The Advantage Focus Partnership has picked Galileo as its "exclusive, preferred GDS."
It has signed a three year deal to make the Travelport-owned GDS its sole GDS provider for its members.
Advantage cited Galileo's Agency Private Fares tool, the corporate self-booking tool and the e-tracker as particular reasons for choosing Galileo.
Patrick Lukan, Galileo UK's general manager, said: "This is fantastic news for Galileo and we are delighted to have been selected as preferred GDS by one of the leading business travel organisations in the world."
Norman Gage, director of business travel for Advantage, said: "Following the extensive review we undertook, the Advantage Focus Partnership technology panel was in complete agreement that Galileo was the GDS we most wanted to work with."
Also from the Conference:
"Travellers will stop using Heathrow because of delays"
Travellers will start making continental European hubs their point of transfer if the delays continue at Heathrow, John Greehy, corporate sales manager for BA, told the Conference.
Mr Greehy said his airline had been trying to “put as much pressure as possible on BAA and the Government to try and rectify this particular situation.”
He called on travel management companies to support them adding: “At the end of the day, travellers will not put up with Heathrow and will start using Europe as their point of transfer.”
Gordon Mowatt, head of corporate travel at Wexas Travel Management, said Heathrow would not remain the world's busiest airport if the current hold ups continued.
Earlier delegates had voted overwhelmingly for security checks as having the biggest impact on travellers.
67.9% identified the delays as the main concern followed by airline punctuality (14%), the hand baggage restrictions (13.7% and on board service (3.8%).
Just under two thirds (62.8% said they had booked trains more often because of the hassle at Heathrow.
But about two thirds of the delegates (60.3%) thought Terminal Five, which is due to open at the airport next March, would improve things.
Delegates predict need for multiple GDSs
Nearly two third as of the delegates (65.8%) at the Advantage conference said they expected to have to use more than one GDS in the future.
But while the vast majority (85.2% believed that the GDSs were the "most viable technology for travel distribution", an even larger majority (94.5%) said they no longer put all bookings through them and used other channels.
The lack of content, including low cost carriers, was the main reason agents were looking elsewhere.
Gordon Mowatt, head of corporate travel at Wexas Travel Management, said that while GDSs like Sabre were keen to being them aboard, the airlines themselves were unwilling to pay the fees.
Patrick Lukan, Galileo's UK general manager, said his company "was continuing to try and secure content that includes the low cost carriers" as well as others like ore hotels.
He added: "There are a number of low cost carriers which you will see on the GDS but it is too early to say which ones."
Internet most important tool for agents
The most important marketing tool an agent has is his internet site, Tony Stone told the UK Advantage Business Travel Conference.
Mr Stone, special projects consultant for Business Travel Plus, said: "If you don't invest in anything in the next 12 months other than your internet site, you will still make money."
Mr Stone was speaking at the Advantage Conference held this week in Zurich and attended by 250 delegates.
He said agents must get themselves as high as possible on the rankings lists of the major search engines.
"It is not costly but it is time consuming but it has to be done. You must get yourself in the top five or six in the major search engines and on the first page," he said.
But he warned that agents should not pay for prominence as people would know they were there because of the money.
Mr Stone advised agents to use no more than five questions for potential customers to fill in in any inquiry form, to make use of freephones and to make sure they always got a possible client's e-mail address.
Mr Stone there were now new technologies in the market for agents to use to promote themselves.
These included Blue Tooth advertisements, electronic tenders and electronic auctions.
He said that more and more small companies were going out to tender because they were using professional buyers.
"Electronic tenders and e-auctions are the way forward," he said.
Earlier he said that some of the traditional methods of promotions like brochures, letters and flyers still had a place but cold calling was out as no one liked it.
But he said some of these methods were expensive compared with modern resources.
He told the delegates: "Your future lies in technology. Don't resist change or it will stifle you."