<B>TechTalk</B>
<B>Carriers Eyeing worldspan's Corp. Program</B>
Worldspan said some airlines already are interested in a new marketing program called CorporateDirect, in which carriers that sell the Trip Manager booking system to new clients would qualify to pay total GDS segment fees of less than $1.50 for each booking made in Trip Manager by a new corporation. Other airlines that participate in the Worldspan GDS also would qualify for a discounted fee for segments booked by a new corporation in Trip Manager, but not as low as $1.50.
"We have some airlines that are interested," said Sue Powers, Worldspan's senior vice president and general manager of worldwide e-commerce, at the National Business Travel Association convention in Los Angeles. "Some here have said they want to sign up." Likely candidates include Worldspan owners--Delta, Northwest and TWA--but other airlines could see the advantage in the lower GDS fees, which for Worldspan average about $3.70. Earlier, Sabre reduced segment fees for bookings made via its BTS software by $1, about a one-third savings. GDS fees are among the fastest-growing distribution costs for airlines, a topic the carriers often have bemoaned in recent years. "The lower fee has definitely increased the airlines' focus on driving penetration," said Sabre BTS senior vice president and general manager Scott Smith.
Asked whether airlines are sharing the savings with clients, Smith said: "The airlines tell me BTS customers want to negotiate that dollar, but the carriers have been rather circumspect about it." He said BTS is "a couple weeks" from a "significant statement on another, more aggressive model on airline BTS pricing," (BTN, July 10). The reduced GDS fees from Sabre and Worldspan are their answers to E-Travel's and GetThere's planned direct links with airlines and other suppliers. E-Travel's vice president of marketing and business development, Bart Littlefield, said his company has "never worked with an airline to sell us. At the end of the day, an airline sales person needs to sell seats."
<B>Profile Synch Still No Cinch</B>
A number of vendors said they have initiatives underway for the synchronization of traveler profiles among agency, GDS and corporate databases (BTN, May 15).
"Online booking tools put their first focus on synching with GDS profiles, but those profiles are worthless," said Rebecca March, Maritz Travel director of technology marketing. "This is not a trivial thing."
"The lack of profile and policy synchronization is a key issue in low adoption rates," said John Hach, Galileo's corporate sales and marketing vice president. Galileo announced a new booking system that will feature a central repository for profiles (see story, this page).
Worldspan previewed at NBTA a new Profile Manager information tool designed to automate the process of creating traveler profiles in Trip Manager, saving time, increasing accuracy and easing implementation.
Meanwhile, E-Travel said its pending HR integration with such systems as SAP, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Oracle's own will allow travel managers to automatically create and deactivate E-Traveler users based on hire and termination dates. It also will help consolidate traveler profiles into one place.
<B>Sabre BTS Partners With Ariba</B>
Sabre BTS last week announced it would integrate with the travel and expense module of Ariba's commerce services network. "You'll have a common user interface for all procurement activity, with data moving more seamlessly between them," said Sabre BTS senior vice president and general manager Scott Smith.
Ariba Buyer expense reports will be integrated with the Sabre BTS system; likewise, travelers using Ariba's e-commerce solutions can "punch out" to Sabre's travel site to plan trips and route for internal approval.