Sabre, BostonCoach To Link
Sabre and BostonCoach early next year will secure the first supplier-GDS, real-time, direct connect capability in the car services industry, a milestone that comes seven years after the global distribution system developed the same connection with car rental firms.
The delay largely is attributed to the complexity of a car services reservation, according to Cindee Crain, Sabre e-commerce sales account manager. "As opposed to car rental companies, which just need to know where you're arriving and for which 24-hour period(s) you need the vehicle, the detail required is different"—as is the combination of reservations that a chauffeur may seek in order to arrange trips to keep the car occupied. "Rental companies don't care where your home is, but the limo vendor needs to find your house, your apartment and perhaps the nearest cross street," Crain added.
Currently, Sabre "picks up" car services reservations from a queue after the booking manually is accessed by a supplier and confirmed, a process that generally takes 15 to 20 minutes. The direct connect will shave this time down to roughly seven seconds—about the same as an air, car rental or hotel reservation.
Sabre relies on car services companies to provide their own booking technology, and, To date, no supplier databases are capable of "talking" to Sabre through the GDS' platform.
BostonCoach vice president Chris Regan said the solution—which is expected to launch in January, though no firm date has been set—follows other BostonCoach initiatives "that reduce overall costs of companies' ground transportation programs." Regan said the increased speed has been driven by client demand.
BostonCoach competitors, including Dav El and Empire International, said they offer a version of direct connect. According to Sabre, though, the BostonCoach link still will be the fastest reservation process in the industry.
"It's the natural evolution of an industry that is evolving in a similar way to many businesses, such as the car rental industry 30 years ago," said Neil Abrams, president of Purchase, N.Y.-based Abrams Consulting Group Inc. "It lends itself to corporate contracting and the negotiating process."
"Corporations are trying to get limo costs in line and trying to get that into reports," Sabre's Crain said. "GetThere corporate customers tell suppliers they should be in GetThere, and we want to move all providers to the Internet."
"We have to mirror what the corporate world wants," according to Dean Schuler, a Carey licensee in New Orleans and researcher with the Limousine Industry Council.
To bring more detail to all bookings, Sabre in January will add space for additional information, including the closest cross street to a pickup location. This functionality will roll out first to travel agencies and then to GetThere, which for car services reservations needs to screen suppliers by travel policy and corporate location.
"The suppliers are getting the Web sites, but now they need the technology behind it," Crain said. "If someone has to wait 24 hours for you to confirm, they're going to go elsewhere."