Articles tagged “sabre”

Hotels are no longer just “merchants of sleep.” With the help of smarter merchandising strategies, hoteliers can tap into the insights and retailing know-how to sell guests not just a bed, but an entire hotel experience delivered to serve each traveler’s unique needs.

What changes in the current hospitality distribution landscape are forcing hotels to rethink how and where they sell their room inventory? How can hotels take more control over their relationship…

In Australia, the New Distribution Capability is moving from a vague concept to an active business model, as Qantas urges travel agents to sign up to a new channel with expanded content. Those who miss the June 30 deadline could lose out on some enhancements but also face new fees for airline bookings.

Sabre is engaged in a tough but necessary technology transition. Beyond the system outages it has experienced recently, some of the events impacting its financial results, namely the Jet Airways financial collapse and the Boeing 737 Max groundings, are beyond the company's control.

A year ago the U.S. changed its corporate tax law. A look at the impact on travel tech giant Sabre may show, by example, the benefits to many U.S. businesses broadly. The reform appeared to give the company added financial flexibility in 2018.

Few companies other than activist investor Elliott Management expressed a serious interest in acquiring Travelport. Elliott twice lost potential private equity partners after they reviewed Travelport's books. The deal price is underwhelming, and that's a signal that some things haven't been going the company's way.

The hotel tech group that Jonas Hospitality has put together through acquisitions of Leonardo, MSI, Springer-Miller, and BookAssist is admittedly small. But its creation says a lot about the pressures to consolidate in hotel tech. Experts debate the pros and cons of such roll-ups.

There have been several new technologies, from the New Distribution Capability to direct-connect, and blockchain, that have at times shown promise in easing the grip of the global distribution systems. For the last 20 years, the incumbent distributors have always managed to exert or shore up their roles.

Southwest has perennially been a thorn in the side of online travel companies that lusted after getting access to its flights and fares. But no one can credibly argue that Southwest's insistence on direct distribution hasn't worked for the airline. Its competitors and peers inside and outside of the airline industry can only be jealous.

There's no guarantee that the European Commission will act on this complaint but it shows that the online travel industry is still very annoyed with Lufthansa's actions.