Sabre Begins Migration to New Profile System

Sabre Travel Network has begun migrating its agency subscribers to Sabre Profiles, the new profile system that will replace Stars.

The new system offers a relational database that will allow agencies to categorize “thousands of unique data elements,” said Chris Kroeger, senior vice president of marketing.
 
It also will offer greater security and control over who has access to customer data, he said.

Business-leisure profile
The new system allows agents to store a customer’s corporate and leisure information in one profile and create “associations” for each.

For business travel, the customer’s work telephone number and email address will be displayed, and colleagues will automatically be associated with the profile.

If the business traveler is taking a leisure trip, the home phone number and personal email address will be displayed, and family member profiles can be associated with the traveler’s profile.

The agent can quickly check or uncheck data points to be imported into the PNR.

Integrated data
Corporate travel information can be integrated with human resources data, Kroeger said.

Sabre Profiles also will integrate corporate and traveler preferences and will enable agencies to optimize their supplier programs.

Traditional formats
Agents can use traditional Sabre formats to create profiles and bookings, said Kathy Morgan, director of product marketing.

The “green screen” will appear on the left side of the screen; the right side will display a graphical user interface with the customer’s information.

Sabre Scribe runs in the background and engages in “active listening,” Morgan said. When it “hears” that the agent is searching for a rental car, for example, it will look for discounts associated with the customer ID and automatically append them to search results.

Agents will be able to use Sabre Web Services to integrate profile data with other agency and authorized third-party applications. They also will be able to share profile data across online, offline and mobile channels.

Migration timetable
Migration time will vary depending on the size of the agency and the complexity of its profiles.

“Stars has been around for a long time, and some agencies have done some pretty unique things with it,” Kroeger said.

A simple migration would be relatively touch-less and would likely take two days. Sabre has created a migration tool that will recognize many data elements and automatically map them to the new system.

For a large agency it could take up to one month, Morgan said.

Phasing out Sabre Stars
Sabre is currently upgrading selected agencies in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The upgrades will continue through 2013. When they are completed, Sabre Stars will be phased out.

In 2012, Sabre will also enable data sharing between Sabre Profiles and its ClientBase CRM product and its GetThere online business travel management solution.