Hotels and accommodation rates never before seen in a GDS will appear in the Sabre system from 19 March.Ê A deal between the GDS operator and hotel consolidator Conferma means Sabre Connected travel agents in the UK will be able to book a wide range of properties, from five star to boutique establishments.More than 70,000 properties in the UK and elsewhere, many previously not bookable in the GDS, will become available to Sabre Connected agents using the new MySabre booking platform. ÊA link from MySabre will take agents directly to Conferma’s consolidated hotel booking screen.Ê Here agents will be able to access rooms and rates negotiated by Conferma and hotel distribution specialist CNG.

Travel agents will be able to add their own mark-up to these rates, or charge the traveller a service fee. ÊThere will be room for significant travel agency mark up, while still keeping rates at or below those that are publicly available, said David Brown, Sabre Travel Network’s vice president for European leisure travel.

All bookings will automatically be incorporated in the Sabre PNR (Passenger Name Record) generated by the travel agency.

The deal is part of Sabre Travel Network’s drive to expand the range of leisure products bookable in its GDS, but business travellers and travel management companies will also benefit.Ê

MySabre is the first booking product to make the entire content of a GDS available from a single Internet page, and combines traditional products bookable in the Sabre GDS, such as airlines, car hire, hotels, cruise and rail, with content from the Internet and third-party suppliers such as Conferma and Vertical Group’s Magic Desktop. The product first appeared in British travel agencies late last year and has been responsible for a number of new business wins since.

Hotel bookings are a key source of growth for Sabre Travel Network in 2005.Ê Last year the company saw a 22 percent year-on-year increase in UK hotel bookings, and a 21 percent increase across the whole of Europe.

As well as the new properties bookable in MySabre through the deal with Conferma, 300 new properties now feature in the GDS following the merger of Concorde and Envegure Group, under the new name of Louvre Hotels (chain booking code NN).

In addition, the Sabre booking process for several large hotel groups has been streamlined. Le Meridien Hotels, Golden Tulip Hotels, Top International Hotels and Jolly Hotels have all signed up to DC Shop, a participation level thatÊ links Sabre Connected travel agents and online travel sites directly into participating hotels’ reservation systems from the very earliest point in the booking process.Ê

This means availability information is moved right up to the front of the booking process, ensuring that the initial display on agents’ screens is as accurate as a call to the property’s reservation number. It also gives hotel chains direct control of what data is being displayed across the growing number of distribution channels available to them.

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