Sabre Holdings today announced plans to align its GetThere subsidiary with its Travelocity, Travel Network global distribution system and Airline Solutions divisions "to take advantage of synergies and market opportunities."
As part of the restructuring, GetThere's online technology development team will be integrated with that of Travelocity and the GetThere self-booking technology, and reseller agreements will be offered in conjunction with Sabre GDS services. Sabre intends to continue to allow GetThere users to connect it to competing GDS systems, the company said. Existing clients should experience no changes for the foreseeable future, said a GetThere spokesperson. He said the realignment "brings the full service options all together under Travelocity," which operates its own fulfillment facilities. There are no plans in place, however, to move clients that are using GetThere's Fulfillment Service Option with TQ3 Travel Solutions. Most details of the realignment, Sabre said, will be determined "over the next several weeks" by an integration team. The company did say GetThere's brand names will remain.
Sabre did not refer to cutbacks in personnel or facilities, stating in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that, "We do expect to achieve synergies and cost savings as a result of combining our technology and reducing our overhead. We will be able to communicate more about these synergies and cost savings in the coming weeks."
Sabre in 2000 spent more than $700 million for GetThere
(BTN, Sept. 4, 2000), a laughably high valuation in today's environment. Sabre said today that in the coming months it would determine whether to write off goodwill associated with the purchase of GetThere.
"This announcement further reinforces the move toward an integrated online solution," said Travel Tech Consulting president Norm Rose. "With Expedia and Orbitz offering the corporate market low fees, all vendors are being pushed to provide a single, low-cost online travel solution. Cendant's announcement at NBTA
(BTN, Aug. 25) further fueled this trend. Though GetThere may have a dominant marketshare, Travelocity has the brand from the consumer and executive management perspectives. I believe it is no coincidence that Travelocity president Sam Gilliland used to run Sabre BTS and is obviously well versed in the managed corporate market."