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By Laurie Berger
<B>Sabre's New Tactic: Online Advertising</B>
In a move that could raise the ire of travel managers, Sabre BTS quietly is tapping travel vendors to help distribute and enhance its corporate products. In forging these new partnerships, BTS also is advancing a concept that has yet to be tested in the corporate arena: the online booking tool as a bargaining chip.
"We're looking to suppliers, mostly airlines, who will do everything from endorsing, to licensing and private labeling the product," said sales and marketing vice president Scott Smith. As Smith sees it, sponsoring suppliers would make a proposal to the corporations offering dollars-off deals or free use of the software. The payoff for vendors? The ability to push deals and promotions to travelers at the point of sale. In one scenario painted by Smith, vendors would load special offers into a database the Sabre host would query when travelers try to book a trip, and the system would send an online message to travelers informing them of the opportunity.
Another scenario would help travel partners manage demand. If a traveler is booked on an oversold flight, the carrier might send him an e-mail asking him to switch to a lightly booked flight two hours later in exchange for 500 frequent flyer miles. Similarly, a traveler on a multi leg flight using multiple carriers might receive a message from one offering an upgrade if he switches.
One-to-one marketing, while rampant on consumer sites, is still a controversial concept in the corporate market. Smith, however, is optimistic that it will be embraced by the travel management community. "What travel manager wouldn't listen if a vendor said, let me sponsor your technology?" he asked. The messaging would be policy-sensitive, he said, and managers could specify the vendors and types of deals allowed.
Still, travel managers were wary of what some saw as a first step in cutting out corporate and travel agency intermediaries. "If a system starts managing my travel, then I have a problem, because it won't be as good as me," said Bob Grant, travel manager for BTS customer Charles Schwab.
"I can't see how it would work," said Linda Bice, travel manager for Bain and Co., which just implemented BTS. "In our agreement, we were very specific about not advertising to travelers within our firewalls."
But BTS competitors are watching. "AXI is designed to enable online messaging, but we've yet to use it for that purpose," said American Express spokesperson Melissa Abernathy. "It's a power like cloning--it could be used for good or evil." The new AXI release does include a messaging capability controlled by the travel manager that could be used to broadcast messages to all travelers to drive usage to preferred vendors or communicate new programs.
Yet, Internet Travel Network is not actively pursuing this area. "It's an intriguing model for consumer bookings," said marketing vice president Lois Shore, "but on the corporate side, we haven't heard anything about it yet."
But BTS's Smith said one airline, hotel and car rental company have expressed interest. "If you look at the current frequent flyer alliances, you can figure out the logical starting places for these bundles." Even without becoming distribution partners, vendors can be tapped for frequent flyer program "favors and waivers," like electronic banks of upgrades, he said.
<a name="data"><B>Data Consolidation For Direct Links</B>
Lanyon is another company vying for a toehold in the new online market. The London-based software firm, known in travel management circles for RFP Assist, which enables electronic hotel bidding, is in discussion with a variety of vendors to help companies consolidate data from direct corporate links and other sources, said Philip Cunningham, vice president of new business applications for firm. Although Cunningham would not divulge the name of the product, nor the piloting travel agency, he did categorize it as a new type of software called "personal travel manager." The PTM holds trip records locally, on a corporate LAN or intranet, allowing travel managers to keep track of profiles, do compliance reporting or make bookings using multiple tools. Cunningham expects the primary customer will be travel agents, who will install this software at client sites.
Internet Travel Network, meanwhile, said it also is being tapped by corporations to come up with solutions to the data issues raised by direct connections. But with almost 20 corporate clients fully deployed, the booking system is keeping a low profile in this area."We're quietly working with a few select clients on this now to evaluate what to do," said marketing vice president Lois Shore. Meanwhile, the company is promoting its role as a coordinator of mix-and-match solutions for firms that want to remain independent of the traditional GDSs. It's also staving off hungry vendors that want to license or private-label the booking engine it just designed for United Airlines' consumer Website. "We're not in any discussions--United wants to keep it for themselves," Shore said.