SOUTHLAKE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 27, 2004–Sabre Travel Network, a Sabre Holdings (NYSE: TSG) company, today announced new enhancements to its Sabre Travel Protection product for U.S. travel agencies. The product now offers an enhanced graphical booking tool and features a preferred supplier who offers expanded insurance coverage for travelers, as well as higher commissions for agents – ranging from 20 percent to 35 percent.
CSA Travel Protection, the preferred vendor for the Sabre Travel Protection product, offers travel agents and their customers one of the most comprehensive and flexible travel protection packages in the marketplace. CSA enables Sabre Connected agents to offer every type of coverage a traveler may need, including trip cancellation, rental car damage, emergency medical transportation and supplier financial default. Additionally, travel protection is easier to sell since all CSA’s insurance products include a ten-day free trial period. In addition, CSA’s Advantage Plan offers a full refund of insurance premiums to the traveler in the event of trip cancellation – an agency offer made exclusively through Sabre Connected agencies.
“This enhanced coverage offers agents and their customers more peace-of-mind as they plan their trips,” commented Hugh Jones, senior vice president of Sabre Travel Network, North America. “The CSA Travel portfolio of products and services offers our travel agency customers the industry’s most comprehensive coverage at the most competitive prices. Coupling CSA’s offerings and our enhanced insurance shopping tools makes Sabre Travel Protection’s offering the best travel insurance and travel assistance services package in the market.”
“Combining our flexible suite of quality products, including Web Direct & CSA Advantage, with Sabre Travel Network’s agency network and cutting-edge technology offers agents an outstanding opportunity to increase profits and more efficiently manage their business,” said Frank Shellabear, President of CSA’s Sales Division. “It’s an unbeatable relationship that’s vastly superior to any other GDS-vendor arrangement in the marketplace.”
Enhancements to Sabre Travel Protection include:
-- New traveler benefits from preferred supplier, CSA Travel
Protection Advantage Plan - travelers enjoy more robust
protection options and a return of insurance premiums if trips
are canceled for any reason - an exclusive agency offering
through Sabre Connected agencies.
-- New agency benefits from CSA - agents earn a commission of up
to 35 percent of the policy premium. CSA also offers agents
the flexibility to earn a referral or license commission and
the ability to protect commissions with a commission
protection feature.
-- A new and improved insurance shopping and booking tool for
agents - key insurance shopping fields are automatically
updated from Passenger Name Record (PNR) data, reducing
keystrokes. In addition, insurance bookings are now
automatically integrated with the PNR for easy look up and
back office functions.
-- Additional ease and speed for MySabre agents with a new point
and click feature - the MySabre agent booking portal allows
agents to use a computer mouse to interact with the Sabre
system while selling travel protection
-- Friendly reminders to increase agency sales - if at the end of
the transaction travel insurance has not been booked, the tool
prompts agents participating in the preferred vendor program
to offer travel protection to their customers
-- Sabre Rewards -agents participating in the Sabre Rewards
loyalty program may earn loyalty rewards by booking Sabre
Travel Protection - up to $3.00 per policy booked.
Sabre Travel Protection is available free of charge to all Sabre Connected travel agents and can be accessed through the Sabre system at travelprotection.sabre.com, MySabre and Jurni Network. Agents can see more information about Sabre Travel Protection on the Sabre eServices’ New Community page.
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, 37 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, Jurni Network, GetThere, and Sabre Travel Protection 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.
CONTACT: Sabre Holdings Corporation
Dawn M. Dorman, 682-605-2246
dawn.dorman@sabre-holdings.com
SOURCE: Sabre Holdings Corporation
