LONDON, Jan. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Outperforming the
competition, global travel technology provider Sabre Corporation
(NASDAQ: SABR) consistently delivers the lowest fares with a large
selection of attractive flight options, as found by a wide-scale
qualitative and quantitative competitive global distribution system
(GDS) study conducted across 18 countries by Dr. Fried &
Partner, a leading marketing and consulting firm.
While Sabre has been benchmarking its low-fare search
performance for several years, this year's study went one step
beyond: it included extensive interviews with travel professionals
as well as a "best fare" assessment comparing low fare efficacy,
bookability, response time, diversity and ancillary content
data.
According to the research, Sabre surpasses its competitors in
all regions, finding the lowest fare 10 percent more often than
Amadeus and 7 percent more often Travelport, on average. In
addition, the study finds that 75 percent of bookable air content
in Sabre offers a branded fare or ancillary option, versus 59
percent in Amadeus and 55 percent in Travelport.
Travellers increasingly demand ancillary content for a more
personalized travel experience
The study reveals for both leisure and business travellers that
while price continues to be important, there is also a growing
demand for a higher quality of service as travellers want more out
of their travel experience. Depending on the traveller profile and
the type of journey they are undertaking, the study indicates that
travellers are willing to pay up to 25 percent more for added
value.
"The concept of best fare for an individual traveller goes
beyond price and depends very much on their specific needs,
preferences, and reasons for travel," said Wade Jones, president, Sabre Travel Network.
"Sabre is very aware of the increasingly sophisticated demands of
today's travellers and we have been making significant strategic
investments in our air shopping solutions to deliver both low fares
and ancillary content. These investments will help airlines and
agencies raise conversion rates, increase customer satisfaction,
and foster loyalty."
Business and leisure travellers have different expectations
on price and ancillary content
While the lowest price remains top of mind across all customer
segments, the research suggests that there are pronounced
differences between leisure and business travellers. The survey
found:
- Leisure travellers have certain considerations when shopping
for a trip:
-
- Flexibility when it comes to travel dates or destination
- Price
- Baggage included
- Refundability or factors like shorter travel durations are less
important
- Business travellers are also price-conscious, but their needs
are more diverse than those of leisure travellers. Alongside price,
other deciding factors include:
-
- Short travel duration
- Airline brand
- Amenities like more legroom, priority boarding and lounge
access
- Fares that deliver convenience and flexibility within the
confines of their corporate travel policies
A shifting market landscape will benefit airlines, travel
agents and travellers
"We are seeing a shift in the market as awareness of rich
content is slowly increasing," said Dr. Markus Heller, co-founder, Dr. Fried &
Partner. "As airlines continue to unbundle their offers and provide
a wider range of branded fares and ancillaries, travellers
appreciate individual services and amenities more than when they
were included. Our research suggests that, as rich content gets
more and more into travellers' focus, it will present a significant
opportunity for differentiation to travel agents."
"This changing landscape will benefit travel agents as well as
airlines," said Wade Jones. "Sabre
is dedicated to helping airlines merchandise and distribute their
content, including branded fares and all the air extras, through
both direct and indirect channels. We are continuously enriching
our technology to support the airlines' omnichannel strategies,
helping them increase their yield, basket size, upsell, cross-sell
and merchandise their products in an attractive, consistent
manner."
Sabre's travel marketplace plays an important role in
facilitating the marketing and sale of airfares, hotel rooms,
rental cars, rail tickets and other types of travel, to more than
475,000 travel agents and thousands of corporations who use it to
shop, book and manage travel. It is one of the world's largest
marketplaces, annually processing over $120
billion in estimated travel spend.
About the Study
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 best fare search
capabilities of Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport. More information can
be found at www.sabre.com/sayyes.
The study, which was conducted in the second half of 2017,
covered 18 countries 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 published fare with six
combinations of advance purchase and travel duration. In addition,
Dr. Fried & Partner compared the availability of branded fares
and ancillaries for each fare.
About Sabre
Sabre Corporation is the leading technology provider to the
global travel industry. Sabre's software, data, mobile and
distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and
thousands of hotel properties to manage critical operations,
including passenger and guest reservations, revenue management,
flight, network and crew management. Sabre also operates a leading
global travel marketplace, which processes more than US$120 billion of global travel spend annually by
connecting travel buyers and suppliers. Headquartered in
Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre
serves customers in more than 160 countries around the world.
For more information, please visit www.sabre.com.
SABR-F
Media contact: sabrenews@sabre.com Investor
contact: sabre.investorrelations@sabre.com
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SOURCE Sabre Corporation