Articles tagged “gdss”

Gordon Wilson, the CEO of Travelport, said in an interview that he sees India as one of the drivers of its long-term growth. That's plausible, but not assured. Private equity should take the company private to shield it from quarterly earnings pressure, and allow it to invest properly to make the most of its varied opportunities.

Amadeus hopes to clear some of the underbrush that's grown up in hotel technology. If it succeeds, it will likely reshape the costs and systems used for selling rooms industrywide.

No word on yet on what activist hedge fund investor Paul Singer of Elliott Management might try to pressure Travelport do this year. But research analysts expect that, at the very least, the travel technology company will be pressed to spin off its fast-growing eNett payments business.

Wasn't the whole point of these surcharges to prevent the global distribution systems from taking a cut of that juicy ancillary money that is now flowing in? One has to wonder what the terms of Air France-KLM's deal with Amadeus and Travelport really are. For now, it looks like the global distribution systems that took the new distribution capability seriously are reaping the rewards.

The last thing travel tech giant Travelport needs is to be sold to private equity. It's still digging out from all the debt Blackstone saddled it with. Our best guess is that it will be forced to partly sell eNett, a payments business.

Airlines have long hoped for a technological development that would enable them to take back control from travel's middlemen. The New Distribution Capability was supposed to be that solution, but change of this magnitude takes time. At the moment, the British Airways parent seems more than happy to eat up the cost.

Amadeus' track record of profitable growth has been music to the ears of investors. But some airline and hotel executives claim to hear discordant notes in the giant technology vendor's forecasts.

How is Travelport competing against much bigger companies like Sabre and Amadeus? By creating technology solutions its clients actually want to use while expanding in the world's fastest-growing regions for travel.

Our favorites of the year were stories that you could find nowhere else. Each featured hours — or months — of phone calls or in-person interviews, and provided insights about an important development or trend. Each of these talented journalists, you could find nowhere else, either.

Airlines have learned that standing up to the global distribution system giants can actually yield benefits. It has been a hard-earned victory.