It can often seem that one GDS is very much like another. After all, they just provide the pipes that link suppliers and intermediaries, including travel management companies and online travel agencies.
Yet a close look reveals differences. Worldspan, now part of Travelport, was known as a leader in OTA business. Sabre has often been seen as being better in the business travel market. Others are all-rounders.
This week, Amadeus made a move that signals its intention to be taken more seriously in the business travel market, with the creation of a new business travel division and the appointment of former Sabre Travel Network vice president for global sales & account management Rajiv Rajian as its global head of business travel.
The new division will be based on three pillars: the global travel management company business, specialty and networks customers, which includes marine, oil and gas, and, of course, corporations.
The decision to put business travel at the forefront follows other moves in the business travel sector — the acquisition in 2014 of online booking tool provider i:FAO and the decision to phase out Amadeus's own e-Travel Management tool in favour of iFAO's cytric last year.
Laurens Leurink, senior vice president of distribution at Amadeus said of the announcement: "Today business travel is no longer simply about just the booking. It is about the complete end-to-end journey and the wider travel ecosystem too. Given his experience and expertise, I am convinced that Rajiv will shape the future of our business travel portfolio, with much energy and enthusiasm to expand Amadeus' footprint both in terms of the customers we are serving and the breadth of solutions that we can offer them."
"Corporate employees can be demanding travellers, requiring instant, mobile and personalised itineraries that allow them to travel and work efficiently. At the same time, corporations need to control their corporate travel whilst ensuring traveller safety, compliance and cost management," added Rajian.
The new division and appointment signals a shift in how Amadeus sees business travel and a reaction to what is happening in the wider market. In the past Amadeus considered business travel as just a transaction. Now there is a move to an end-to-end focus, which has been evident in other areas of the industry too — Amex's acquisition of KDS and HRG's creation of Fraedom for example. Others who fail to see this will get left behind.