Sabre Red Blog

BERLIN – 9^th March 2011 – Sabre Travel Network, the leading provider of high-performance solutions for the travel industry today announced the expansion of its popular social media community, AgentStream, to travel agencies in Germany.

Using AgentStream, agents can connect with over 4,000 travel professionals and experts in 100 countries around the world to share advice, collaborate, and ask and answer questions. Agents can also use the new Live Chat Event capability to participate in live discussions with industry experts, suppliers and other travel agents.
The community is open to all travel agencies from all GDSs around the world.

Powered by Sabre’s Cubeless social media platform, used by over 100,000 individuals worldwide, AgentStream enables its 4,000 members to:

• Create and participate in public, private and sponsored topical groups
• Create and comment on personal and community blogs
• Ask and answer questions among travel expert peers

• Use translation capabilities in seven languages including German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic

“An increasing number of travel agents work for international companies from home or small offices, making it challenging to stay connected with peers and others in the industry.  AgentStream leverages today’s advanced technology to break down communication barriers and create an online community that fosters collaboration around the world,” said Anne Rösener, Vice President, Central & Eastern Europe, Sabre Travel Network.

“We invest hundreds of millions of dollars every year to innovate for customers  helping them stay ahead of the competition, better serve their customers and increase their business efficiency,” said Rösener.

AgentStream will continue its expansion across Europe through 2011.

Sabre Travel Network® announced today the official release of its virtual community, AgentStream, to travel agents throughout Latin America. The world’s largest online community of travel agents, AgentStream helps agents connect, share & collaborate with peers around the globe.

By connecting with thousands of travel professionals from around the world, travel agents will be able to provide better service to their clients, thereby increasing customer loyalty. Users of AgentStream can:

• Easily and efficiently network and build relationships with other agents from around the globe
• Participate in information exchange on various topics including unique destinations, social media marketing, mobile technology and more
• Save time and money by reducing time spent on travel research, troubleshooting and support

“We are thrilled to bring AgentStream to Latin America to help travel professionals build a network of peers, collaborate and benefit from information outside their areas of expertise, saving them valuable time each and every day,” said Jay Jones, senior vice president – The Americas for Sabre Travel Network .

“Latin America is one of the fastest growing regions in terms of social media adoption and we are confident that agents in this region will quickly see the enormous benefits of the AgentStream community.”

Nearly 4000 travel agents from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Middle East and the Caribbean are already active in the community. As AgentStream expands into Latin America, the number of community members is projected to grow exponentially throughout 2011.

“Part of the Sabre® RedTM portfolio, AgentStream is another example of Sabre ’s deep commitment to delivering the tools agents need to differentiate themselves and provide the kind of customer service that will really “wow” customers,” said Jones.

AgentStream is available for free to Sabre ConnectedSM travel agents, as well as agents affiliated with other GDSs. Travel agents in Latin America are now able to register for free access to AgentStream at www.agentstream.com. Agent members can also join the new Spanish or Portuguese language groups within the community, where they may opt to connect and collaborate in their primary language.

In 2011, AgentStream will release additional features and enhancements regularly that will continue to distinguish this community as the premier collaboration platform powering the performance of travel agencies all over the world.

We are thrilled to announce today’s official relaunch of AgentStream, Sabre Travel Network’s free travel agent-only community!

AgentStream, the world’s largest virtual community of travel agents with over 3,500 active members, is an integral part of the Sabre Red Service Suite helping agents drive customer loyalty around the globe.

Today’s relaunch includes a number of key aesthetic, as well as core feature enhancements, including:

- New logo and community design style – New “Comms Center” bringing all interactivity in the community into a single Live Feed - New Inbox capability
- New dedicated “News” section featuring breaking travel news from our key community partner, Tnooz.com.
- New aggregated all-community “Search” feature - Enhanced user experience design

These are just a few of the many enhancements that we will be highlighting in-detail over the coming weeks.

Until then, check out a screen shot of the fancy new Hub page design above. Let us know what you think!

Just this week, the Sabre Red team reached an incredible benchmark totaling over 50,000 users now seamlessly upgraded to the new Sabre Red Workspace.

These new users span across 88 countries around the globe, with over 10,000 in Latin America alone.

Kudos to the hard-working Sabre Red team – we are glowing with red-tinted pride!

More to come…

Tom Klein, President of Sabre Holdings, one of the world’s largest travel technology companies, has been appointed to the Corporation for Travel Promotion (CTP) Board of Directors by U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. President of Texas-based Sabre Holdings, Klein will represent the travel distribution services sector on the Board.

The CTP Board of Directors will oversee a non-profit corporation, established by the Travel Promotion Act of 2009, to promote leisure, business and scholarly travel to the U.S and to improve communication on U.S. entry policies. The CTP Board of Directors will work to identify the best ways to promote the U.S as a travel destination to audiences abroad and will make recommendations to the Commerce Department and Congress on how the U.S. can improve entry to the U.S. so that foreign tourists are encouraged to come back. The CTP will work in consultation with the Secretaries of Commerce, State and Homeland Security.

Klein said the rebound in global travel and tourism presented a terrific opportunity to promote the United States as an attractive destination with world-class tourist attractions, unique natural resources, and excellent meeting and conference facilities.

“Unlike other countries, we have taken a conservative approach to promoting the United States as a travel destination in foreign markets,” said Klein. “That’s all set to change with the creation of the CTP, and I look forward to working with other Board members to create a more collaborative travel and tourism industry that champions inbound tourism and actively competes for the global tourism dollar,” he said.

Texas Congressman Lamar Smith supported the appointment saying: “Tom Klein is an outstanding choice to represent the distribution sector on the Corporation for Travel Promotion Board. Tom’s rich and varied industry experience and his leadership skills will prove invaluable to the Board as they begin the important work of promoting our country to the world.”

Klein’s appointment supports Sabre’s ongoing industry and government efforts to improve the health of the travel industry. Earlier this year, Sabre Holdings’ Chief Executive Officer Sam Gilliland was re-appointed to the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board which consults the United States’ federal government on issues facing the travel industry including aviation security, sustainability initiatives and tax issues. Sabre’s Senior Vice President for Government Affairs, Bruce Charendoff, was also recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Society of Travel Agents for his contribution and dedication to the health of the travel industry including his work to deregulate the travel distribution industry in the United States. Charendoff has long advocated for accountable travel taxation policies, and has played an instrumental role in international regulatory affairs and export advocacy in Europe, Latin America, and China.

Nationally, the travel and tourism industry supports 8.2 million American jobs and accounts for nearly 10 percent of all U.S. exports, making it a vital part of the country’s economy and recovery. The industry generates nearly $1.3 trillion in economic output each year. In 2009, the United States attracted 55 million international visitors who spent over $120 billion. In Texas alone, travel spending in 2009 directly supported more than 500,000 jobs and another 460,000 jobs secondarily. The total direct travel spending in Texas last year was $51.8 billion.

To find out more about the CTP please click here.

Check out Kate Rice’s recent interview from ASTA’s THETRADESHOW in Orlando, Florida September 11-14th with Sabre Travel Network Director of North America, M. Sean Arena on the all-new Sabre Red Workspace.

If air merchandising is a confusing a term to you, you might find a few minutes with Kyle Moore helpful.

With more than 15 years in the industry, Kyle’s expertise spans from studying new paradigms in air shopping to observing the shopping patterns of agents and their customers. And as for that term air merchandising – Kyle puts agents at ease.

“Merchandising simply refers to the various ways that airlines are altering the way they market their products and services.  At times, they are bundling services into packages that travelers may choose to buy.  Other times, they are unbundling things that were traditionally part of the fare – such as fees for checked baggage, seat selection, meals, and many others.”

This week at THETRADESHOW in Orlando, Kyle sits on a panel to probe this very question — Airline Unbundling’s Impact on the Future of Travel Distribution – Where is it all heading

And afterward, if you’re in booth 619, you might snag some face-to-face time with him to answer your own questions about how Sabre is planning to improve the way we sell airline products and provide solutions for you to do this easily, while allowing travelers to self-serve as their travel plans become clearer.

You may have heard from Kyle before.  This year alone, he’s made an appearance at Business Travel Market, London and Guild of Travel Management Companies, China Ancillary Revenue Conference and Business Travel Show, not to mention his testimony in front of the United States Congress House Aviation Subcommittee hearing on ancillary revenue where he represented all online and traditional travel agencies, a consumer group representing travelers, and the GDS companies.

Plus, you may recognize him from a popular video on “Answers on Ancillaries” featuring Kyle here.

For more information on Kyle’s panel next week, click here.

About Kyle Moore, Vice President, IT and Consulting Services:

Kyle currently leads the Information Technology and Consulting Services team which is responsible for assisting our travel agency customers in the processes and technologies they employ to better manage their businesses.

Check out today’s announcement from the Sabre Red travel solution team below on our global release.

Global Customer Acclaim for New Sabre Red Workspace

800 Agencies in 50 Countries See Immediate Benefits following Upgrade; New Capabilities in Store for Customers

SOUTHLAKE, Texas, August 4 – Sabre Travel Network, the leading provider of high performance solutions for the travel industry, has begun its global rollout of Sabre Red Workspace, a unique new agent platform at the heart of its newly announced Sabre Red total travel solution.

Built on a future ready, open platform, the Sabre Red Workspace provides agencies with faster start up times, high performance even in low bandwidth areas, rock solid stability and quick and easy access to content, resulting in increased productivity and efficiency.

“This is an exciting week for us as we officially upgrade 800 agencies around the world to the new Sabre Red Workspace,” said Greg Webb, president of Sabre Travel Network. “The Workspace is a brand new concept, unlike any other solution in the market. It’s fast, intuitive and provides agents with quick and easy access to content, and all the tools needed to seamlessly manage a traveler’s requirements from start to finish.

“In addition, we will be rolling out newly-developed capabilities that have previously never been available to the market such as integrated mobile services, new air pricing tools to manage airline ancillary services, and sophisticated reporting and efficiency tools. I know our agency customers are excited about this and I’m confident it will result in improved performance and service for them. These are very exciting times for us,” said Webb.

See full article here.

As more customer feedback on the new Sabre Red travel solution comes rolling in, we thought we’d share it with you.

Whether you are also a pleased new Sabre Red user, or maybe you are interested and considering taking it for a test drive… or even if you are quite happy with another solution and are just curious what you *might* be missing out on… the below feedback will offer insight into why Sabre Red truly is a best-in-class travel solution.

Below highlights what one UK-based CEO had to share about his agency’s experience:

“The newly-enabled platform is quicker, more flexible and versatile and the next step, in our opinion, of our Utopian state of a one-stop-shop travel solution embracing the best of all platforms, without reliance on third party companies to deliver bespoke fixes.

This is an awesome asset to any TMC’s arsenal of service solutions. Using the Red Workspace and other Sabre Red solutions will help us enhance our service delivery quickly and more effectively, and enable us to prepare and meet the new mobile technology customer needs.”

Mick Gibbs, Chief Executive Officer
Norad Travel Management ( UK corporate and leisure travel agency )

Yesterday, Michèle McDonald from TravelMarketReport.com offered some great insights into how exactly why the word “graphical” has been a negative one to agents in the past and exactly how/why Sabre Red is different.

Anyone who uses technology at work knows that the five most frightening words in the English language are: “We are upgrading your system.” So it’s not surprising that some travel agents look upon Sabre’s plan to replace MySabre with a new platform called Sabre Red Workspace with some trepidation.

But few existing GUIs can accomplish the kind of sorting and filtering of information that an agent can perform easily on a green screen.

Check out the full article here.