TravelBizBuzz

Ever since these two kids eyed each other from across the room, we’ve wondered what they would look like out on the town together. Now we know.

Global travel technology provider Travelport announced today that its newly acquired Worldspan global distribution system (GDS) will join its existing Galileo GDS business, enabling Worldspan users to access Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) hotel inventory.

Key details: Worldspan and GTA, also a Travelport subsidiary, announced a new four-year distribution agreement today that will bring GTA's hotel inventory into the Worldspan GDS. Thus, Worldspan has become the first GDS to intergrate GTA content into the primary agent display, said VP Kathy Fitzpatrick in a statement.

The partnership will add GTA properties, along with its retail rates, to the Worldspan “Hotel Select” global shopping and booking system that travel agencies and corporations use. Worldspan will use its XML data exchange technology to create a real-time interface between GTA's internal reservations system and the Worldspan GDS.

Big plans: Later this year, Worldspan intends to have its “Hotel Source” distribute GTA content to global points of sale, providing travel buyers with real-time property availability, rates, rules and immediate confirmations directly from GTA's internal system.

-- Scott Walker, Editor, Travel Distribution Report

Posted by TDR at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The travel distribution industry closed out 2006 with the kind of GDS merger mania insiders have been predicting for years: Now there are three — but that’s not all that has changed.

As far as the GDSs go, “it was never a question of whether consolidation would take place, it was simply a matter of who’d buy whom,” writes Henry Harteveldt, VP and principle travel analyst for Forrester Research, in the introduction to TDR’s 2007 GDS Yearbook. “And you have to admit, the Galileo-Worldspan merger makes a lot of sense,” he adds.

Despite shrinking from four to three distribution powerhouses — Amadeus, Sabre Holdings and Travelport — this is no longer the era of the traditional GDS, and that’s what makes things exciting. Big 2006 changes are still sending out serious shockwaves.

1. GDSs reinvent themselves. Thinking outside the box, the distribution companies became “market-based businesses,” Harteveldt notes, pointing to content deals they struck with major airlines, which seemed to satisfy both GDSs’ desire for long-term commitment and suppliers’ demand for slashed distribution costs.

Don’t think the GDSs are through transforming. This year, they’ve continued to seek out emerging markets (e.g., Sabre is catering to African agencies) and diversify their selection of agency services, both the user-friendly, high-tech and the corporate travel consulting kind.

2. Alternatives fill gaps. The distribution system alternatives (initially called “GDS new entrants” (GNEs)) — such as Farelogix, G2 SwitchWorks and ITA Software — have lost a little luster since their big-splash industry debut, but don’t write them off. While the GDSs spent 2006 wooing airlines, the alternatives proved their viability in savvy negotiations with “numerous direct link contacts that bypass the GDS,” Norm Rose, president of Travel Tech Consulting, Inc told TDR in an end-of-the-year interview. Plus, “the corporate market represents the key tipping point for GNE adoption,” Rose added.

3. Airlines call the shots. Several network carriers took the bull by the horns in 2006 and slapped a $3.50-per-segment fee on non-preferred booking channel transactions. That move represents a need to reach distribution cost parity that will put everyone on a level playing field, Robert Mann, airline analyst for R.W. Mann & Co, Inc., told TDR in 2006. “It’s part of the disciplining of distribution costs that’s been going on for 10 years,” he added, which will continue as carriers drive more traffic through their own websites.

Bottom line: There’s no crystal ball to tell you what your next mistake or giant opportunity might be. But you can find out where you’re headed by paying close attention to where the industry has been — and being ready to take advantages where they come.

Thumb through a copy of TDR’s 2007 GDS Yearbook for clues to long-term trends, financial successes, key M&A activity and coming shake-ups. Plus, because we know you’re curious, the book offers an inside look at the FY2006 performance of these very private (at least for now) GDS companies. Get your own copy today!

Posted by TDR at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Distribution channels everywhere, even the GDSs themselves, are hunting for “non-GDS” content treasure.

Worldspan announced July 12 that, thanks to a preferred services agreement, its U.S. and Canadian subscribers now have access to the BookingBuilder Desktop for shopping and booking travel products from supplier websites.

The Desktop “makes it very easy to book the content not found in GDSs,” parent company BookingBuilder Technologies stated.

For example, “BookingBuilder offers a secure interface to the sites of low-cost airlines around the world, including the most complete Southwest Airlines access available, several European airlines and many small airlines,” detailed Seth Perelman, BookingBuilder Technologies CEO. After booking, the software also inserts confirmation information into the Worldspan GDS.

What’s new? By not requiring payment commitments, this agreement “breaks new ground in making non-GDS content accessible to the agency community,” Worldspan declared. The Desktop will extract a transaction fee.

Meanwhile, G2 SwitchWorks will provide its G2Agent desktop to TMC Garber Travel’s network of U.S. travel agencies, according to a July 17 release. G2Agent provides an alternative to the GDS distribution model for catering to corporate and leisure travelers. The product offers users “multi-source shopping, booking and servicing capabilities across multiple channels, including G2’s Private Network,” the company explained

Business strategy: “As a forward thinking company, we constantly seek new solutions to achieve our business goals in today’s highly competitive marketplace,” said Roz Garber, Garber Travel president. In fact, the TMC was a pioneer on the GDS-alternative bandwagon back in August 2005 when it was the first to use ITA Software’s system to distribute United Airlines tickets. (See “ITA Software Begins Its 1,000-Mile Journey With One Agency” in TDR, Vol. 13, No. 18).

At that time, Garber Travel had been partnering with GDS Sabre Travel Network for more than 30 years. The agreement with ITA “isn’t anything against Sabre -- we need to do what’s best for our client base,” and that means staying on the technology edge and gaining access to full content, Garber Travel executive VP Joan Kaplan told TDR in 2005. “We have to be in charge of our own destiny.”

Side note: Last summer, BookingBuilder Technologies agreed to integrate G2Agent content within its desktop.

Posted by TDR at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most of the news and commentary I read about travel companies entering international markets is predominantly about India -- and with good reason, as multiple experts and research indicate the country’s growing middle class and discretionary income to spend on travel. (See TDR, Vol. 14, No. 22)

But now that everybody’s aware of the Indian market (and wants a piece of the pie), what’s the next big thing?

Watch for: A couple months back, Timothy O’Neil-Dunne, managing partner for T2Impact, suggested to me in an interview that the Latin American market would start turning peoples’ heads in 2007.

Well it looks like at least one company is taking notice of this market’s potential. Just last week, Wordspan announced (March 26) that Aerolineas Mesoamericanas (a Mexican low-cost carrier, better known as Alma de Mexico) signed a multi-year, full-content agreement with Worldspan. Worldspan customers and business travelers using Worldspan Trip Manager XE, have access to all of Alma de Mexico’s published fares, Web fares and related inventory.

More: Then on April 2, Worldspan announced that GOL Transportes Aereos, a Brazil-based LCC, signed a Limited Connect distribution agreement with the GDS. GOL’s schedules, availability, low fares and booking capabilities will be available to all Worldspan travel agency, corporate and online points of sale worldwide, the GDS said.

Next step: Will other GDSs and travel companies follow? And will Worldspan continue to see promise in this market, signing on more Latin American carriers? More to come in the next issue of TDR.

--Lindsey Rushmore, Editor-In-Chief, Travel Distribution Report--

Posted by TDR at 05:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (529)

Hotel suppliers in the GenaRes system will soon see a speedier content distribution in a “standards-based XML interface,” Worldspan claims.

Dallas-based hotel representation company, GenaRes Worldwide Reservation Services Ltd., will implement Worldspan XML Pro for Suppliers hotel content product, Worldspan announced in a Nov. 6 press release.

The product, a component of the Worldspan Wired suite of messaging products, is a data exchange solution for direct connections between hotel suppliers and a GDS.

Worldspan dubs the new product “the first end-to-end XML solution for hotels,” and boasts that it has expanded the solution to create new e-commerce distribution opportunities for hotels and other travel suppliers using XML-based specifications from the Open Travel Alliance (OTA), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and the latest data transfer standards.

“GenaRes can now electronically build and update properties in Worldspan with unprecedented speed and efficiency,” said Ursula Rhode, executive VP for GenaRes. “We anticipate our operating and system maintenance costs will decrease significantly through the ability to exchange a broad range of structured data with the Worldspan GDS using this advanced messaging technology.”

Posted by TDR at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amadeus is getting into the travel search game, promising to relieve suppliers of the screen-scraping burden.

The GDS launched Oct. 23 the Amadeus Meta Pricer, a solution designed to “increase quality, global air content for travel search engines,” according to a press release.

The problem: Travel search engines usually collect travel content from airline and online travel agency Web sites using a technique called “screen-scraping”. This strains airlines’ Web sites and internal systems, both in terms of performance and cost -- and does not always yield accurate results for the travel search engine, Amadeus explained.

As a solution, Amadeus Meta Pricer provides a better connection between airlines and travel search engines. How it works: The airline signals to Meta Pricer the fares it wants to make available to particular travel search engines. In turn, travel search engines use Amadeus Meta Pricer to retrieve the flight information from the registered airlines.

Posted by TDR at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (390)

Travel agencies and other corporate customers who subscribe to Worldspan won’t have to jump through hoops to get JetBlue’s pricing and content.

Worldspan announced Oct. 19 that JetBlue signed a new five-year full content distribution contract with the GDS, according to a press release.

Under the agreement, all of the carrier’s published fares and inventory, including published fares JetBlue offers through other distributors, its reservation offices and its Web site, will be available today through Worldspan’s multiple booking channels.

This means Worldspan’s travel agencies and corporate customers, including business travelers who book trips online using Worldspan Trip Manager XE, as well as travel buyers who purchase opaque flights or travel packages at Worldspan-connected travel Web sites, will have full access to JetBlue’s shopping, pricing and bookings.

“Worldspan offers a broad and valuable network for delivering JetBlue inventory directly to the travel buyer’s desktop,” said Noreen Courtney-Wilds, director of sales for JetBlue Airways. “Worldspan links us to those customers we are not reaching through other channels and ensures our customers have a state-of-the-art travel buying experience.”

Posted by TDR at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (80)

Smaller agencies now have an agency solution that’s geared specially towards their needs.

Amaedus introduced Oct. 16 its Agenta [basic pack] –- a new Web-based version of its Agenta agency solution –- that is aimed at helping start-up, cruise-only and home-based agencies to serve their consumers, according to a press release.

Available now in the U.S., Agenta [basic pack] is ideal for agencies that book less than 1,500 segments annually, Amadeus said. Agents need an Internet connection and a log-in from Amadeus to get started. They do not need GDS experience or travel industry certifications such as ARC or CLIA.

The solution offers a point-and-click approach for booking air, car, hotel, cruise and tour reservations. It also provides access to “top-tier commission levels” on all bookings and offers online training and support.

Posted by TDR at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sabre Travel Network is encouraging its leisure travel agents to try out a new option for holiday bookings –- lastminute.com-owned holidayandmore.com.

In fact, the company is aiming to boost the number of British travel agents using the Web site by 10 to 20 percent, according to an Oct. 5 press release.

Holidayandmore.com will select appropriate air, hotel and car hire options for the traveler, based on the date and destination of travel and bundle these together for the agent to sell the traveler. In addition, travel providers negotiate opaque deals with holidayandmore.com, the result being that the bundled bookings are often cheaper than the combination of individual components booked separately.

Holidayandmore.com is using the Sabre system to access GDS content for most of its bookings, Sabre said. It sources flights using its own negotiated rates, those in the GDS and charter flight information.

The holidayandmore.com partnership is a good example of having “a presence in every channel of distribution” said Reet Wiseman, Sabre Travel Network’s UK VP. This allows Sabre to “negotiate the fullest possible range of fares and content,” and at the same time, the Web site allows travel agencies to easily package holiday travel, while “earning a nice commission and diversifying their revenue streams,” Wiseman added.

Posted by TDR at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Travel agents subscribing to the Amadeus GDS no longer need to hold their breath over paying airline segment fees.

In a letter dated Oct. 4 to travel professionals from Amadeus executives, the GDS promised that it “will soon finalize a content access program for our US subscribers,” allowing Amadeus customers access to full content from participating carriers without being subject to airline segment surcharges.

The GDS explained that its airline negotiations are not yet complete, but as soon as it can, Amadeus will “provide specific details regarding this program and how it will pertain to your business.” For now, Amadeus agents will “continue to be protected from applicable airline segment surcharges,” the GDS promised.

Amadeus acknowledged in the letter that it wasn’t in the forefront with other GDSs “quick to announce opt-in programs,” but Amadeus explained that it wanted to monitor the “direction of the marketplace” regarding a charge for full content access without additional airline surcharge.

Amadeus now believes that the direction of the marketplace is “clear” in that adoption rates of competitive GDS opt-in programs have shown that the market is willing to accept program access fees to ensure a commitment to full content.

Posted by TDR at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Travel agents that subscribe to Worldspan, L.P, now have a set of new desktop booking tools the GDS promises will be big timesavers.

Worldspan unveiled its Worldspan Go! Car and Hotel Booking products -- described as feature-rich, browser-based and interactive -- Sept 11 at THETRADESHOW.

The Go! Car Booking tool gives agents the option to quickly ‘direct sell’ a car -- or to book and sell car rentals by first shopping availability and information. The program simplifies shopping off-airport car rental locations through a new feature that searches locations by zip code.

The new Go! Hotel Booking tool helps travel agents who are unfamiliar with traditional GDS formats, which are eliminated from the agent’s buying experience and replaced by point-and-click access to Worldspan’s global hotel content and booking functionality, Worldspan explained. The new tool interfaces with the Worldspan global reservations system, ensuring agents receive real-time availability and rate information from hotel suppliers.

Posted by TDR at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (363)

Amidst the intense drama between the airlines and GDSs this year, American Airlines and Sabre Holdings have inked a five-year deal.

Neither company disclosed the terms, but the new distribution agreement establishes Sabre Travel Network’s Efficient Access Solution (EAS) as a competitive distribution channel for American Airlines ticket sales, according to a Sept. 1 press release.

With American as a Sabre EAS carrier, travel agencies who participate in Sabre’s program can now shop, price and book travel on American Airlines without facing a booking source premium charge.

Likewise, the agreement provides for full American Airlines content in the Sabre GDS's EAS program with no booking source premium for agencies participating in the program, American Airlines said.

Posted by TDR at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Travel companies are beefing up their online storefronts to attract self-bookers, but that doesn’t mean travel agents don’t play an important role in booking travel products.

“Travel agents are the experts on finding the best travel solution and presenting it to the consumer in a way that makes them want to buy,” says Lee Rosen, president of agent technology solutions provider TRAMS.

But agents can’t rely solely on in-demand products or sophisticated technology to lure travelers and remain important to suppliers — they must become marketing and sales dynamos, Rosen asserts. Here’s how.

Tap Into Travelers’ Histories

The greatest value that travel agents bring to the table is their past experiences with their customers, Rosen notes. Each time a traveler books a trip with an agent, the agent learns another piece of crucial information, such as where the traveler has been, what type of trips he prefers, what level of accommodation he seeks, how much he wants to spend and what his family is like.

Key: Agents must mine that information and promote travel products that make sense for the traveler. As agents make the best matches between travelers and products, they build loyalty into their client relationships, Rosen says.

That loyalty is very lucrative to travel suppliers who want a full house or sold-out flight — which means that by leveraging their own experiences with travelers, agents become the key intermediary between a supplier and the customers their businesses hinge on.

Use Web To Manage Sales

Where agencies used to need elaborate management systems, now they can rely on the Web for rapid, efficient customer management — whether they’re managing customers, suppliers or other agents.

Rosen suggests that agents “use the Internet to retrieve customer and product information, distribute and track that information as well as store it in a customer database.”

By using the Internet to manage their clients, agencies also open themselves up for incentives from suppliers who use the Web to promote their products. For example, a hotel may offer agents a steep discount for steering a client to its Web site over its competitors — or for booking that hotel over all other hotels when possible.

Lesson Learned: Though agents used to be used a basic transaction processing tool, their real value today is in knowing the customers, creating detailed databases and influencing how and where consumers purchase their travel products, Rosen claims.

For more information about how agents can remain relevant in the online travel landscape of the future, check out the current issue of Travel Distribution Report.

Posted by TDR at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Internet distribution systems (IDSs) have the potential to replace traditional systems, but they have a few hurdles to overcome. Here are two specific limitations IDSs must address:

—Consumer Sites Need Consumer Speak. Almost every Internet booking system still hosts travel industry jargon — which is Greek to the average traveler. “Travelers have no idea what a Rule 25 restriction or a PNR is,” says Pawel Mastalerz, an industry analyst with T2Impact.

Hotel descriptions also suffer from antiquated, technical definitions that were written for travel agents and don’t enrich the customer’s experience.

However, this is one area where IDSs are starting to get it right. Hotel sites and distribution systems are creating virtual tours and consumer-friendly descriptions that leave out the industry jargon.

—IDSs Must Solve Complex Problems. In their most basic forms, IDSs quickly solve easy problems, but in order to become a stand-alone distribution source, the systems must be able to solve complex problems, Mastalerz says.

Example: A complex problem might be a traveler who wants to fly to Chicago for three days, then to Europe to meet with a client, then to China for five days before returning to Denver.

IDSs aren’t capable of solving this problem yet, but the systems’ developers are working on the type of functionality necessary to solve not only this problem, but unforeseen issues down the road.

Want more information about IDSs? Check out the July 31 issue of Travel Distribution Report.

Posted by TDR at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (117)

Worldspan has unveiled its new optional content products.

The GDS has developed Super Access Product and Subscription Access Product to help agencies and corporations maintain full access to airline inventory, according to a July 17 release.

Super Access Product protects Worldspan’s retail and corporate customers from Program Airlines’ content fees while guaranteeing full access to content. Participants will also have access to Worldspan’s merchandising and booking capabilities. Airlines will offer private and promotional fares to agencies or corporations that select this option.

Subscription Access Product also provides full content from Program Airlines, but does not protect agencies or corporations from airline content fees. The option does offer competitive financial terms.

The new options “offer the control our customers have asked for in managing their relationships with airlines,” said Rakesh Gangwal, chair, president and CEO of Worldspan.

Worldspan customers who do not select one of the new options are not guaranteed full access to airline inventory, nor are they protected from airlines’ content fees.

Program Airlines include American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways. The products will be available Sept. 1.

Make your voice heard: If you have something to say about the recent airline announcements or GDS optional products, leave a comment and you may become a source for the upcoming issue of Travel Distribution Report.

Posted by TDR at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

American Airlines is taking distribution into its own hands, and the GDSs are scrambling to keep up.

The carrier has adopted a new policy for agents who book segments through non-preferred channels, according to guidance posted July 12 on American’s Web site.

The policy provides full access to American’s full schedule, fare and inventory content to “competitive booking sources,” but charges $3.50 per segment for access to content through “other booking sources.”

Competitive booking sources include specific Worldspan and Galileo optional programs, all G2 SwitchWorks’ GDS products and all Farelogix’s GDS products. Agents will be charged when they use any Sabre or Amadeus products, Worldspan’s existing product and any other Galileo or Apollo program.

The new policy, which was developed to help American better compete with low-cost carriers, is effective Sept. 1. American may eventually withhold content from its non-preferred suppliers if they fail to display its content on “neutral terms as compared with other airlines,” the carrier stated.

In response to American’s policy change, Galileo announced its opt-in Content Continuity Program, meant to protect its agency customers from airline service fees -- including those announced by American, according to a July 13 release.

Effective Sept. 1, the program will provide agencies with access to full public content and negotiated non-public fares from all airlines participating in the Galileo GDS, as well as access to air, car, hotel, cruise and tour content on its agent desktop.

The Content Continuity program provides “airlines with market competitive distribution savings and delivers our travel agency partners efficient access to the full content they require while protecting them against airline service fees,” said Kurt Ekert, senior VP of supplier services for Travelport.

Worldspan GDS also issued a statement in response to American’s announcement promising to provide details of its optional products next week.

For more information about American Airlines' new policy, click here or stay tuned to the next issue of Travel Distribution Report.

Posted by TDR at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic want to broaden their distribution horizons -- now and in the long run.

The carriers have signed long-term, full-content agreements to publish their content in Travelport’s Galileo GDS, according to July 6 and July 7 releases.

The contract makes all of American’s and Virgin’s published fares and inventory available to Galileo-connected agencies and corporate customers while allowing the carriers to distribute their products through Travelport’s online channels, such as ebookers, Orbitz and CheapTickets.

Galileo’s broad base of online and offline subscribers helps the GDS provide a “cost-effective and comprehensive distribution platform over the long-term,” explained David Cush, senior VP of global sales for American Airlines.

The long-term contract is meant to help Virgin Atlantic “reach our customers in a more targeted and effective way,” explained Paul Wait, head of sales for Virgin Atlantic.

For Galileo, the agreements mean its “travel agents, corporate travelers and consumers can be assured of continuing to get the fares, convenience and service they are used to receiving,” said Kurt Ekert, senior VP of supplier services for Travelport.

Posted by TDR at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's official: Cendant Corp. is shedding its travel distribution services subsidiary.

The company has agreed to sell Travelport -- formerly Cendant TDS -- to global private investment and advisory firm The Blackstone Group for $4.3 billion, Cendant announced June 30.

Proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce the indebtedness allocated to two of Cendant’s other subsidiaries: Realogy Corporation and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation. Those subsidiaries will be spun off in late July, the company disclosed.

The deal is expected to close in August 2006.

Posted by TDR at 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's guest blogger is Chris Kroeger, senior VP of North America for Sabre Travel Network. Sabre recently announced its new solution geared toward combating content fragmentation. Here Kroeger shares his thoughts on the industry's reaction to the Efficient Access Solution:

Some have described Sabre Travel Network’s launch of the Efficient Access Solution -- the voluntary program to assure full content and service fee protection for participating travel agents using Sabre’s Global Distribution System (GDS) -- as “stirring up a hornet’s nest.” Those are certainly strong words; however, I think they are off base.

Generally speaking when you stir up a hornet’s nest you do it accidentally, and suddenly, and without cause or justification. And the chain of events you set in place creates havoc, chaos, fear and pain. This is hardly the descriptor for a program that tackles the travel industry’s challenges head on while carefully balancing the needs of all parties -- airlines, travel agencies, the GDS and travelers alike.

We have taken a thoughtful and thorough approach over the past three years to help our customers avoid the inefficiencies and costs of a fragmented travel marketplace. Those who claim these are not real issues are a bit out of touch. Fragmentation is real. The airlines have been very vocal and pretty specific about their plans to withhold content and implement fees, and some have even suggested charging for content.

The real hornet’s nest is a travel industry that returns to an era of inefficiency and redundancy -- where all players are forced to swarm about and create a buzz, but where very little productivity results -- to meet the needs of a select few. Consider these possibilities:

• Airlines managing fare and schedule distribution among dozens, if not hundreds of systems designed to handle some, but not all of their flights.

• Travel agents having to install and search multiple computer systems, Web sites and other sources to be able to shop and book the best trips at the right prices.

• The ultimate end user -- the travel consumer -- once again becoming the victim of the inefficiencies of splintered and fragmented travel content -- paying more for fewer choices and running the risk of missing out on the very best travel options for their needs.

This disaggregated world would cost the industry an estimated $1.5 billion in annual costs, even with just a small amount of fragmentation. Absorbing those costs is the true hornet’s nest for an industry where all players are already focused on controlling costs and improving earnings.

Instead of stirring a hornet’s nest, our solution helps avoid the hornet’s nest by carefully balancing the needs of all the players in the industry -- preserving and enhancing an already efficient marketplace.

Posted by TDR at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)

Sabre Travel Network is promising GNEs aren’t the only ones who can help ailing airlines cut costs.

The GDS has launched a program designed to provide travel agents with full access to airline content while also helping carriers reduce distribution costs, according to a June 7 release. Carriers that participate in the Efficient Access Solution will receive a reduced booking fee for reservations made by participating agencies, and agency members will receive full content and protection from airline service fees, among other incentives.

Sabre Travel Network’s intention is to “develop a multilateral approach that balances the needs of all industry players” and puts a stop to industry fragmentation, explained Chris Kroeger, senior VP for North America.

However, Sabre’s motivation for introducing the program may not be so cut and dry. “Clearly, after cutting back revenues in airline renegotiations, Sabre is using this program to keep their bottom line even by taking money out of the pockets of travel agencies,” commented Ellen Lee, VP of business development for alternate distribution system G2 SwitchWorks.

G2 boasts full content agreements with 11 airlines, including American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines. G2 also works with multiple agencies, including Carlson Wagonlit Travel, and reaches approximately 9,000 agents through its’ G2Agent product and partnership with Trisept Solution’s VAX VacationAccess.

To contribute to this story, send us an email with "Efficient Access Solution" in the subject line. Otherwise, stay tuned to the June 19 issue of Travel Distribution Report for a detailed analysis of Sabre’s new program.

Posted by TDR at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)