Sabre says enhancements to its GDS will give agents the ability to cope with airline ancillary fees, the growth of mobile technology and boost customer loyalty.
The new system, known as Sabre Red, will allow agents to compare fares by total price, including airline ancillary charges.
Sabre Red will highlight preferred suppliers and agents will be able to send information to clients via their mobile phones, for example detailing weather delays or arrival information, which Sabre believes will help to build customer loyalty.
Sabre Red will also give agents a desktop screen personalised according to their needs.
“Instead of a blue screen with a flashing prompter they will start their day with a workspace configured by that agency,” said Brian Houser, Sabre Travel Network’s vice president of customer marketing.
This, he said, meant things such as email, calendars and news feeds could be added to personalise an agent’s screen.
Houser said the system had already been proved following extensive trials.
“We are not announcing something that we are planning to release in 18 months or two years, we have 250 customers live now,” he said.
Houser claimed that Sabre Red’s ability to search fares using the total price, including things such as seat reservation cost, meant it could find the lowest available fares, saving an average 10%.
Click here to see original article by Gary Noakes, Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
