Sabre makes special car hire rates available on Virtually There

Sabre has added negotiated and discounted rates for car hire to its Virtually There online itinerary and travel-shopping tool. The development means that travellers can hire cars and benefit from their travel agency’s special rates, even while they are on the move.

When a travel booking is completed, agencies can ask the Sabre global distribution system (GDS) automatically to send their customers an email that contains a personal booking code and a link to the Virtually There website (www.virtuallythere.com). Travellers then use the personal code to access all their itinerary details and destination information. The site also lets them buy extra travel services, and the agency that made the original booking is credited with all commissions from additional bookings.

Sabre’s European vice president of marketing and customer services, Stuart Nassos, said car hire was one of the additional travel services most frequently booked through Virtually There.

“Many car bookings arise from unexpected changes to travellers’ schedules”, he said. “It may be that they happen to have free time on a business trip, or that they need suddenly to travel further afield within the region they are visiting. Virtually There lets them do this within their existing itineraries, and now they can also benefit from special rates that their travel agencies may have negotiated with car hire companies”.

Other recent enhancements to the product include additional privacy barriers, publication of regular and emergency contact numbers for the travel agency that made the booking, pick-up and drop-off times for any car hire, and a currency converter. Virtually There has also been translated into Swedish and Greek, bringing to 13 the number of languages in which it is available.

Virtually There can be used by any traveller who has booked through a Sabre ConnectedSM travel agency, or through an online travel site that is powered by the GDS. It gives travellers access to all their travel details, as well as real-time information about flight status, departure gates and weather. It also provides destination information such as maps, restaurants and sightseeing recommendations.

The information contained in a Virtually There itinerary can be downloaded into personal organisers or other mobile communication devices. Travellers can also request SMS text messages on their mobile phones if their flights are delayed, or if their departure terminals change at short notice.

About Sabre Holdings Corporation

Sabre Holdings, an S&P 500 company, is the leading provider of technology, distribution and marketing services for the travel industry. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the company has approximately 7,000 employees in 45 countries. Sabre reported 2001 revenues of $2.1 billion. Sabre owns Travelocity.com, the most popular travel site on the Web, and GetThere, the world’s leading provider of Web-based travel reservation systems for corporations and travel suppliers. Sabre is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TSG). More information about Sabre is available at http://www.sabre.com/.
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