Sabre has a long history of putting on a good show in North America. But taking the show on the road is something we haven’t seen in recent memory.
The conference was well attended by upwards of 600 industry executives from a wide range of travel sectors. Attendees were invited to take a good long look at Sabre’s product offerings at the Exchange. Products were logically divided into sections appealing to hoteliers, airlines and agencies, including retail, corporate and online.
Also in attendance was a generous portion of Sabre’s top management team. In addition to making general session presentations, many of Sabre’s stars also participated in smaller breakout sessions. Attendees made good use of these smaller sessions getting time to ask pointed questions.
What seemed to be on everyone’s mind was NDC (New Distribution Capability) and how this big idea will impact the distribution of travel products in the years to come. One breakout session attended by many in the online travel sector tried to identify what might accelerate the adoption of NDC. Attendees collaborated together to rank the importance of some hypothetical events and circumstances that had been prepared in advance by the session moderators. While consensus on what it all might mean was difficult to achieve the exercise did provoke interesting discussion between the attendees and Sabre execs.
Our favorite session of the entire event was the interview of Sabre board member Hervé Couturier by Sean Menke, Sabre’s President and CEO. Mr. Couturier pointed out that while there has been considerable hand-wringing by the GDSs over NDC somebody would still need to aggregate content. And nobody is better positioned than GDSs to provide that service to the industry. The interview was candid, informative and honest. We loved it!
We are very much looking forward to STX in Singapore coming up in August 28-30 at Marina Bay Sands. Hopefully we will see you there!