Sabre’s 900 agency clients are using its Internet facilities at the moment; the GDS supplier still has to convince many that it is worthwhile getting on the Internet, let alone to start creating their own Web sites.
“It may be a problem for us in the short term but in the long term it’s an opportunity,” said Teerink. “Travel agents who want to succeed and grow need to tap into the Internet. We are helping them.”
Some agents may believe they have good reason to be sceptical about Sabre’s latest initiative. After all, the new Virtually There services are also going to be used by Sabre’s on-line travel agency Travelocity and its corporate travel purchasing system Business Travel Solution.
Will the agents’ traditional customers be seduced by the ease of using Virtually There into booking trips on Travelocity or another on-line site in the future? Teerink dismisses this scenario as unlikely. Sabre has pledged not to introduce a link to Travelocity on its Virtually There site.
He added: “If the travel agent has developed a strong relationship with a client, I don’t think we are going to see a lot of channel shifting. But it reinforces that agents need to get linked to the Internet to compete.
“Customers are going to use on-line providers for the simpler itineraries but the travel agent will continue to have an important consultative role in creating complex itineraries.”
Sabre’s strategy is not only aimed at getting agents on-line; it also wants to focus its services more squarely at customers in future. In the US, it is starting to promote Sabre as a consumer brand, with a reputation for leading the way in the technology field.
This initiative is not likely to be rolled out in Europe until 2001, according to Teerink. However, it is plain that Sabre is already laying the groundwork by offering consumers an enhanced, value-added service via Virtually There.
Trip Review, which was launched last Spring (Travel Weekly April 5), has been receiving 30,000 hits a day. But with Virtually There now up and running, Sabre is aiming to double this number by March 2000.
GLOBAL distribution system supplier Sabre is offering travel agents new commercial incentives to get hooked up to the Internet.
It has just launched an enhanced version of its Trip Review system, which allows customers to check their travel itinerary on the Internet once they have booked their holiday with an agent.
The new software, which has been named Virtually There, now displays the travel agent’s logo and other details at the top of the itinerary.
Sabre vice-president for marketing Bob Teerink said: “It gives agents another opportunity to promote themselves to travellers, which creates a stronger brand for them.”
By mid-2000, Sabre will offer agents the opportunity to incorporate hyper-links to their own Web sites within their travel itineraries. And it is planning to introduce e-mail facilities linking agents with their customers too.
This is intended to reduce the operational cost of printing and faxing programmes and cut the amount of times customers have to call agents.
The new services are being made available to all of the 900-plus Sabre-connected agents in the UK for no extra cost. But agents will have to get connected to the Internet via Sabre’s facilities to take advantage of them.
Teerink admitted that only a relatively small number of Sabre’s 900 agency clients are using its Internet facilities at the moment; the GDS supplier still has to convince many that it is worthwhile getting on the Internet, let alone to start creating their own Web sites.
“It may be a problem for us in the short term but in the long term it’s an opportunity,” said Teerink. “Travel agents who want to succeed and grow need to tap into the Internet. We are helping them.”
Some agents may believe they have good reason to be sceptical about Sabre’s latest initiative. After all, the new Virtually There services are also going to be used by Sabre’s on-line travel agency Travelocity and its corporate travel purchasing system Business Travel Solution.
Will the agents’ traditional customers be seduced by the ease of using Virtually There into booking trips on Travelocity or another on-line site in the future? Teerink dismisses this scenario as unlikely. Sabre has pledged not to introduce a link to Travelocity on its Virtually There site.
He added: “If the travel agent has developed a strong relationship with a client, I don’t think we are going to see a lot of channel shifting. But it reinforces that agents need to get linked to the Internet to compete.
“Customers are going to use on-line providers for the simpler itineraries but the travel agent will continue to have an important consultative role in creating complex itineraries.”
Sabre’s strategy is not only aimed at getting agents on-line; it also wants to focus its services more squarely at customers in future. In the US, it is starting to promote Sabre as a consumer brand, with a reputation for leading the way in the technology field.
This initiative is not likely to be rolled out in Europe until 2001, according to Teerink. However, it is plain that Sabre is already laying the groundwork by offering consumers an enhanced, value-added service via Virtually There.
Trip Review, which was launched last Spring (Travel Weekly April 5), has been receiving 30,000 hits a day. But with Virtually There now up and running, Sabre is aiming to double this number by March 2000.
TABLE: Teerink: the latest system would give agents another opportunity for self promotion