Thursday, 28 February 2013

The Role of Global Computer Reservation Systems in the Travel Industry Today and in the Future



Before going into detail about current criticism  
and the systems´ future role, we will 
briefly describe what CRSs are all about: 
Ideally, CRSs are systems for purely (information 
transfer) logistical functions. 
They store current information about all 
available service providers and have the 
necessary infrastructure to transfer such 
data. This means that the systems also 
perform additional tasks related to service 
distribution, which in the area of goods 
are typically carried out by freight forwarders. 
They support the transport of 
goods (or the right to a service) by eliminating 
the physical distance between the 
producer and the sales mediator or the 
consumer respectively. Therefore, CRSs can 
be characterized as supporting distribution 
process since the current systems do 
in no way support negotiations between 
the producer and the consumer. CRSs are 
a combination of infrastructure measures 
offered to interested providers in the tourist 
industry. Similar to an empty supermarket, 
the system provides a sales area 
in the form of memory and communications 
media. The providers can then fill 
the empty shelves by providing their data 
to the CRS.


Today’s Competing CRSs
The development of such systems was already started at the beginning of the sixties, the objective being at the time to automate seat reservations procedures of airlines. Today, the largest civil data centers and the most powerful communications networks are being used exclusively for this purpose. After several changes in the marketplace, the best known global CRSs are AMADEUS, GALILEO,SABRE, and WORLDSPAN with AMADEUS being the only one which is largely owned by European airlines. Together with GALILEO, it is the leading system in the European market. GALILEO, however, also has a strong position in the US market after it merged with an American system. SABRE and WORLDSPAN have been developed in the US. So far, SABRE is the only CRS which is wholly owned by one single airline.

American Airlines was the first to establish an automated booking system, in 1946. Using a system to track information and improve efficiency was a highly appealing aim in the industry. Computer reservation systems are used for inventory management by airlines, hotels and other tourism and hospitality organisations. This enhanced and sophisticated systems are an integrated solution for several processes including managing sales, bookings, customer relationship management and service (Sigala et al., 2001). They store up to date information about the different service providers. This means that they can distribute information freely without the need to meet one another. The providers ensure that they fill up the empty sales which is passed through the computer reservation system. In the current industry, the best known global computer reservation systems are known as Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan. Galileo is known to be the most popular with a strong position in the US and European market. 

http://aws.iwi.uni-leipzig.de/em/fileadmin/user_upload/doc/Issues/Volume_06/Issue_02/The_Role_of_Global_Computer_Reservation.pdf






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