New technology could change the face of business travel management

General Electric (GE) has partnered with two giants of the travel industry in an initiative that could potentially change the face of business travel management. The multi-faceted multinational and its travel management company, Carlson Wagonlit (CWT), have established a single call centre in Warsaw to process business travel bookings made by 16,000 GE employees across Europe.

The move is based on groundbreaking technology from travel commerce and distribution leader Sabre Travel Network, which allows CWT to centrally process and ticket travel bookings made in 16 countries. This has enabled both GE and CWT to consolidate their travel management, realising significant savings and efficiencies.

“Previously, in order to service an account as significant as GE, CWT would have had to staff offices in every country where the company has a presence,” said Judi Celaschi, CWT global operations manager for GE.

Sabre Travel Network says this is a huge leap forward in the evolution of business travel management. “It’s no exaggeration to say that this development could revolutionise the way that travel management companies do business,” said Reet Wiseman, the company’s vice president of global customers and strategic sales.

The technology that facilitated this initiative is built around Sabre Travel Network’s high-speed, customisable Turbo Sabre booking platform. GE specified that the Warsaw development should be based on this product, resulting in CWT managing all GE’s European bookings using the Sabre system.

GE is known for its dedication and commitment to the Six Sigma quality process for developing and delivering near-perfect products and services. “The ability to use the Sabre system in the Warsaw eCentre for our European travellers allows us to consolidate our global travel programme significantly, and realise cost savings,” said Tim McKenney, leader of GE Travel Management Services. “Turbo Sabre helps to streamline our processes even further, allowing us to tailor these to our own very specific requirements.”

Although CWT processes all GE’s bookings centrally in Warsaw, the tickets can be printed on Sabre Travel Network satellite ticket printers (STPs) in GE customer offices across Europe, avoiding the need for postage and courier costs, and speeding up the entire ticketing process.

Another benefit of the technology is that agencies can reduce the number of pre-paid ticket advice (PTA) transactions, where a travel consultant will issue a ticket in one country and ask an airline to issue a ticket, in exchange, to a traveller in another country.

About Sabre Travel Network

Sabre Travel Network, a Sabre Holdings company, provides access to the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) and products and services enabling agents at more than 56,000 agency locations worldwide to be travel experts. About 35 percent of the world’s travel is booked through the Sabre GDS. Originally developed in 1960, it was the first system to connect the buyers and sellers of travel. Today the system includes more than 400 airlines, approximately 60,000 hotels, 53 car hire companies, nine cruise lines, 36 railways and 232 tour operators.

Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE: TSG) is a world leader in travel commerce, retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com/

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