Manual / Integrations

Connecting OpenGDS

Updated on 2026-09-12

Connecting OpenGDS to BedFlow

OpenGDS is a European distribution platform with sub-channels such as Natuurhuisje, VIPIO and Charmant Hotel. A single OpenGDS connection pushes your inventory to all those sub-channels at once. The flow is identical to Booking.com, but OpenGDS supports multiple rate plans per room (one per sub-distributor) so you can set different prices per niche.

⚠️ Prerequisite: you already have an OpenGDS account with your property registered. Don't have one yet? Request it via opengds.com and wait until they have approved your listing.

Step by step: from zero to live, without our help

OpenGDS is free for properties (no setup fee, no subscription, no commission from OpenGDS itself) and gives you access to more than sixty partners: Natuurhuisje, Weekendjeweg.nl, HotelSpecials, Voordeeluitjes.nl, Vipio, Wonderbox, Social Deal, Hotels.nl and more — the full list is in All integrations. Work in this order:

Step 1 — Create your OpenGDS account

  1. Go to cloud.opengds.com/property/register and register your property.
  2. Confirm your email address and choose a password.
  3. You land in your OpenGDS dashboard. Several properties? Add them under Properties, in the same account.

Step 2 — Put your rooms into OpenGDS

  1. Go to Accommodations and create one accommodation per room type: number of units, minimum and maximum occupancy, extra beds if any.
  2. Breakfast or other extras go under Supplements.
  3. You do not create rate plans here — the partner does that (step 3). You only provide the rooms and the extras.

Step 3 — Contact the partner yourself and agree the partnership

  1. Fill in Partner Network → Sales Configuration (your sales contact) so partners can find you.
  2. In the Marketplace, open the profile of the partner you want (e.g. Natuurhuisje) and send a connection request. Contacting the partner directly through their own website is fine too.
  3. Commission and terms are agreed with the partner, not with BedFlow or OpenGDS.
  4. Once agreed, the partner sends the official invitation (Start partnership). You approve it in your dashboard; your property is then added to their account automatically.
  5. The partner then creates the rate plans in its own OpenGDS environment. Wait for that before step 4: without rate plans there is nothing to map.

Step 4 — Link OpenGDS to BedFlow

  1. In OpenGDS, look up your Property ID under Extra → Channel Manager (choose Channex).
  2. In BedFlow: Settings → Integrations → OpenGDS tile → Settings, paste the code into OpenGDS Hotel Code, click Save, then Connect in Channex.
  3. Go through the wizard (see Step 3 — the Channex modal below). In the Mapping tab, link each BedFlow room to the partner's right rate plan.
  4. Click Done — close and refresh status. OpenGDS confirms the connection, usually within 24 to 72 hours; the status switches to Active by itself.

Step 5 — Set your price and margin per partner

  1. Go to Rates and create a rate profile per partner (e.g. "OpenGDS — Natuurhuisje") with the margin that covers the agreed commission. Without its own profile the partner follows the OpenGDS commission of the tile.
  2. Want to choose per room which partners it is on? See Multiple rate plans per room below.
  3. Make one test booking at the partner and check that it appears in your BedFlow calendar. If it does: you are live.

💡 Every partner also has its own page on the site with this step plan, e.g. bedflow.eu/integraties/natuurhuisje. Handy to forward to a colleague.

What do you need?

| Item | Where to find it | |---|---| | OpenGDS Hotel Code | 5-8 alphanumeric characters, in your OpenGDS portal or with your account manager | | Login to your OpenGDS portal | Email + password, for the connection-acceptance step |

Step 1 — Look up your Hotel Code

Log in to your OpenGDS portal. The Hotel Code can be found under Account → Property Settings, or ask your OpenGDS account manager by email.

Don't have portal access yet? Send an email to your OpenGDS contact — they typically send you the Hotel Code within 1 business day.

Step 2 — Enter the code in BedFlow

  1. Settings → Integrations → OpenGDS tile → Settings.
  2. Paste the Hotel Code in "OpenGDS Hotel Code".
  3. Click Save.
  4. Click "Connect in Channex" — an inline modal opens inside BedFlow with Channex's connection form (no longer a new tab).

Step 3 — Go through the Channex modal

The modal shows Channex's "Create Channel" wizard with 3 (or 4) tabs:

Tab "General Settings"

  • Channel → choose "OpenGDS"
  • Title → "OpenGDS" (default is sufficient)
  • Currency → EUR
  • Click Save

Tab "Mapping" — mandatory

For each OpenGDS room type you choose which BedFlow rate plan is linked to it. A room type without a mapping will NOT be pushed to OpenGDS.

Do you have extra rate plans per sub-distributor (Natuurhuisje/VIPIO/CharmantHotel — see next section)? Then you will see multiple rate plans per BedFlow room here and you link each one separately to the correct downstream feed.

Tab "Channel Settings"

Usually no mandatory fields — review and save.

Tab "Readiness Check"

Shows any blockers that prevent activation. Everything green? Good.

Step 4 — Back in BedFlow

Click at the bottom of the modal on "Done — close and refresh status". BedFlow will then:

  1. Retrieve the Channex channel ID → store it in BedFlow's ChannelConnection
  2. Do a POST /channels/{id}/activate against Channex → channel flips from disabled to active
  3. Status flips to "Request at OpenGDS — waiting for acceptance" (pending_ota)

Are you getting "Mapping not yet complete" as a warning? Go back to the Channex modal, fully complete the Mapping tab, and click "Done" again.

Step 5 — OpenGDS confirms

OpenGDS validates your connection request server-side, typically 24–72 hours. You will receive an email from OpenGDS as soon as it is approved. No manual action required from you.

Status automatically flips to "Active — your channel is live" when OpenGDS accepts.

Multiple rate plans per room (Natuurhuisje / VIPIO / CharmantHotel)

OpenGDS aggregates to three popular downstream sub-distributors:

| Sub-feed | Niche | When relevant | |---|---|---| | Natuurhuisje | Nature tourism — cabins, holiday homes in rural settings | If your property is in a nature area | | VIPIO | Luxury and unique stays | Boutique B&Bs, suites with spa | | CharmantHotel | Charming boutique hotels in NL/BE/LU/DE | Specifically for Dutch-speaking travellers |

Do you want to choose per room which platforms it appears on? You do that entirely inside BedFlow — no technical steps involved:

  1. Go to Settings → Integrations → OpenGDS tile → Settings.
  2. Scroll to the section "Which platforms is each room on?" — a table with your rooms as rows and the platforms (Natuurhuisje, Vipio, CharmantHotel) as columns.
  3. Tick, per room, the platforms you want to offer it on. Do you see "✓ ready" under a tick? Then that rate plan has already been created.
  4. Click Save. BedFlow immediately schedules a sync that creates the new rate plans — you get a notification and there is nothing else to do.

Switching a platform off again works in the same place: untick it and click Save — the rate plan is then unlinked. (It keeps existing on the Channex side; delete it there yourself if desired.)

After the sync, the extra rate plans appear in your Channex account under OpenGDS:

  • Kamer 1 — Opengds — Natuurhuisje
  • Kamer 1 — Opengds — Vipio
  • Kamer 1 — Opengds — CharmantHotel

In your OpenGDS extranet you map each rate plan to the correct downstream sub-feed (Natuurhuisje rate plan → Natuurhuisje feed, etc.). After that, BedFlow automatically pushes availability + price to all rate plans.

💡 Own price per niche — each sub-feed can get its own margin via a rate profile on the Rates page (e.g. "OpenGDS — Natuurhuisje"). Without its own rate profile, the sub-feed simply follows the OpenGDS commission setting of the tile.

Frequently asked questions

I see rooms in OpenGDS's extranet with names I don't recognise

Those are OpenGDS's own room templates or remnants from an earlier onboarding with them. We cannot delete them via Channex — OpenGDS manages their own room taxonomy. Use OpenGDS's extranet or email their support for cleanup. What you can do in Channex's Mapping tab: only map the templates that correspond to your rooms; leave the rest on "Not mapped".

Do I send to VIPIO and Charmant Hotel separately? By default: one OpenGDS connection bundles all their sub-channels — one push = all distribution partners receive the same price and availability. Do you want different prices per sub-distributor? Then configure extra rate plans (see the section above).

What is the standard commission? 22% (divisor 0.78). OpenGDS has the highest commission of our supported channels — that compensates for the broader distribution to sub-channels.

Activation has been going on for a week, what now? Email support@bedflow.eu with your Hotel Code and property name. We can have Channex reactivate or request the status from OpenGDS.

Need help?

Email support@bedflow.eu with your BedFlow property name.

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