Sabre’s CEO Won’t Say if He’s Selling Hospitality Unit – He’s Talking Up Its Growth

Sabre said last month that it plans to sell its business-travel booking tool, GetThere. And in September, we reported that the company is trying for a second time to sell its hospitality arm.

But for now, Sabre CEO Kurt Ekert says he’s focused on the growth of all the company’s divisions, particularly the two IT businesses for airlines and hotels.

Sabre’s core business is its global distribution system (the intermediary between airlines and travel agents), which makes up around 70% of revenue.

Ekert, who spoke Wednesday at the Phocuswright conference in Phoenix, did not comment on the potential sale of Sabre Hospitality, whose flagship product helps hotels manage pricing and reservations.

“That business next year, based on what we’ve talked about publicly, will be $100 million better on an EBITDA basis than it was just in 2022. So over a three-year period, a massive turnaround in transformation of that business. That’s only about 10% of the business today, but it’s growing like a weed.” 

Hyatt is on track to fully integrate the pricing and reservation software into its hotels next year.

Slow Adoption for New Airline Tech 

Sabre earlier this year released SabreMosaic, what it touts as a next-generation airline retail system. It’s meant to replace the decades-old system that airlines are using, and SabreMosaic is designed to make airline retail more like the personalized shopping experience on Amazon. 

Sabre is testing the retail platform with American Airlines, Virgin Australia, Air Serbia, and Oman Air. 

SabreMosaic is built for retail standards known as offers and orders, or new distribution capabilities. The “offers” portion deals with being able to offer flight options as well as ancillary products like seat selections and baggage allowances. The “order” portion of the tech is meant to serve as a single reference for an entire booking, streamlining processes such as fulfillment, servicing, and accounting.

Ekert said the offers portion is already gaining some traction, but the order piece is going to take more time. That’s because it’s a “monumental” process to fully switch over. A large airline with the old retail system might have 300 to 900 apps connected to it, Ekert said. 

“It’s probably a four-, five-, six-year journey, and I think that’s going to have a longer gestation period because of the pain of that process,” he said. 

Though adoption has been slow, Ekert believes that’s where the industry is headed. That’s why the company is focusing heavily in this area. 

“For the first time in a long time, Sabre is going to be able to play aggressive offense globally.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to add more details about Sabre’s airline tech business.