Sabre on the heels of Scandinavia’s leading GDS

Sabre says it is catching up with the market leader in Scandinavia, SMART Amadeus.

The announcement came as Swedish corporate and leisure agent, Oden Resor, chose Sabre as its preferred GDS. A spokesperson for Sabre also told TravelMole that it has another Scandinavian deal in the pipeline, which should be announced next week.

Oden Resor installed Sabre’s Windows-based booking platform at its offices in Stockholm and Gothenburg in July.

Sabre claims that the move by Oden Resor, and by two Scandinavian agents, CTC and Resespjuth in May, and by KILROY Travels and My Planet at the end of last year, has been in response to enhancements in it’s Scandinavian content.

A spokesperson for Sabre said: “We have expanded our rail component to include regional destinations in Scandinavia, and introduced Swedish ground transportation. This allows agents to book bus and taxi travel from airports, which may sound small, but the airports are some distance from the city centres. It is a tool which the current market leader, SMART Amadeus has had for a while, and we needed to add it to compete with them”.

Oden Resor’s managing director, Per Westman said: “Customer service was a deciding factor. It sounds like a small point to focus on, but this is actually a major issue in the travel industry today, when life is tough enough just trying to make ends meet. You don’t need aggravation from suppliers when you’re trying to focus on the bigger picture, and Sabre has a fantastic reputation in Europe when it comes to service”.