January 24, 2018 TnH Global

Study finds that Sabre is the global leader in best fare flight search options

Study indicates that Sabre offers more ancillary content and finds the lowest fare more often

Outperforming the competition, global travel technology provider Sabre Corporation 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, book ability, 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.

For Australia specifically, the study has revealed impressive data, indicating that Sabre finds the lowest fare up to 18% more often than Amadeus and 16% more often than Travelport, on average. 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 4,75,000 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.