SOUTHLAKE, TX — Sabre says it’s ready to launch its first product powered by its proprietary Sabre Travel AI technology, in partnership with Google.
Dubbed the Sabre Smart Retail Engine, Sabre says the new product is a ‘smart, scalable retail engine’ powered by AI technology and advanced machine-learning (ML) capabilities, and calls it a first of its kind in travel.
Sabre plans to officially launch the first iteration of its Sabre Smart Retail Engine in early 2021.
“We are excited to bring this intelligent retail engine to market as part of our offer management strategy, marking another step towards achieving our 2025 vision of delivering truly personalized travel,” said Wade Jones, chief product officer for Sabre.
“Our proprietary technology infuses the power of Sabre Travel AI to deliver, not next-, but a third-generation of technology to the travel marketplace. By bringing together some of the brightest minds from Google and Sabre, we are accelerating the delivery of this smart and scalable retailing engine that we believe will enable customers to deliver personalized offers to their customers, better serving the needs of today’s traveller, while unlocking more value per passenger boarded.”
He adds that the Sabre Smart Retail Engine integrates Sabre’s dynamic offer management and customer segmentation capabilities with Google’s proven and powerful merchandising solution to use real-time shopping data, available content and AI/ML-based decision support models to test-and-learn and generate the most optimal offers available.
The personalized offer bundles are dynamically priced using customer segmentation techniques, can include ancillaries such as seats and baggage and eventually will include third-party content, such as rental cars and hotel stays.
The company says the Sabre Smart Retail Engine is a significant addition to Sabre’s suite of offer management products that will include decision science-based pricing and revenue management tools integrated with cloud-based availability and shopping that support an omni-channel approach, including NDC distribution. Omni-channel opportunity: advancements in offer management will enable distribution across both indirect and direct channels, says Sabre.
Sabre Travel AI, first announced last month, uses Google’s AI technology and advanced machine-learning capabilities, and capitalizes on Google Cloud AI solutions and automated machine learning tools that sense, analyze and predict consumer behaviours, using real-time shopping and sophisticated travel-specific business insights.
Sabre says the innovation is designed to enable airlines, agencies, corporations, hoteliers and other travel partners to deliver the right offer, at the right time, across all relevant channels, driving higher conversion rates.
“We are pleased to be working side-by-side with Sabre to bring innovative, industry-first technologies to the travel space,” said Ravi Simhambhatla, Managing Director, Digital Transformation Officer – Travel & Transportation of Google Cloud. “Today’s announcement, as well as Sabre Travel AI, are what we hope will be the first of many concepts generated from our partnership.”
Sabre plans to integrate its intelligent and scalable technology across Sabre’s omni-channel retail, distribution and fulfillment offering including merchandising, availability, pricing, revenue management and optimization and GDS marketplace services.
