Canyon Creek
Travel/American Express is signing on for
the Sabre Travel Network Efficient Access Solution, a program that
offers the agency full travel content and protection from airline
service fees from participating program carriers. The agency also
expressed the importance of preserving full airline content in the
Global Distribution System (GDS), and urged carriers and GDS companies
to reach speedy agreement to avoid costly fragmentation of distribution
content.
  “Travel agencies that thrive in today’s marketplace are those that
can work efficiently and creatively to meet rapidly changing customer
demands,” said Randal Limbacher, president and owner of Canyon Creek
Travel/American Express. “To do that, we must have all travel options at
our fingertips, queued up for immediate booking and presented to agents
in a familiar and flexible workflow environment. To force agents to
search multiple sites for full content is to cripple our productivity
and squander our competitive advantage.”
  Limbacher, whose agency focuses 70% on business travel, spoke
especially passionately about the impact of fragmented content and
service fees on corporate travel. “One out of every five airline tickets
sold in North America is sold to the business traveler, the majority of
whom book through a travel agency for convenience and service,” he said.
  Limbacher specifically urged American Airlines, the world’s largest
carrier, and Sabre Travel Network, the world’s leading Global
Distribution System, to come to agreement on GDS terms. “For DFW agents
especially, American is a critical link in supplying our customers’
needs.”
  To other travel agencies, Limbacher said, “I believe we should all
act collectively to assist in lowering distribution costs for our
airline partners and contribute to their profitability. If our partners
are not successful, we do not have anything to sell!”
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