<B> TechTalk</B>
By Cheryl Rosen
<B>Sabre Southwest Lock Draws Ire</B>
The inability to book Southwest Airlines in any online booking system but Sabre BTS is becoming a serious issue for travel managers--especially for those based near Southwest hubs. Southwest spokesperson Beth Harbin said the discount carrier keeps its fares low, in part, through "a general policy of offering our own ticketless travel through our own site. It's just not economically feasible for us to participate in all the GDSs." Southwest made the decision to participate only in Sabre "many moons ago," and while Worldspan used to offer Southwest bookings as a customer service, eventually "they said they wouldn't offer us unless we paid, and we declined to do that. At Southwest, it always comes down to cost."
<A NAME="2"><B>MasterCard Takes Data Online</B>
MasterCard is nearing rollout of Smart Data OnLine, a Web-enabled reporting product that will show both reservation and actual flown data. The system will be available in the first quarter of 2000 in English as well as Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean and Spanish versions. While first developed for the small and midmarket, "it probably will cross over into big companies as well," said senior vice president of U.S. corporate products Steve Abrams. Also in the works is a chip-based card that will allow ticketless checkin at American Airlines counters as well as security services for corporate employees, such as access to their building, login to their PCs and asset tracking (noting who took the office laptop home and when they returned it). The chip card will begin beta testing by MasterCard employees in Q1 2000 and a customer rollout is expected for June or July.
<A NAME="3"><B>Gelco To Debut ExpenseLink Lite</B>
Gelco Information Network this quarter will roll out a lighter, less expensive version of its ExpenseLink Web-based expense reporting solution, to be dubbed ExpenseLink/Express, for midsize enterprises that are migrating toward the Internet. EL/Express will let travelers complete electronic expense reports over the Internet, but will keep reporting to a summary level, rather than providing the full details. Senior vice president and general manager Chuck Buckner said, "Several midsize enterprises are looking for an effective and affordable expense management technology that can be accessed by simply logging on to the Internet from any technology platform with high-level, baseline features, rather than a detailed, full-featured solution,"
<A NAME="4"><B>Legend Signs With Sabre</B>
In a contract that underscores the separation of church and state--or at least of American Airlines and Sabre--at AMR Corp., Sabre has signed a broad IT contract with AA's start-up competitor and Dallas neighbor Legend Airlines. Sabre will provide not only standard IT services--systems to handle checkin and boarding, flight scheduling, reservations, loyalty marketing and aircraft maintenance--but also e-ticketing, Internet booking, an interactive voice response system for flight information as well as consulting services on its call-center operations. Legend plans to launch service from Dallas Love Field in early 2000, and is building its 100,000-sq.-ft. Executive Terminal in Sabre's home town.
<A NAME="5"><B>Hi-Mark Does Data For Woodside, Humana Inc.</B>
Woodside Travel Trust this month contracted with Hi-Mark Software of Roswell, Ga., to consolidate data from corporate accounts that are shared by two or more Woodside agencies into a single report. On the corporate side, Hi-Mark will be handling corporate travel data consolidation for health care giant Humana Inc., integrating booking data from Worldspan Trip Manager with post-ticketing data from Carlson Wagonlit and expense data from IBM's NEDS system, under a new contract.
<A NAME="6"><B>Cendant Helps Franchisees Wire Up</B>
Cendant Corp. is helping its hotel franchisees move online through two deals announced last week. The first, a five-year contract with CAIS Internet and VirtuaLINC, will bring high-speed Internet access to 700,000 Ramada, Howard Johnson and Days Inn hotel rooms nationwide, and interactive video to their meeting rooms, over the next two years. Meanwhile, a three-year pact with Netopia Inc. will help franchisees launch Web sites and e-commerce initiatives. "Our aim is to help the operators of small properties to not only understand the use and value of e-business," said Cendant Hotel Division chairman and CEO Eric Pfeffer, "but also to develop the ability to compete more aggressively.