Sabre and Lufthansa this month announced a four-year global distribution agreement, effective July 1, extending an arrangement reached in May 2008 and set to expire June 30, through which Sabre subscribers were shielded from the carrier's Preferred Fares surcharge. Sabre said protection from the €4.90 surcharge comes at the expense of a €1 per-segment Efficiency Plus opt-in fee for GDS subscribers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Lufthansa's Preferred Fares Program imposes a €4.90 per-way surcharge, in addition to value-added tax, on fares booked GDSs in those countries, though Sabre and Travelport have negotiated for their subscribers to be shielded from the fee. Amadeus, the dominant GDS in the German market, has yet to come to new terms with Lufthansa to shield subscribers form the surcharge. Greg Webb, Sabre Travel Network chief marketing officer, said the agreement with Lufthansa does not extend to its Swiss subsidiary, which operates a similar program by charging 8 Swiss francs per segment for preferred fare bookings in those markets.
American Express To Make Further CutsAmerican Express last month announced during its first-quarter earnings call plans to implement further cost-reduction initiatives in the second quarter of 2009. Global corporate travel sales decreased 37 percent from 2008 to $3.4 billion in the quarter. Overall U.S. T&E spending is down 20 percent, far ahead of a non-T&E or retail spending decrease of 12 percent, according to executive vice president and CFO Daniel Henry. Amex is on pace this year to reach the $1.8 billion savings target it announced in October
(BTNonline, Oct. 30, 2008). Amex at the time said it planned to cut 7,000 jobs, about 10 percent of the global workforce. In the first quarter of 2009, expenses were down 22 percent compared with the first quarter of 2008.
Orbitz for Business COO Sivley Leaves for Travel GuardOrbitz for Business senior vice president and COO Dean Sivley will leave the company at the end of May to become president and CEO of travel insurance provider Travel Guard. Sivley, who joined Orbitz for Business—then Travelport for Business—in 2004, also runs Orbitz Worldwide's alliance marketing business segment, which includes partner marketing and Away.com. At Orbitz for Business, Sivley oversaw the brand's multinational deployment (BTNonline, Dec. 8, 2008), integration of former Travelport booking tool products and development of a full-service travel management company with the launch of such offerings as onsite agent services
(BTNonline, Aug. 15, 2007).Choice CEO Reviewing Options For Upscale Tier EntryChoice Hotels International president and CEO Stephen Joyce told investors this month that he is interested in adding an upscale or upper upscale brand. "We've got capacity and we've got money, and we are hoping to see some buying opportunities either for collections of hotels that can go under existing brands or other brands to help add to the portfolio," Joyce said. "I don't think you'll see us in luxury, but the full-service conversion business would be a great complement to our leisure-oriented set of brands because of the business transient component of that." Choice launched its upscale Cambria Suites brand about two years ago
(BTNonline, May 7, 2007), but Joyce said he would like to have a higher-tier brand and the company is weighing opportunities in the upscale extended stay tier.