel brands, 88,000 properties and 30,000 car rental locations worldwide, along with some of the most competitive rates and live inventory available through the GDS.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
