Sabre reports the launch of its next generation air shopping platform, which Sabre says has been proven to find the lowest fares and provide more fare choices for travelers.
The platform is based on a specifically developed algorithm that searches, evaluates and ranks more than a billion fare combinations providing the shopper with a comprehensive list of the lowest fare options, according to Sabre.
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The enhanced shopping platform meets the needs of evolving consumer shopping behaviors and the growing number of airfare options, Sabre says. In addition, it allows for new features such as the ability to return multiple prices for the same itinerary, letting travelers easily shop and compare the different fares and services offered by airlines.
“Not only is air shopping more complex today, mobile and social trends are changing how travelers discover, shop and buy travel,” said Chris Kroeger, senior vice president for Sabre Travel Network. “In the next few years, personalization will really take off, exploding the number of ways to search and filter fares but the desire to find the lowest fare will never go away. The enhancements we’ve made to our system prepare us for this next phase of travel commerce.”
To test its system, Sabre says it commissioned a third party, independent study comparing the efficacy of its shopping system to other providers. The results show that the Sabre system delivers superior low fare search capabilities and the best airfare options in each region and globally.
Conducted by Fried & Partner, the study found that Sabre finds the lowest fares more often than Amadeus and Travelport in all regions, Sabre says. Further, the Sabre system also finds more of the itineraries that travelers want to buy, both in terms of time of day and length of travel times.
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“While consumers expect more convenience in travel shopping, price is a key driver in purchase decisions,” said Kroeger. “In many cases, travelers do not buy the lowest fare itinerary due to schedule, convenience or personal preferences. However, showing the lowest fare sets a baseline and builds trust with the consumer. This is critical for OTAs and other shopping services that need to capture consumer interest and increase conversion rates.”
Sabre said the enhanced shopping platform will also allow Sabre to add new services such as expanded calendar search and an enhanced “alternate city” search to its existing capabilities without compromising performance.
The Low Fare Study was commissioned by Sabre and conducted by Dr. Fried & Partner, a leading marketing and consulting company. For the study, Dr. Fried & Partner conducted a competitive analysis and comparison of the low fare search capabilities of Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport.
The study covered 24 countries from North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America and included 100 of the top booked city pairs per country. For each city pair, Dr. Fried & Partner evaluated the GDSs’ ability to find the lowest fare with eight combinations of advance purchase and travel duration. In addition, the following dimensions were considered in this study: Low fare efficiency, availability of results, time of day distribution, inbounds per outbound and price/service buckets.
Sabre connects 370,000 travel agents to more than 400 airlines, 125,000 hotels, 27 car rental brands, more than 50 rail providers, 16 cruise lines and other global travel suppliers. More than $100 billion of travel is purchased through this channel annually.
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