Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, operating both the Galileo and Worldspan global distribution systems (GDS), today announces details of a new ground-breaking, global agreement with Marriott International.  The five-year agreement secures access to Marriott International’s wide variety of content, inventory, and brands for all Travelport-connected users worldwide including corporate customers and retail online agencies booking through the Galileo and Worldspan systems.  Marriott International operates and franchises more than 3,400 lodging properties in 70 countries and territories under the Marriott Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott Hotels, the Autograph Collection, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn & Suites, TownePlace Suites, SpringHill Suites brand names.

As part of the agreement, Marriott has also committed to upgrading its current interface to Galileo and Worldspan to Travelport’s XML Pro Direct Connect interface including enhancements to the shopping and pricing capabilities. Significantly for Marriott, the hotel company will be in a position to reduce its distribution costs as a result of only supporting a single connection to both GDS platforms. Travelport-connected travel agents will also benefit from significant improvements in response times and a more efficient purchasing experience.

“Marriott is pleased to work with Travelport to provide Travelport-connected travel agents with key booking process improvements and assured access to our content and wide variety of brands,” said Larraine Voll Morris, vice president, eDistribution, Marriott International. “Marriott’s upgrade to Travelport XML Pro will give travel agents better visibility to Marriott’s over 15 brands worldwide, and from an enterprise perspective, will make future changes to the GDS easier, increasing our ability to deliver future functionality enhancements to the marketplace, faster,” added Voll Morris.

“This deal with Marriott benefits our customers through significant technology enhancements, including an upgrade to a direct connect to Travelport via our industry-leading XML platform for enhanced shopping and pricing capabilities,” said Travis Christ, president, Travelport GDS, The Americas.  “This is great news for our customers, who will have full access to Marriott’s Best Available Rates and its inventory. Marriott will gain even greater access to the services and support delivered by Travelport’s professional travel agency subscribers.”

Added Christ, “We’re particularly pleased with the agreement as it validates the value of Travelport’s global marketplace of approximately 60,000 online and offline travel agencies worldwide to an important industry leader such as Marriott, and also, underscores the effectiveness of our Complete Pricing Plus program as well as the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Travelport’s XML Pro direct connect. The agreement is really all about meeting the needs of both our travel agents and a key hotel partner.”

An industry first, the Complete Pricing Plus program gives travel agents access to all the normal rates and rules as well as additional detailed pricing information on optional room extras. This streamlines the booking process, especially for leisure bookings, and provides a consistent approach with the way travel agencies price hotel stays.  In turn this saves time for hoteliers, agents and travelers by returning more detailed information regarding hotel rates and room features.

The Travelport GDS XML Pro Direct Connect interface directly links real time rates and availability from Marriott’s multiple chains into Travelport’s Worldspan and Galileo platforms. Built over the Internet using Travelport XML Pro data exchange technology, the direct connect interface allows Marriott to streamline transactions for its global brands using a cost-efficient and direct electronic path to the Worldspan and Galileo GDSs.

Travelport XML Direct Connect is the preferred connection to Travelport for hotel suppliers. Airlines and online travel retailers globally are also building interfaces to Travelport using XML Pro. The technology simplifies and accelerates the exchange of structured data with the GDS, including product availability, rates, rules, images and other rich data, as well as bookings, modifications, cancels and transaction processing.