Sabre Travel Network briefed
reporters Wednesday on the newest features in its Sabre Red desktop product as
part of a "graphical view" to be released during the third quarter.
New components include email
integration; more low-fare and comparison-shopping options; the ability to
search using flexible dates; ancillary product and "air extras"
shopping; and map-based shopping for hotels with criteria including zip code,
address, neighborhood or point of interest.
Sabre Travel Network senior
vice president of marketing Chris Kroeger said the enhancements would allow agents to do more in
less time with fewer keystrokes. Sabre estimates that new agents using the
graphical view could benefit from a reduction in training time—to as little as
two weeks, from six to eight weeks. The company plans to further study
efficiency gains as it initially tests the graphical view with 50 agencies.
A so-called classic view
remains available, allowing agents to use only traditional GDS formats or switch
between formats and the new graphical view. Supported languages include
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Japanese.
First announced last June,
Sabre Red now is available in 114 countries. Sabre claimed it is now being used
by more than 120,000 agents, or about 80 percent of the "sweet spot"
of Sabre agents to whom the company is targeting the solution. Online travel
agencies and large travel management companies have not widely deployed the
product, Kroeger said.
"Innovation only
matters if you deliver on it," Kroeger said Wednesday, perhaps knocking
Amadeus and Travelport, whose latest desktop solutions remain in development.