TSA Rates – The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Hello TRAVELSAVERS and NEST Members!

The holiday season is upon us so I thought it would be a good time to do a bit of year-end housekeeping for the GDS folks. As you know, I’ve often used this space to advocate booking the TSA rates, citing the many benefits and savings for doing so. But to paraphrase the headline above – the TSA rates can only be the gift that keeps on giving if you can book them!

Most of you are able to book our TSA rates and are already doing so, for which we are always thankful, but I know there are many of you that may not be seeing our rates when you are booking hotels. When it comes to GDS, we are all too familiar with the nuances and frustrations these platforms can present. Case in point, we recently discovered that our rates were not available to book for one of our key hotel partners on one of the GDS platforms. It turned out to be a technical matter not attributed to us and has since been resolved, but it was a lost opportunity for many of our advisors who rely on the TSA hotel rates to deliver the best value to their clients.

Now, on to the housekeeping – please take a few moments to do a quick test search to make sure the TSA rates are displayed on your end. If you know for certain they are already displaying, there’s no need to do so, unless you just want to double-check it to be safe. I know you are all very busy, so I’ve provided a quick way to do a sample search on each GDS channel. You can simply copy and paste the below command line in your GDS to return results for hotels in Chicago that offer the TSA rates. If you do not use native GDS, you can still check the rates through the graphical user interface (GUI) by using Chicago as your search city, and then populate the rate code field with TSA. I’ve provided guidance for doing so below in each GDS as to which field to use.

AMADEUS:

HACHI/SR-TSA

• GUI users: Add TSA in the ‘Negotiated Rates’ field

TRAVELPORT APOLLO/GALILEO*:

HOICHI¤TSA (Galileo users, replace the pillow ¤ key with the @ symbol)

• GUI users: Add TSA in the ‘Negotiated Rates’ tab, ‘Multilevel Rates’ field

TRAVELPORT WORLDSPAN*:

HLCHI/PC-TSA

• GUI users: Add TSA in the ‘Secure/Plan Codes’ field

SABRE:

HOTCHI¥TSA/12JAN-1NT1

• GUI users: Add TSA to the ‘Client ID’ field in Command Helper>Hotel

If you don’t see the TSA rates in your GDS after running a test search, please email me right away at wbennett@travelsavers.com so I can get this addressed as quickly as possible.

For those of you who do not use GDS, but rather our tripXpress online tool to book hotels, there’s nothing you need to do, except book the TRAVELSAVERS rates.

Thank you for helping make sure you can always book the TSA rates. Please reach out to me at any time should you need assistance getting set up with our rates, or if you are having any issues with doing so.

I wish you, your family, friends, and colleagues, a wonderful and joyous holiday season and a happy New Year! Thank you for your continued support of the TSA Hotel Program.

Sincerely,

William “Bill” Bennett

William "Bill" Bennett, Director – Agency Network
Telephone: +1 516-624-0500 x2341
Email: wbennett@travelsavers.com