LONDON, UK , 18 Nov 2008 - Passengers and travel agents will soon have the option of shopping and booking travel in an entirely new way with Sabre's new Attribute Based Shopping, demonstrated this week at the PhoCusWright Conference Travel Innovation Summit in Los Angeles
The latest merchandising solution from Sabre will help travel agents and consumers navigate the abundance of travel content available today, as airlines around the world continue to bundle and unbundle their product and service offerings. Sabre's Attribute Based Shopping will be available to the marketplace in 2009.
"Sabre continues to provide leadership to airlines, travel agencies and consumers by providing merchandising solutions that help generate new revenue, create efficiencies and cost savings and cut through the noise in the marketplace, allowing shoppers to easily compare travel options, with visibility to the total price," said Greg Webb, chief marketing officer for Sabre. "This will make it easier for the shopper to identify and select the best travel options, fully considering the optional charges that are increasingly in vogue in the marketplace."
Sabre's Attribute Based Shopping allows airlines the ability to fully differentiate their product and service offerings to travel agents and consumers. When booking travel, Sabre's Attribute Based Shopping takes agents and consumers beyond the standard screen showing various airfare options, with the ability to include or exclude certain product or service attributes, varying the total price accordingly. Through Sabre's new solution, agents and consumers will now be able to choose from a list of products and services they wish to purchase.
For example, the information provided on Sabre's Attribute Based Shopping screen will allow the shopper to include additional optional charges, if applicable, for products and services such as seat selection, baggage charges, lounge access, trip insurance, and onboard meals, among other features. After selecting the desired service and product options, agents and consumers can then make a quick and easy fare comparison of flights from a single supplier or comparatively across airlines, as they wish.
"We recognise the need airlines have to generate new revenues in these continuing challenging economic times," Webb said. "Sabre is focused on working with industry groups to develop standards across the merchandising area so we can quickly and more efficiently address the needs of airlines, agencies and consumers.
"We believe Sabre's Attribute Based Shopping will make the travel shopping experience more efficient for agencies and travellers, while providing airlines the opportunity to differentiate, showcasing their value through product and service options," Webb said.
Sabre's Attribute Based Shopping is just the latest in merchandising solutions Sabre has developed and enabled in all distribution channels enabling airlines to consistently sell their products and services in a cross-channel fashion. Qantas and Porter Airlines currently use Sabre Branded Fares, in the Sabre GDS, which allows airlines to bundle its products and services into fare families for shopping convenience. Additional carriers utilise SabreSonic's Branded Fares in their direct channel. This summer, as part of its launch of its new reservation system SabreSonic Customer Sales and Service, Midwest Airlines launched Sabre's Pay-for Seats capability in both the direct and indirect channels, allowing consumers to reserve a premium seat, if desired.