Hotel Descriptions: New data standard of the German Travel Association

Effective immediately, new codes will be assigned to the global types for hotel descriptions in the so-called data standard of the German Travel Association (DRV). Different codes in the reservation and organisation systems will no longer be used for the same hotel. The GT01 code used until now will be replaced by the GIATA code in order to unify two parallel, but different number sets. So far, GIATA had also generated the GT01 and distributed it to the users of the DRV data standard. However, the code had a different, numerical value.

“Now that the GIATA code has effectively become the code of choice as unique hotel ID on virtually all stages of the tourism value chain around the world, the DRV Global Type Users at DRV will now also replace the GT01 with the GIATA code in the coming weeks”, announced the GIATA Managing Director Andreas Posmeck. This development means a significant step forward in introducing more uniform hotel descriptions in the travel industry: “From the perspective of the DRV, it no longer makes sense that our users use two parallel IDs internally, so we decided to switch to the GIATA Code.” This change is sensible and logical as the vast majority of our users’ suppliers also assign the GIATA code”, says Olaf Collet, Managing Director at DRV Service GmbH.

GIATA CEO Posmeck is delighted that the users of the DRV data standard are now also moving to the GIATA code alongside all GDS, virtually all of the largest online travel agencies (OTAs) around the world, dozens of international accommodation databases and IBEs, more than 18,000 travel agencies in Germany and further afield as well as the British industry association TTI (The Travel Technology Initiative). “More than 20,000 tourist companies worldwide now use the GIATA code – a development that we could never have foreseen when we assigned the first GIATA codes in 1996.” At the same time, Posmeck announced also that GIATA is currently conducting a trial with a major provider to register and supply holiday homes and apartments – which means that the GIATA code will now include all other forms of accommodation, besides hotels.

The DRV is the trade association of the tourism industry in Germany and represents the interests of travel agencies and tour operators in the political and public sphere on both national and international levels. The DRV provides information on the benefits of organised tours as well as professional travel sales and promotes organised holiday packages and professionally managed business travel. Members of the industry association are responsible for approximately 90 percent of revenues in the German travel agency and tour operator market.

As market leader, GIATA distributes a variety of content to the tourism industry, including the world’s largest hotel database and the unique GIATA code hotel ID. Virtually all of the internationally recognised tour operators, groups of operators and travel agency chains are included in the 20,000 clients, among them TUI, Thomas Cook, DERTOUR, Club Med, Kuoni and American Express, all GDS and IBE providers such as Amadeus/TravelTainment, Sabre, traffics, Peakwork, travel-IT, Bewotec, Tra-viAustria as well as internationally acclaimed travel portals such as Expedia, Orbitz, TripAdvisor, Holiday-Check, Opodo, Kayak etc.