In the news: Sabre presents NDC-enabled solutions and teams up with Microsoft; Meritus Hotels & Resort has a new distribution platform; Klook and Everland Resort sign strategic deal
Distribution: Sabre to make available NDC-enabled solutions in 2018, partners Microsoft to expand cloud services
NDC-enabled solutions and cloud services from Sabre (Image credit: bluebay2014/iStock-Getty Images)
Sabre Corporation is offering NDC-enabled services to airlines and agencies by the end of this year to demonstrate “its full commitment to lead the industry evolution toward next-generation retailing, distribution and fulfilment.”
The technology company said it planned to launch new APIs later this year, as well as enhanced capabilities in the Sabre Red Workspace that would allow customers to shop and book NDC content alongside traditional content.
Sabre is already working with customers including Flight Centre Travel Group, the largest retail travel outlet in Australia, on this project. It will begin a pilot programme with additional agency and airline customers in the third quarter of 2018.
Kathy Morgan, Sabre vice president of strategic initiatives, said the company was in discussions with a number of airline and agency customers on an NDC-enabled pilot programme.
“The goal is to collaborate with strategic pilot partners on development and integration with our solutions, testing our end-to-end capabilities to process NDC-enabled offers.”
Sabre also plans to bring to launch a market a Digital Airline Commercial Platform in fourth quarter. This give airlines the ability to “leverage data-driven insights to dynamically and intelligently market their services, fulfil across all channels, and deliver a personalised customer experience.”
2019 will see Sabre delivering on more promises including NDC-enabled offer and order management, giving airlines “a competitive edge” to market their services and products.
“NDC-enabled technology represents a monumental step forward for the travel industry as we modernise retailing and distribution solutions to meet evolving customer expectations,” added Morgan. “The NDC standards are a promising start, but Sabre will innovate beyond NDC to make the promise a reality.”
Sabre achieved NDC Level 3 capability as an IT provider in February 2018 and has committed to Level 3 certification as an aggregator this year to complement its current airline IT capabilities.
In another development, Sabre has signed a long-term strategic agreement with Microsoft to expand its cloud-based services, which will see the migration of its commercial applications to Microsoft Azure.
“The cloud presents an opportunity to rapidly innovate, create and deliver new business value for Sabre and our customers,” said Joe DiFonzo, Sabre CIO.
The two companies will work to help Sabre better harness the power of its data and apply artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics to create new services for hotel, agency and airline customers.
As Sabre continues to evolve its cloud strategy, the company’s customers will be able to offer travellers more personalized and integrated experiences – especially important for Sabre’s strategy to innovate Beyond NDC and deliver next-generation retailing and distribution solutions.
“Cloud technology is critical to our development of a microservices architecture, which will offer our customers bite-sized functionality that can be used independently or combined to build large, complex applications with accelerated speed to market,” said Vish Saoji, Sabre CTO.
Through the agreement Sabre’s cloud transition will enhance the stability and security of its products. A multi-faceted cloud approach will also allow Sabre products to intelligently distribute workload across geographies, resulting in better performance and ensuring continuous service availability.
Sabre and Microsoft partnered earlier this year on the pilot launch of an AI-powered chatbot, Ella, that explores how AI can help travel agencies better serve travellers by fulfilling their most common service and support requests with smart technology.
Travel Technology: Meritius launches new wholesale distribution platform for its offline travel partners
New technology platform helps Meritus increase yield. (Image credit: Meritus Hotels & Resorts)
Meritus Hotels & Resorts has collaborated with travel technology and services provider Travel Prologue to roll out a new technology platform that delivers real-time data on hotels’ room availability, as well as dynamic and static rates to traditionally offline contractors including travel agencies and wholesalers to corporate travel intermediaries.
The hotel group, through Travel Prologue’s Trip Affiliates Network (TA Network) hotel platform solutions, is able to collaborate more effectively with their offline contractors to raise their direct business volume, particularly to sell any online tactical or promotional rates that have typically only been made available to OTAs.
Real-time connectively means Meritus can expand and develop a more diverse distribution network with its offline travel partners regardless of their location or time zone.
The TA Network platform, which is also designed to automate inventory management process, allows Meritus and wholesale agents to eliminate potential human errors in manually maintaining hotel contracts, enabling them to deploy staff to more productive work.
Adrian Tan, regional vice president – sales & revenue strategy of Meritus Hotels & Resorts, said the platform’s launch improved the group’s partnership with its offline contractors, while allowing the company greater efficiency in managing its distribution channels. “As a result, we enhance our overall yield as well as build up a more robust base demand in order to maximise revenue for our hotels.”
Ho Siang Twang, executive director of Travel Prologue, added: “In addition to benefiting from higher yield, greater efficiency and productivity, our hotel clients will also be able to exercise greater control over its distribution channels — thereby reducing the risk of overbooking rooms, particularly during peak travel periods. In the process, they also significantly improve the booking experience for their customers.”
Destination: Everland Resort is working with Klook to lure travellers to suburban Seoul
The Wawoo Temple in Yongin is a popular tourist attraction. (Image credit: SUNG-YOON-JO/iStock–Getty Images
Samsung-owned Everland Resort, Korea’s largest theme park, has sealed its first global partnership with Klook, Hong Kong-based activities and services booking platform, to draw more travellers to both Everland and Yongin where the park is located.
The two companies will carry out “innovative marketing strategies”, which include leveraging omni-channel content to inspire travellers to visit Yongin and add the city to their itinerary when visiting Seoul.
Located one hour away from Seoul’s city centre, Yongin offers nature, hallyu (Korean wave/fever), traditional culture, Korean royal cuisine and more. The city has also been featured on Korean dramas including the classic “Jewel in the Palace (Dae Jang Geum)” and “My Love from the Star”.
Klook said it would introduce “exclusive packages” to boost sales of the park during peak travel periods. Its chief revenue officer, Anita Ngai, said theme parks are popular with tourists to Korea. “By introducing exclusive packages with Everland we hope to make explorations of the less-visited part of Seoul easier and more accessible for travellers.”
Everland will tap into Klook’s pool of international travellers, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. “Klook’s market advantage in Asia and its vast expansion into the European and American regions are meaningful to Everland’s growth,” said it marketing director, Dong Woo Lee.
• Featured image credit: Getty Images
