Sabre has officially announced a new, extended agreement with Flight Centre Travel Group to power Its digital distribution services as well as the new Sabre Red Workspace to Flight Centre travel agents in Australia and New Zealand.
In what must be one of the least-kept secrets in the industry for quite some time, Sabre has formally announced that the tech deal with the Flight Centre Travel Group has been finalised once and for all globally.
The new agreement comes following continued growth of Flight Centre’s relationship with Sabre in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Flight Centre Travel Group managing director Graham Turner said:
“We are delighted to have extended our relationship with Sabre. One of our key global strategies has been to increase productivity and we believe that Sabre’s strong product suite, which is now fully implemented in Australia and New Zealand, will help us build on the success we are already having in this regard.”
Graham, ‘Skroo’ Turner, managing director, Flight Centre Travel Group
Sabre has already upgraded more than 1,300 Flight Centre stores to the new Sabre Red Workspace, representing nearly 9,500 travel agents, which according to Sabre, “has resulted in a solid increase in conversions compared to the same time last year.”
Additionally, Sabre says they have been able to “reduce the amount of time associated with initial training and onboarding of Flight Centre staff, in addition to providing a system designed to allow consultants to up-sell and cross-sell more effectively.”
The results of which, it appears are already flowing through at agent level with Flight Centre Travel Group recently announcing a record-breaking turnover (TTV) of $10.16 billion, up almost 9% on the same period last financial year as part of its half-yearly results and a net profit boost of 37.2% to $102.2 million.
READ MORE about Flight Centre’s record financial results.
“Flight Centre is a thought leader and ours is a natural partnership. We share a common belief and vision that the right technology solutions coupled with scale and innovation will deliver the kind of shopping and retailing experience that travellers want while delivering the efficiency and speed that agents need,” said Wade Jones, president of Sabre Travel Network.
“Since expanding our relationship and rolling out the new Sabre Red Workspace, Flight Centre travel agents are already seeing the promising results that we expect from our highly-intuitive and ultra-fast desktop solution.”
Under the agreement, Flight Centre Travel Group will use the Sabre GDS as one of its key platforms to shop, book and manage travel content from among 400 airlines, 900,000 hotel options, 24 car rental brands and 14 cruise lines.