Forty-seven years after man first landed on the moon, there is finally a single mobile technology platform that allows space travelers and business travelers alike to self-manage in-transit booking, payments, expense reporting, safety and security matters, with the launch of the new Traveler Experience platform.
While the majority of business travelers want to manage their trips using technology, today they must rely on several different mobile apps to navigate the whole journey. According to a recent survey, The Digital Business Traveler, published by Sabre Corporation and the GBTA Foundation, 77 percent of business travelers in some of the largest corporations around the world prefer using self-service technology to manage their travel but on average they use nine different apps to manage their business travel with the most popular apps being airline, hotel, booking, car and restaurant apps. The survey results also show the proliferation of corporate travel tools and apps creates challenges both for the traveler and the travel program.
Addressing this disconnect, Sabre (NASDAQ: SABR) has unveiled its new Traveler Experience Platform. The Traveler Experience Platform brings together the critical aspects of travel management into a single mobile app that will manage the whole trip for business travelers. The Platform combines the online booking capabilities of GetThere for air and hotel, and the itinerary management and messaging features of TripCase. Sabre has also introduced a travel risk management solution to the platform, SafePoint, which helps travelers to check-in with their employer via a GPS location and request assistance if an emergency arises. Early next year, the Traveler Experience Platform will also offer e-payment solutions via Sabre Virtual Payments to corporations in APAC.
“Travel is a strategic investment for corporations that can bring significant returns, which is why we built a platform that provides scalable innovation to drive two key objectives: experience and efficiency. In the past you had to give up one to have the other. With this scalable platform, you basically have it all,” said Florian Tinnus, vice president of Traveler Experience at Sabre. “With personalization becoming an expectation for travelers, and mobile as an enabler of a true personalized experience, the future of travel is in the collaboration and execution of the traveler’s experience with a corporation’s travel program. And with scalability and flexibility as the foundation of this platform, we’re not only meeting the needs of today’s complex corporate travel programs, but we’re continuously evolving with tomorrows.”
The Traveler Experience Platform helps solve some of the biggest challenges facing business travel programs: corporate travel managers searching for a flexible platform, travelers looking for a seamless experience and corporations striving for a positive return on investment. Available to travelers through their employer’s travel program, the platform seamlessly integrates multiple products and solutions, providing corporations a single mobile application for their travelers and freedom-of-choice in expense integration. Within the platform, corporate policies are automatically adhered to when business travelers book or rebook trips, expenses are automatically captured and stored and a detailed expense report is auto-filed when the trip is complete, all from the traveler’s mobile device.
The Traveler Experience platform will maximize efficiency and streamline expenses for corporations while improving traveler satisfaction with corporate travel programs. As Sabre introduces more solutions, the Traveler Experience Platform will integrate new features to innovate and increase efficiencies of the company’s high-touch, consumer-grade traveler experience.
