-- Study confirms Sabre's travel technology finds the lowest fares in Europe
LONDON, Nov. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Sabre, a global travel technology company, announced the launch of its next generation air shopping platform, which has been proven to find the lowest fares and provide more fare choices for travellers.
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The platform is based on a specially 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. The enhanced shopping platform meets the needs of evolving consumer shopping behaviors and the growing number of airfare options. In addition, it allows for new features such as the ability to return multiple prices for the same itinerary, letting travellers 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 travellers discover, shop and buy travel," said Harald Eisenaecher, senior vice president for Sabre Travel Network in Europe, Middle East and Africa. "In the next few years, personalisation 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 the next phase of travel commerce in this region."
To test its system, Sabre commissioned a third party, independent study comparing the efficacy of its shopping system to other providers. The results show that Sabre delivers better low fare search capabilities and the best airfare options in Europe:
- lowest fare 9 percent more often than Amadeus and 35 percent more often than Travelport
- fares just over 2 percent lower than Amadeus and nearly 12 percent against Travelport
- lowest fare more often than Amadeus and Travelport in every European country
- lowest fare over £6 cheaper than Amadeus's lowest fare and £38 cheaper than Travelport's lowest fare
Conducted by Fried & Partner, a well-established marketing and management consulting company, the Sabre system also finds more of the itineraries that travellers want to buy, both in terms of time of day and length of travel times.
"While consumers expect more convenience in travel shopping, price is a key driver in purchase decisions," said Eisenaecher. "In many cases, travellers do not buy the lowest fare option due to schedule, convenience or personal preferences. However, showing the lowest fare sets a baseline and builds trust with the traveller. This is critical for OTAs and other shopping services that need to capture interest and increase conversion rates."
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.
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 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.
About Sabre
Sabre Travel Network provides technology to the travel industry. It operates the world's largest travel marketplace, connecting travel buyers and sellers through the Sabre global distribution system (GDS). Its innovative technology 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.
Sabre Travel Network is part of Sabre, a global travel technology company serving the world's largest industry- travel and tourism. For more information please visit: www.sabretravelnetwork.com.
Contact:
Heidi Castle
Sabre
Heidi.castle@sabre.com
+1-682-605-4290
Want to know more?
Interview with Simon Welte of Fried & Partner on the Sabre Low Fare Study
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