<B>GDSs Expand 1-2-1 Mktg.</B>
By David Jonas
Expanding on a successful rollout of its Sales Manager product, Sabre recently added several airline clients to the roster of those taking advantage of the one-to-one marketing tool. Galileo also is developing its Target 1-2-1 concept, enabling airlines to effectively customize promotions for certain markets.
Sabre's unique messaging from carriers back to travelers and travel arrangers, now available from Aeromexico, America West, Hawaiian, Mexicana, TWA and initial customer American, can be based on market, actual flight or elite level status. Scott Alvis, Sabre senior vice president of associate marketing and sales, said the primary usage thus far has been delivering offers relevant to business travelers, including upgrades and frequent flyer bonuses. Airlines also can use Sales Manager to make available inventory in fare buckets to top-tier travelers that otherwise would be unavailable. "The applications are almost limitless," he said. "The airlines can use this tool to customize almost any element of the transaction: inventory, mileage, upgrades, inflight service."
Alvis added that Sales Manager offers a new avenue for airlines to compete and differentiate themselves to corporate travelers "in a more refined way, while staying below the radar of competitors. In the past, airlines could not do that, and now they can create a dialogue through the automated process and immediately offer a full suite of promotions at the point of sale. It is much more effective in terms of marketing spend."
Since the product launched last year, more than 10 million customized offers have been sent to more than 60 percent of Sabre-connected agents. About half of those have booked targeted promotions. According to Sabre, one airline experienced a 30 percent increase in volume on a special fare promotion, directly attributable to Sales Manager. A rental car partner of a participating airline saw a 1,000 percent return on the cost of a weekend promotional message, versus the gain in incremental business.
This summer, Sabre moved Sales Manager to a service bureau format, further facilitating airline use. "Eventually, travel suppliers will focus more on customers and less on channels, and this tool can be installed in airline host systems to send messages out to all points of sale," Alvis said. "But we wanted to get the product out there and the carriers started with low costs." Carriers are not charged for implementation, but incur a fee on a per-transaction basis.
Though travel agents need to input the traveler's frequent flyer number, Alvis said agents already have that information on tap, now that corporate traveler profiles automatically are called up at the beginning of the booking process. Agents also have a chance to benefit from higher commissions offered through Sales Manager to promote new service or boost traffic in key markets. Sales Manager was spawned from PromoSpots, Sabre's first generation point-of-sale promotional tool. PromoSpots focuses on particular markets rather than individual travelers and is used primarily by hoteliers trying to cross-market into the airline shopping screen.
At Galileo, the Target 1-2-1 concept provides airlines with two utilities: yield management/selective inventory availability and customized promotional messages. "In an interactive transactional environment, when there is a request for availability, the airline now can see who is asking and respond with a different inventory," said Steve Diffley, Galileo director of airline products marketing. "They can exercise origin and destination control and decide if they want to sell a seat based on geography and other factors, so it can be both positive and negative from the traveler perspective."
The messaging capability, called Headlines, was the first of its kind when it debuted five years ago, said Galileo. The dynamic POS tool primarily sends out targeted messages based on market, but the company expects marketing to individual travelers to be added to the system next year. Airlines that use the links--numbering close to 250, or half of Galileo's total carrier subscriber base--are charged for the service on a per-day basis. Like Sabre, Galileo enables airlines to offer higher commissions to travel agents for booking travelers in a higher class of service, for example.