Travelport has announced that Hays Travel, the UK’s largest Independent travel retailer, has signed a contract to move its GDS business to Travelport.

In addition to providing Hays with air and hotel content, Travelport will also provide Hays with access to its growing range of digital marketing partnerships and services. Deployment of Travelport’s Smartpoint AppTM, with its intelligent translation allowing agents trained on another GDS to be up and running quickly, was key to achieving a smooth migration, and will deliver significant efficiencies to Hays’ staff such as reducing key strokes by up to 72 per cent when booking a flight.

John Hays, Founder and CEO, Hays Travel said: “A critical component in selecting our GDS provider was finding a company that could not only provide us with innovative technology and extensive content, but also had a team whose vision and philosophy was aligned to ours. With Travelport, we have a partner that is bringing a new dynamic to travel distribution, and one that will keep us ahead of the game now and in the future.”

“We are thrilled that Hays Travel has chosen Travelport as their travel technology provider,” added Simon Ferguson, Regional Director UK & Ireland, Travelport. “Hays is one of the most high profile and respected names in UK travel and we are looking forward to working closely with them over the coming months and years to help them grow their business.”