SOUTHLAKE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–March 21, 2006–Sabre Travel
Network, the Sabre Holdings business that connects travel suppliers
and agents through the world’s leading global distribution system
(GDS), today announced the launch of the first GeoShopping feature
offered through a GDS. With GeoShopping, offered free-of-charge, North
American and European travel agents can now quickly and easily search
for and shop off-airport car rental locations from specific geographic
search points in a single transaction.
Geographic points that can be used to search for locations and to
shop pricing include city and state, zip/postal code, address, point
of interest, rail station and hotel. Searching by rail station has the
additional capability to search using a “wild card” for those
instances where the exact name of the rail station is not known. The
hotel search point may be either the GDS’s hotel property number or
the segment number in an open passenger name record (PNR). The
resulting display will show the car rental companies and their
addresses, car types, rates, approximate prices, and
distance/direction from the search point.
“The GeoShopping feature in Sabre complements Hertz’s convenient
neighborhood, off-airport car rental location offerings for our
customers,” said Brian Kennedy, executive vice president, marketing
and sales, with Hertz, Sabre’s launch partner for this feature. “We
look forward to continuing our enhanced partnership with Sabre and
providing travel agents and their clients with the customer service
and affordability benefits offered by the new Sabre GDS GeoShopping
functionality.”
“The enhancements to searching functionality for car bookings in
the Sabre system provided by the GeoSearch feature are really
wonderful,” said Donn Casper, distribution systems manager for Carlson
Leisure Travel Services. “The new search parameters allow agents to
pinpoint car vendor locations near virtually any landmark, rail
station or hotel. It is amazing to see the price differences between
vendors that are only a few blocks apart from each other!”
John Stow, president of Sabre Travel Network, commented, “This new
feature enhances the efficient marketplace provided by the Sabre GDS
for car rental companies, agents and travelers by quickly and easily
providing a variety of choices and options.”
About Sabre Travel Network
Sabre Travel Network, a Sabre Holdings company, provides access to
the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS). The Sabre GDS is
a ready-built efficient marketplace that connects suppliers, including
hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotels, with more than 50,000
travel agency locations. Suppliers get access through one single
connection; travel agents get real time access to thousands of travel
products from multiple suppliers through one source integrated into
their businesses; consumers get access to a global supermarket of the
world’s greatest travel possibilities.
Key brands of Sabre Travel Network include GetThere, the leading
Web-based corporate travel reservation technology, and Jurni Network,
the unique leisure travel agency consortium that enables members to
sell more products from preferred travel suppliers using sophisticated
market intelligence.
Sabre Holdings (NYSE:TSG) connects people with the world’s
greatest travel possibilities by retailing travel products and
providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel
industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at
http://www.sabre-holdings.com.
Sabre Travel Network Nexion, Jurni Network and GetThere are
trademarks and/or service marks of an affiliate of Sabre Holdings
Corporation. All other trademarks, service marks, and trade names are
the property of their respective owners.
Statements in this release which are not purely historical facts
or which necessarily depend upon future events, including statements
about the expected benefits to Sabre Holdings Corporation from the
proposed transaction, or other statements about anticipations,
beliefs, expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies for the future,
may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Readers are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All
forward-looking statements are based upon information available to
Sabre Holdings Corporation on the date this report was submitted.
Sabre Holdings Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update
or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. Any forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
events or results to differ materially from the events or results
described in the forward-looking statements, including structural
changes within the travel industry, such as increased competition from
merchant model hotel offerings by our competitors. Sabre Holdings
Corporation may not succeed in addressing these and other risks.
Further information regarding factors that could affect our financial
and other results can be found in the risk factors section of Sabre
Holdings Corporation’s most recent filing on Form 10-Q with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT: Sabre Holdings
Kathryn Hayden, 682-605-2252
Kathryn.hayden@sabre-holdings.com
SOURCE: Sabre Travel Network