Sabre and Routehappy Team Up to Provide Rich Airline Content to Travel Agents
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APEX Insight: A collaboration between global distribution system Sabre and Routehappy, a merchandising content platform for flight shopping, will see Routehappy Hub’s rich content integrated into the new Sabre Red Workspace booking platform, enabling airlines to showcase their products and drive incremental revenue streams.
Global distribution system (GDS) Sabre and Routehappy, a merchandising content platform for flight shopping, have announced a collaboration that will see Routehappy Hub’s rich content integrated into the new Sabre Red Workspace booking platform. This partnership will further empower travel consultants with deeper and more relevant information when advising travelers on the ever-growing range of airline amenities and featured products.
Travel agents using the newest version of the Sabre Red platform will be able to show their clients what kind of experience the cost of a ticket will get them, while simultaneously helping airlines showcase their products and add-ons through the Sabre travel marketplace.
“Sabre’s adoption of Routehappy Hub is significant because it acknowledges the scale, scope and complexity of rich content.” €” Robert Albert, Routehappy
“Sabre’s adoption of Routehappy Hub is significant because it acknowledges the scale, scope and complexity of rich content, Sabre’s decision to partner rather than ‘reinvent the wheel,’ and Sabre’s airline-friendly decision to source rich content from their common source, which is far more efficient and higher quality than them providing rich content individually,” said Routehappy CEO Robert Albert.
Routehappy began as a tool for travelers, allowing passengers to select flights based on criteria such as seat size, food quality, in-flight entertainment (IFE) and Wi-Fi; in other words, the service lets airlines compete on experience, not just on price. This customer-first foundation has proved to be an ace up the company’s sleeve in seeking established airline industry partners as it pivoted to a business-to-business model with Routehappy Hub.
Flexing a bit of brand muscle gives an airline the opportunity not just to sell additional products and services to existing passengers as they book, but to win over new passengers as well.
“With the integration of Routehappy Hub as a capability in our agency platform we are driving dynamic traveler-first merchandising.” – Wade Jones, Sabre
“With the integration of Routehappy Hub as a capability in our agency platform we are driving dynamic traveler-first merchandising, helping our airline customers to unlock higher revenue in their merchandising strategy,” said Wade Jones, Sabre Travel Network’s senior vice-president of Marketing. “Traveler expectations have evolved to where they are looking for complete information about their travel experience and these expectations are shaping airline merchandising and agency retailing. Our collaboration with Routehappy makes it easy for airlines worldwide to provide their depth and breadth of travel services and amenities in the Sabre travel marketplace.”
Sabre had envisioned a future in rich content before teaming up with Routehappy, so theirs was a synergistic meeting. Albert said he and his team take it as a validation of Routehappy’s bet on the industry’s need for both high-quality rich content and the means to easily retrieve it.
Albert and Jones say Sabre Red Workspace will launch in Q1 of 2017.