Sabre-connected Travel Agencies Gain From Branding, Service Upgrades
Southlake, TX – August 20, 2009 – Sabre Travel Network(R) today announced the complete deployment of its enhanced Sabre Virtually There(R) itinerary product. Used by 30,000 travel agencies and millions of business and leisure travelers worldwide, the enhanced service is available in 17 languages for both web and mobile devices.
Building upon its successful heritage, the enhanced Sabre Virtually There makes it even easier to gain access to trip information, eliminating the need for travelers to recall their reservation code. Travelers can get more detailed information on each component of their trip, using tools that track flight and gate information, airport security wait times, access city guides, and more.
Sabre will demonstrate the new Virtually There at booth number 1413 at next week’s National Business Travel Association Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego.
“Sabre Virtually There saves us time, reduces costs and keeps my customers happy,” said Aida Fournier, founder and president of Connections Travel in Puerto Rico. “Today, clients expect you to be available to be engaged with them at all times. From a customer engagement standpoint, Sabre Virtually There has delivered dramatic change in our agency services; customers love it and we have reduced our itinerary delivery costs by more than 80 percent since we deployed the solution.”
Continuing its commitment to the exploding use of mobile devices by travelers, Sabre extended many new and existing web features to the mobile device in the enhanced version of Sabre Virtually There. Additionally, Sabre is working with its numerous worldwide airline customers to incorporate online and mobile check-in capabilities via the Sabre Virtually There web and mobile platform.
Other new features include:
• An attractive and streamlined user interface;
• MyTrips, which allows travelers to access past and future trips booked via Sabre. This enhancement is particularly useful for road warriors who can now quickly reference favorite hotels they stayed at or timely flights for recurring trips;
• New branding and messaging capabilities for Sabre-connected travel agencies, who can deploy Virtually There for travelers at no charge;
• Traveler Profiles, which allows travelers to save their personal settings for language preferences, flight notification and more; and
• • Sabre Virtually There’s flight notification feature now enables travelers to register for flight alerts with just one click
Sabre Virtually There is an established valuable traveler companion, providing relevant and timely information to travelers 24/7. In addition to the new features, a broad spectrum of travel information is conveniently accessible through Sabre Virtually There, including:
• Flight information – schedules, delays and cancellations
• City Guide information such as history, attractions and places to eat
• Weather
• Currency converter
• Flight Tracker
• Maps and driving directions
“The newly redesigned Sabre Virtually There exemplifies Sabre Travel Network’s ongoing investment in and delivery of technologies that enhance travel agency services on a global scale,” said Greg Webb, chief marketing officer for Sabre Holdings. “With a host of new configurable options, agencies can meet the twin objectives of increasing brand awareness and exceeding customer service expectations.”
Media can preview the enhanced Sabre Virtually There service via an online screen demonstration on Sabre Travel Network’s Web site.
About Sabre Travel Network
Sabre Travel Network, a Sabre Holdings(R) company, provides the most comprehensive end-to-end solutions for corporate and leisure travel. The Sabre(R) GDS is the foundation for these solutions, providing a ready-built efficient marketplace that connects travel suppliers, including hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotels, with more than 55,000 travel agency locations. Currently, Sabre collectively handles over 70 percent of the BTN 100 bookings.
Key brands of Sabre Travel Network include GetThere(R), for corporate travel reservation technology; Nexion(R), a host agency; SynXis(R), for hotel reservation management, distribution and technology services; E-site marketing, specializing in online business solutions exclusively for the hospitality industry, TRAMS(R), mid- and back-office solutions and marketing services for travel agencies; and TRAMS ClientBase Marketing Services, a marketing promotions services for leisure travel agencies.
Sabre Holdings connects people with the world’s greatest travel possibilities by retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com
