Hickory Global Partners is offering its hotel content to Amadeus subscribers, a deal that benefits Hickory because it should increase the volume of bookings coming in under its hotel rates codes. Amadeus benefits from having increased content for its subscribers.
The Hickory program encompasses hotels in 5,000 cities in 145 countries and has long been regarded as one of the industry's top hotel programs.
Chris Dane, president of Hickory, said agent response has been enthusiastic. "We got more people in 24 hours than we would have expected in the first year," he said.
Agents must sign up for the program to be able to use Hickory's rate codes. Agents signing up for the program also get the option of participating in Hickory's air program, which includes upfront commissions at the point of sale, as well as access to Hickory's technology partners and other programs.
GDSs overall have been bulking up their hotel content for the past several years. Travelport, for example, gets hotel content from various aggregators. Travelport's partnership with Thor Inc. enables agencies to book Thor consortia rates.
Stephane Durand, chief commercial officer, Amadeus North America, said that the deal gives additional non-GDS hotel content to Amadeus subscribers.
For Hickory, which now refers to itself as a travel management services company rather than a consortium, the primary goal of the partnership is to get more bookings, said Dane.
That helps Hickory members because it helps the company grow and get attention from suppliers, he said. But the move is also part of Hickory's effort to be seen as a thought leader, Dane said.
Dane regards the partnership with Amadeus as part of a series of innovative moves Hickory has made recently, along with signing up with TripBam, which continues to search for lower hotel rates even after bookings are made, and TripScanner, which allows corporations to track employees' bookings while allowing employees to book travel wherever they choose.
Hickory has agreements with all three GDSs but picked Amadeus because it was "the most receptive," Dane said.
He said he was "cautiously optimistic" that the enthusiastic agency response to the announcement will translate into additional volume under Hickory's booking codes, noting that agents have access to other hotel programs, as well.
Hickory provides its members with hotel, air, rental car programs and agency support.
It provides its hotel partners with a reporting platform that shows daily, weekly and monthly booking trends.