Madrid, Spain | Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, has added 5,000 more hotel properties to its distribution system since the last update in October last year, providing travel agents with access to 75,000 properties.

Amadeus continues to place particular emphasis on growing the number of independent properties available for travel agencies to book in its system. The company has increased the number of small, independent and budget accommodation connected to its system by 38% since last October. These hotels connect cost-efficiently to Amadeus’ worldwide distribution network though the Amadeus Multichannel Distribution tool.

“Small and budget hotels, which have traditionally not distributed through a distribution system such as ours, are often exactly the hotels which are most in demand by a lot of organisations,” explains Antoine Medawar, Managing Director, Amadeus Hospitality Business Group. “That is why we are working hard to add more and more of these properties to the range of hotels which travel agencies and corporations can book through the Amadeus system.”

Amadeus is also working on a number of other initiatives to boost the use of its distribution system for booking hotels. A Best Available Rate programme gives travel agencies the confidence that Amadeus’ rates are at least as competitive as other distribution channels. And Amadeus recently launched a pilot of its Worldwide Commission Manager. This system tracks all the commissions that are due by participating hotels to travel agents. By providing this information on single-view screen, it allows travel agencies to more efficiently collect their commission, therefore encouraging them to make more bookings with participating hotel chains.