Sabre Bets on Post-Pandemic Surge in Software Demand from Airlines and Hotels
Photo Credit: A 2020 photo of Southwest Airlines operations at Dallas Love Field in Texas. Southwest signed a deal with Sabre, a travel technology company, in the second quarter to expand their partnership on sourcing business travel bookings. Southwest Airlines / Stephen M. Keller
Skift Take
Operational software may sound dull, but it could become dramatically lucrative for Sabre once the crisis recedes and airlines and hotels resume spending on travel technology.
Sabre said on Tuesday it has a chance after the pandemic subsides of beating its pre-crisis margins. Currently, the Texas-based travel technology company is fine-tuning its operational software solutions in anticipation of a post-pandemic demand from airlines and hotels, executives said.
The comments came against the backdrop of a year that has seen a rare, dramatic upswing in capital spending by U.S. companies in many sectors outside of travel. That tech investment has driven increases in software subscriptions, benefiting software companies.
Whenever the pandemic subsides, the travel sector may play catch-up, investing heavily in capital spending to improve their operations, too. That trend would benefit Sabre, which sells IT and software solutions for airlines and hotels. Sabre claims expertise in collecting and analyzing travel company data. The expertise could let it embed the company's services more deeply into major clients' operations, providing software cross-selling opp
