Sabre Rolling Out Enhanced Agent Technology Platform

Sabre Travel Network on Tuesday announced a new agency solution aimed at simplifying travel agents' ability to shop and book through graphic displays instead of typing code into traditional global distribution system blue screens.

STN president Greg Webb said the solution, called Sabre Red, would benefit corporate clients by enabling travel management companies to increase cost efficiencies by driving more bookings and better quality control through call centers. Other new aspects of interest to travel managers include revenue management for clients' preferred supplier programs, enhanced profile and policy management and mobile services including enhanced trip alerts and, once airlines start filing through ATPCo, the ability to book ancillary services via mobile devices.

Various aspects of Sabre Red are being made available immediately, but Webb said others would be introduced in the next 30 to 90 days, with more to follow in 2011. However, the revenue management offering is available immediately. Webb said it uses the yield management technology Sabre originally created to help airlines maximize their fare revenue. "We took those algorithms and allowed TMCs to maximize their preferred supplier revenue [either for TMCs' own preferred suppliers or those of their corporate customers]," said Webb.

He added that the tool highlights and tiers ticket options that are most likely to reach suppliers' deal targets, and switches from one supplier to another once thresholds have been reached.

Sabre Red also includes more sophisticated profile management to help TMCs make bookings in line with clients' policy. Webb cited the example of an executive subject to two separate policies, one when traveling on company business and one when traveling on projects billable to external clients. Sabre now has synchronized profile management for its GDS and its corporate self-booking tool GetThere.

STN also is developing a new policy engine for its GDS based on the GetThere policy engine. "It will ensure deeper integration with profiles, allowing corporate clients to be more flexible with their travel policy," said Webb, who added this would be available early in 2011.

However, the largest part of today's announcement concerned the new agency platform, Sabre Red Workspace, based on a more open architecture that can integrate with mobile services and allow bookings to be made by agents without knowledge of old-fashioned GDS formats. Sabre claimed that the six-month pilot, conducted with 250 agencies worldwide, has reduced training time and keystrokes by 50 percent.