Sabre Travel Network
met with 28 representatives from European hotel groups in London last month (March), to outline its plans for helping hotels to differentiate their products and services, and sell more rooms through the global distribution system (GDS) channel. 

CAPTION: (From left) Ilaria Triggiani of 6 Continents, Hamish Brown of
Sabre, Jamie Cole of Travelocity, Peter Yap of Millennium & Copthorne
Hotels, Reet Wiseman of Sabre, Bruno Wolf of Marriott Hotels, Susana Rocca
of NH Hotels and Kim Tisdale of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels.

The meeting included discussions about the company’s merchant model hotel programme, Sabre Exclusives, which is currently in place for North American points of sale.  Representatives from the leading leisure and corporate online booking systems, Travelocity
and GetThere
, were on hand as Sabre Travel Network emphasised its ability to help hotel groups broaden their distribution base.

Hamish Broom
, European director of associate sales and services for Sabre Travel Network, said travel agents would benefit from the discussions. “We showed the attendees the value of making more rooms and services available in the Sabre GDS, at the most competitive rates available in the market.  Sabre Connected agencies stand to benefit from this in a big way,” he said.

Sabre Travel Network is encouraging agents to book more non-air content through the GDS. Less than half of all overnight trips currently booked by Sabre Connected agents in Europe include a hotel booking.

“This represents huge revenue potential for agencies.  Tactically it makes sense. At a time when airline commissions are falling away agents are able to diversify their revenue streams by renewing their emphasis on hotel bookings,” Broom said.

Related storeies on ITN:

(02/04/2003) Sabre Delivers Automated Product to Simplify Agency Administration Process
(31/03/2003) Sabre Announces Corporate Structure Changes

(24/03/2003) NTT Warns of Industry ‘Evolution’ as it Switches to Sabre

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