- GBT plans to make multi-million dollar long-term annual investment in joint technology development with Sabre
- Two thought-leading companies plan to develop distribution ecosystem for corporate travel industry
- New agreement anticipates meaningful growth in GDS bookings through Sabre
SOUTHLAKE, Texas – Dec. 3, 2021 – Sabre Corporation [NASDAQ: SABR] and American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) today announce a long-term, multi-faceted strategic partnership focused on developing technologies that will enable the future of corporate travel distribution.
Under the terms of this newly expanded technology partnership – which takes effect in January 2022 – GBT will increase its commitment with Sabre and make a multi-million dollar, long-term annual investment in joint technology development with Sabre over the next ten years. The partnership between two industry leaders puts the two companies in an ideal position to deliver best-in-class products and services throughout the corporate travel ecosystem and drive meaningful growth to both companies and the travel ecosystem in its entirety.
“While the pandemic has undoubtedly challenged the travel industry, we firmly believe in a robust recovery over time, particularly in corporate travel,” said Sean Menke, President and Chief Executive Officer at Sabre. “However, the expectations of corporate travelers and corporations have fundamentally changed; the demand for new, differentiated products that are designed for specific travelers’ needs is likely to be more pronounced. Our strategic partnership with GBT is rooted in the common beliefs we share regarding the technology needs which will enable participants throughout the travel ecosystem to meet these new demands. We look forward to our expanded commercial relationship with GBT and partnering with them for many years to come.”
Together, the companies will work to accelerate product innovation and develop a distribution eco-system that meets the future needs of customers and suppliers. This will include collaborating on corporate travel booking capabilities that enhance value to customers and suppliers, accelerating merchandising and retailing solutions, and enabling efficient and superior customer service.
“As industry thought leaders, GBT and Sabre will define the future by developing distribution software and capabilities that provide our customers and supplier partners with the value, choice and experiences they expect,” said Paul Abbott, CEO, American Express Global Business Travel. “Combining Sabre’s retailing and content aggregation capabilities and GBT’s corporate customer software and world class customer service, will enable us to deliver the business travel experiences corporate travelers want.”
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About Sabre Corporation
Sabre Corporation is a leading software and technology company that powers the global travel industry, serving a wide range of travel companies including airlines, hoteliers, travel agencies and other suppliers. The company provides retailing, distribution and fulfilment solutions that help its customers operate more efficiently, drive revenue and offer personalized traveler experiences. Through its leading travel marketplace, Sabre connects travel suppliers with buyers from around the globe. Sabre’s technology platform manages more than $260B worth of global travel spend annually. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre serves customers in more than 160 countries around the world. For more information visit www.sabre.com.
About American Express Global Business Travel
American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) is the world’s leading B2B travel platform, providing software and services to manage travel, expenses, and meetings & events for companies of all sizes. We have built the most valuable marketplace in B2B travel to deliver unrivalled choice, value and experiences. With travel professionals in more than 140 countries, our customers and travelers enjoy the powerful backing of American Express Global Business Travel. www.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements herein are forward-looking statements about trends, future events, uncertainties and our plans and expectations of what may happen in the future. Any statements that are not historical or current facts are forward-looking statements. In many cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “expect,” “future,” “believe,” “plan,” “guidance,” “outlook,” “anticipate,” “will,” “forecast,” “continue,” “strategy,” “estimate,” “project,” “may,” “should,” “would,” “intend,” “potential” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Sabre’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the benefits and results of the partnership contemplated herein, the severity, extent and duration of the global COVID-19 pandemic, including any variants, and its impact on our business and results of operations, financial condition and credit ratings, as well as on the travel industry and consumer spending more broadly, the actions taken to contain the disease or treat its impact, including travel restrictions, the effectiveness and rate of vaccinations, the effect of remote working arrangements on our operations and the speed and extent of the recovery across the broader travel ecosystem, dependency on transaction volumes in the global travel industry, particularly air travel transaction volumes, including the impact of changes in these transaction volumes from airlines’ insolvency, suspension of service or aircraft groundings, the effect of cost savings initiatives, the timing, implementation and effects of the technology investment and other strategic initiatives, the completion and effects of travel platforms, travel suppliers’ usage of alternative distribution models, exposure to pricing pressure in the Travel Solutions business, changes affecting travel supplier customers, maintenance of the integrity of our systems and infrastructure and the effect of any security breaches, failure to adapt to technological advancements, competition in the travel distribution market and solutions markets, implementation of software solutions, reliance on third parties to provide information technology services and the effects of these services, the execution, implementation and effects of new, amended or renewed agreements and strategic partnerships, including anticipated savings, dependence on establishing, maintaining and renewing contracts with customers and other counterparties and collecting amounts due to us under these agreements, dependence on relationships with travel buyers, our collection, processing, storage, use and transmission of personal data and risks associated with PCI compliance, our ability to recruit, train and retain employees, including our key executive officers and technical employees, the financial and business results and effects of acquisitions and divestitures, the effects of any litigation and regulatory reviews and investigations, adverse global and regional economic and political conditions, including, but not limited to, economic conditions in countries or regions with traditionally high levels of exports to China or that have commodities-based economies and the effect of “Brexit”, risks arising from global operations, reliance on the value of our brands, failure to comply with regulations, use of third-party distributor partners, the effects of the implementation of new accounting standards, and tax-related matters. More information about potential risks and uncertainties that could affect our business and results of operations is included in the “Risk Factors” and “Forward-Looking Statements” sections in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on November 2, 2021, in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 25, 2021 and in our other filings with the SEC. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future events, outlook, guidance, results, actions, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Unless required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events after the date they are made.