OTDS is reaching adulthood: six years after its launch the Open Travel Data Standard is taken to the next level: Besides prices and availabilities for hotels, flights, and addon-services now for the first time also Non-Bookable Content can be delivered to the distribution systems fueling travel agencies and OTAs. This Non-Bookable Content covers pictures and videos as well as descripitve text. The new feature has been significantly promoted by the team of the Berlin-based travel technology company Traffics.
„The OTDS-standard has already improved the cooperation between hotels and distributors big times“, comments Traffics’ CTO Jens Muskewitz. „By integrating Non-Bookable Content we now closed the last gap. Hotels and tour operators today are enabled to deliver actually all content to their distribution partners.“
The OTDS association also promotes another important new feature for internationalisation: OTDS now allows to deliver content in all languages. By making it thus possible to use the standard in other markets, the way for an international expansion is paved. „OTDS is a success story made in Germany“, adds Jens Muskewitz. „We are positive that also the travel industry in other countries will be very interested in our standard.“
The improvement of OTDS is a milestone for the projects of Traffics as well. Last September the company kicked-off its tool Connected Destination, that allows hotels, provider of tours and excursions, and supplier of private accommodations to directly transfer their offer e.g. to tour operators for their dynamic packaging. Thanks to the possibility for international expansion of the Open Travel Data Standard Traffics considers itself perfectly equipped for its own growth into additional markets.