Sabre Corporation and Carey International, a global leader in chauffeured services and ground transportation logistics management, have worked together to create a new application that will enable travel agents to book chauffeured ground services directly from the Sabre Red Workspace.

This marks the first time that chauffeured car services have been fully integrated into the Sabre marketplace or any global distribution system.

The Red App will allow travel agents to book both Carey and Embarque ground transportation in more than 1,000 cities worldwide directly from the Sabre Red Workspace and receive a commission on each applicable booking.

In addition, because the reservation will merge into the traveller’s passenger naming record through a new and enhanced itinerary segment created by Sabre, agents will have the flexibility to fully manage the reservation and visibility to track the expense, helping agents save time and increase revenue.

Carey’s new Red App also provides real-time status updates, meaning if a passenger makes a change via Carey’s call centre, it will automatically appear in the agent’s workflow and on the traveller’s itinerary.

“Typically, when people talk about ‘GDS content’ they largely think of air, hotel and rental car content.

“That is changing, and it will continue to evolve dramatically in the coming years,” said Greg Webb, president of Sabre Travel Network.

“With the bar being set higher than ever for travel agencies and the services they provide, having access to more specialised content and service providers is becoming a necessity.”

CESDirect is currently in limited release for beta testing and will be available exclusively in the Sabre Red App Centre in the coming months.

“The launch of CESDirect in the Sabre Red Workspace, marks a major milestone for not just the Carey and Embarque brands, but the entire chauffeured transportation industry,” said Gary Kessler, president, Carey International.

“For the first time travel agents and arrangers will seamlessly book chauffeured ground transportation services directly through Sabre, allowing real-time access to information that was never available before through the GDS, leading to greater efficiency, convenience, and productivity.”