Skift Take
This move signals Sabre's eagerness to remain a powerhouse for travel agents in a changing landscape where alternative lodging, driven by the popularity of Airbnb, takes off. Come 2019, Sabre aims to be more of a one-stop shop for agents. Some agents applaud the move; others couldn't care less.
Travel agents won't have as much credibility as they want with their customers unless they have a complete view of lodging markets in terms of rates and accommodation types.
That's one of the reasons that Sabre, a global distribution system provider, is testing with 10 to 20 travel agencies implementation of its recent agreement with Booking.com to bring millions of hotel and apartment listings onto its distribution platform. A global rollout would likely come during the first quarter of 2019.
Sabre rival Travelport has offered Booking.com listings to travel agencies since at least 2012, said Bill Florence, a company spokesman.
Sabre doubled down this summer in announcing an agreement with Booking.com to add more than 28 million listings of its hotels, homes, and apartments to the Sabre platform. The announcement came less than five months after Sabre penned agreements with three other hotel aggregators, namely the Expedia Affiliate Network, Bedsonline, and TravelBound.
What does this mean for travel agents?
If all goes according to plan, hot
