Sabre Travel Network today announced its Rate Assured hotel certification program, which ensures Sabre Connected travel agents receive the lowest publicly available rates inside the Sabre global distribution system that can be found on other travel distribution channels, including Web sites. The Rate Assured hotel program is the first program of its kind to extensively check rates at the property level to confirm individual hotel properties are providing Sabre with the lowest publicly available rates.
“With the Rate Assured hotel program, Sabre is working closely with our hotel partners to ensure that travel agents can confidently book the best possible rates through Sabre,” said Stephen Fitzgerald, vice president of Hotel and Car Distribution, Sabre Travel Network. “We actively measure pricing at each hotel, share this data back with the suppliers and work with them to ensure travel agents have the content they need to best serve their customers.”
“Sabre’s Rate Assured hotel program is a good complement to Marriott’s Look No Further Best Rate Guarantee program, “said Larraine Voll Morris, vice president of eChannels & GDS, Marriott International, Inc. “We believe that travelers should be able to find the best available rates for Marriott hotels regardless of the channel they choose, and we are supportive of agents who use Sabre being able to provide that experience to Marriott customers.”
Sabre will be using rate canvassing capabilities provided by Rubicon, a leading provider of market information applications and services to the global hotel industry, to actively check rates on a global scale at up to 235 sites around the world, including direct and third-party online distribution sites. Sabre evaluates hotel rates on a weekly basis at the property level, varying the day of the week and the shopping parameters to ensure rate parity. If the search uncovers a publicly available rate that is lower than Sabre’s by $1 or more, Sabre will take steps to notify the hotelier and remove the Rate Assured designation from the hotel.
“The fact that we measure rates at the property level on such a large scale and provide that reporting to hoteliers is what sets Rate Assured apart from similar parity programs,” said Fitzgerald. “No other GDS is taking such action to measure rate parity and enforce it on behalf of its travel agents.”
Properties that provide rate parity are designated “Rate Assured” on the hotel availability display and receive enhanced visibility over properties that are not providing rate parity. Additionally, a new search qualifier will allow travel agents to limit search results to Rate Assured properties only.
“We applaud Sabre for taking this step on behalf of agents and hotel suppliers who support rate parity,” said Ted Schweitzer, vice president, eCommerce, La Quinta. “This will help travel agents by removing any uncertainty regarding whether or not they’re getting rates that are comparable to other channels.”
The Rate Assured hotel program is the latest of Sabre’s comprehensive offerings for hoteliers and travel agencies that shop and book hotel offerings to their customers. Sabre Holdings sells more hotel room nights than any other company in the world through Sabre Travel Network, Travelocity and lastminute.com. Sabre’s hotel offerings include marketing tools such as Hotel UpSell and Sabre Surround, as well as a comprehensive suite of reservation and distribution services offered by SynXis through its RedX Distribution Management System.
About Sabre Travel Network
Sabre Travel Network, a Sabre Holdings company, provides the most comprehensive end-to-end solutions for corporate and leisure travel. The Sabre GDS is the foundation for these solutions, providing a ready-built efficient marketplace that connects travel suppliers, including hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotels, with more than 50,000 travel agency locations. Currently, Sabre collectively handles over 70 percent of the BTN 100 bookings.
Key brands of Sabre Travel Network include GetThere, for corporate travel reservation technology; Jurni, a consortium of leisure travel agencies providing marketing and promotion services; Nexion, a host agency; SynXis, for hotel reservation management, distribution and technology services; and TRAMS, mid- and back-office solutions and marketing services for travel agencies. Sabre Travel Network also markets TripTailor, a travel wholesaler providing dynamic packaging for the travel agency marketplace.
Sabre Holdings connects people with the world’s greatest travel possibilities by retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com.
Sabre Travel Network, the Sabre Travel Network logo, and Rate Assured Hotel program, are trademarks and/or service marks of an affiliate of Sabre Holdings Corporation. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.
