SOUTHLAKE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 12, 2006–Sabre Travel
Network, the world’s largest and most rewarding marketplace for the
buying and selling of travel, today unveiled the availability of its
comprehensive suite of products and services targeted for
leisure-focused travel agents. Accessed through the MySabre desktop,
this leisure marketplace is the ultimate source of comprehensive
shopping for the leisure travel experience, offering Sabre(R)
connected agents new sources of revenue, operating efficiencies and
enhanced customer service through a single access point. As part of
this new leisure portal, the company also announced Sabre Rewards
Plus, an agent appreciation program that enables agents to earn and
redeem points for rewards such as travel packages, supplier deals,
gift certificates and training opportunities.
Sabre’s easy-to-use, single leisure access point will be
accessible via a tab marked “Vacation and Cruises” in the MySabre
desktop, a graphical, Web-based agent booking portal that integrates
travel information and the Sabre Global Distribution System (GDS). The
integrated suite offers users:
-- Comprehensive shopping and booking tools that enable agents to
create a complete travel experience for their clients by
packaging together an entire vacation via TripTailor or a
last-minute getaway via Agent59.
-- Agency and client management tools like TRAMS' ClientBase Plus
customer management solution that gives agents the power to
offer a higher level of customer service, save time and
simplify account tracking.
-- Marketing programs to help agents build business through
professionally designed marketing campaigns.
-- Training and support interaction to expand travel knowledge
through online training opportunities, reviews of properties
and destinations, and the ability to exchange insider tips
with other agents.
-- Access to the Sabre Rewards Plus program.
-- In addition to above, Sabre will soon be rolling out Sabre
Consolidator, a Web-based tool that provides agents with
real-time access to airfares from the industry's top
consolidators. Sabre Consolidator is currently in beta testing
and will be available for the general market next month.
“One central leisure marketplace gives travel agents the power to
better serve the growing leisure travel market where, according to the
Travel Industry Association of America, the leisure travel market will
be an estimated $674 billion in 2006,” said Chris Kroeger, Sabre
Travel Network senior vice president, North America. “And with the
ongoing addition of new suppliers, including Well Wishers and Port
Promotions, to Sabre’s comprehensive leisure portfolio and the
heightened rewards offered by the Sabre Rewards Plus program, agencies
have more reasons than ever to shop Sabre for all their leisure
travelers’ needs.”
Through the Sabre Rewards Plus agent appreciation program,
participating agents will earn points redeemable for merchandise, gift
cards, travel perks and training opportunities through The Travel
Institute on top of commissions and service fees by booking travel
through MySabre’s TripTailor and Agent59 sites. Courses offered for
redemption through the Sabre Rewards Plus program include destination
specialist courses such as Alaska, the Caribbean and East Asia and
lifestyle specialist courses such as Adventure travel, Spas and Luxury
travel. As part of the point redemption, all course materials, online
testing and certification upon completion are included. The Sabre
Rewards Plus Web site (www.sabrerewardsplus.com), allows agents to
track:
-- Account details like activities and points earned.
-- Wish lists of desired items available through a quick and easy
online catalog.
-- Special offers like supplier deals, travel tool demos and
surveys that allow agents to earn additional points.
“As an early adopter of Sabre’s new leisure portfolio, we’ve found
having all the leisure products on one tab makes the agents’ jobs
easier because they don’t have to jump to multiple sources for the
different products and functionalities,” said Ahmed F. Hosny, IT
manager for Handa Travel, an Ontario-based agency selling mainly
leisure travel. “Sabre has really given agents’ a one-stop source for
a large number of our leisure booking needs.”
The launch of the comprehensive leisure portfolio builds on
Sabre’s Efficient Marketplace with solutions that bring together
travel reservations and client management tools, training resources,
and agent community interaction. The new leisure marketplace offers
easily configurable and innovative options to manage and grow business
for leisure agents. These include incremental revenue-generation
opportunities through dynamic travel products such as TripTailor and
Agent59;, streamlined operations through access to the back office
support of TRAMS Inc., and newly-added products like WellWishers and
Port Promotions that respectively allow agents to send gifts to
clients at their vacation destination and book activities for cruise
port destinations.
“We’ve literally put the world of leisure travel at the travel
agent’s fingertips,” said Kroeger. “The roll-out of our Efficient
Access Solution and its targeted protection of full GDS content free
from airline service fees set the stage in a powerful way for our new
comprehensive leisure marketplace. In June, we promised we would build
more solutions for revenue, efficiency and customer service, and we
are now delivering on this promise. We want to ensure our customers
that we are not just about talk – we are focused on solutions. One
prong of our solution was ensuring the full content access along with
key protections. The other prong implemented with the launch of the
leisure suite includes new ways of building revenue and offerings that
are tailored to the way agents work – making sure our customers have a
competitive edge in this rapidly changing, increasingly competitive
and sometimes turbulent marketplace.”
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 in the United States 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.
CONTACT: Sabre Travel Network
Kathryn Hayden, 682-605-2252
kathryn.hayden@sabre-holdings.com
SOURCE: Sabre Travel Network