SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Apr 7, 2004 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — 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 new Sabre Vacations tour product and the introduction of a new tour operator, Air Jamaica Vacations, to the Sabre Tours system. These tour offering enhancements are both available in the Sabre system and offer great vacation deals for agents to provide their customers and simplify the booking of tour packages.
Sabre Connected agents in the U.S. now have access to Sabre Vacations, a private-label version of Trisept Solutions’ VAX Vacation Access product. Sabre Vacations brings Sabre Connected agents this Web-based vacation package booking engine with access to the best promotions, consumer deals, high- commission vacation packages and unique agency offers from top brand names such as Adventure Tours, Funjet Vacations, Southwest Airlines Vacations, and Club Med, among others. It includes access to special pricing and agency incentives, new travel content such as hotel pictures, destination information, and easy-to-use functionality for booking complex vacation packages through an easy point-and-click on the browser that is familiar to most agents. Agents can increase revenue by adding service fees to the travel packages from participating tour operators. Sabre Vacations creates a Sabre system passenger name record at the end of the booking process for easy reservations management.
“As beta testers of Sabre Vacations we found the booking process to be very user friendly. We enjoyed being able to change the components, such as air and hotel, quickly without having to start over, and how the product allowed us to create a tracking number, since we do not always have the passenger’s name when pricing,” said Nancy Krogmann, senior agent for Navigant Vacations. “Additionally, we found the breakdown of pricing as a nice feature to have for our specific accounting purposes. We appreciate using the system and are so glad it now interfaces with the Sabre GDS directly.”
“Meeting the needs identified by our customers is our first priority,” said Hugh Jones, senior vice president of Sabre Travel Network, North America. “Agencies have asked us to provide a user-friendly, graphical vacation package booking engine. We are now offering this and also adding Air Jamaica Vacations to an extensive list of participating tour operators, so agents can offer great vacation deals to their customers.”
The complete list of vacation brands available through the Sabre Vacations private-label VAX includes Adventure Tours USA, AeroMexico Vacations, ATA Vacations, Club Med, Continental Airlines Vacations, Delta Vacations, Funjet Vacations, Future Vacations, MGM Mirage Vacations, Midwest Airlines Vacations, Mountain Vacations, Southwest Airlines Vacations, TransGlobal Vacations, United Vacations, Universal Parks & Resorts Vacations and US Airways Vacations. Agents who have used VAX will find Sabre Vacations familiar. The intuitive display contains everything necessary to book vacation packages, including vacation package details, and complete hotel, vacation feature and destination information. Sabre Vacations can be accessed at no charge to agents by registering through Sabre Travel Network’s Agency eServices site.
Air Jamaica Vacations has been added to Sabre Tours, the system that allows Sabre Connected agents to access tour operators in order to book vacation packages. The system now has 60 tour operators. Air Jamaica Vacations is now also available in Sabre Vacations.
“Teaming with Sabre Travel Network in order to provide our content through their system is a win-win situation for us,” said Bryan Shilling, president of Air Jamaica Vacations. “Because we are now distributing our content through the largest North American GDS, we will expand our audience reach and increase our global visibility. Additionally, this move will help us reduce cost associated with call center bookings by moving us to an electronic distribution model.”
Sabre Tours enables electronic tour product distribution and reservation processing. The application features a mask-driven, common display of all tour products, providing agents with instant access to leading tour operator systems. The product provides true availability, up-to-date information and booking capability with immediate confirmations.
About Sabre Travel Network
Sabre Travel Network, a Sabre Holdings company, provides access to the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) enabling agents at more than 53,000 agency locations worldwide to be travel experts. The Sabre GDS, the first system to connect the buyers and sellers of travel, today includes more than 400 airlines, approximately 60,000 hotels, 41 car rental companies, nine cruise lines, 35 railroads and 220 tour operators. 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 Corporation (NYSE: TSG) is a world leader in travel commerce, 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, Sabre Vacations, GetThere, Jurni Network, Sabre Tours and Sabre Connected 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.
SOURCE Sabre Travel Network
Nanci Williams of Sabre Travel Network, +1-682-605-2271, or nanci.williams@sabre-holdings.com
http://www.sabre-holdings.com
