By Lori Enos E-Commerce Times
02/27/01 10:34 AM PT
'Travel agencies, in many cases, will have to adapt or die,'
according to a Jupiter senior analyst.
Sabre Holding Corporation
(NYSE: TSG) rolled out a point-of-sale Web portal for
travel agencies Tuesday that integrates Sabre's database of
travel services with Internet content.
The new product, eVoya Webtop, will make it easier for traditional travel
agents who use the Sabre reservation system to "compete and
win in the e-commerce world," Sabre said.
Sabre, whose reservation system is one of the
first travel booking systems created, also
holds a 70 percent stake in online travel site Travelocity.
"The most important aspect of eVoya Webtop is that it lets
agencies focus on customer service rather than the mechanics of
shopping and booking travel, said Eric J. Speck, group
president of travel marketing at Sabre.
Standard Fare
In addition to a streamlined Web-based interface, the new
product lowers the connectivity costs for travel agents by
allowing them to connect through a standard Internet
connection, Sabre said.
According to the company, eVoya Webtop also offers online training,
as well as customized desktops for each travel agent.
In addition, Sabre said that eVoya Webtop helps travel agents offer
specialty bookings and book cruises.
Sabre said it developed eVoya Webtop after receiving feedback
from more than 1,000 travel professionals and users.
Top Gun
By offering traditional travel agents access to a Web-based
booking platform, Sabre is giving traditional travel agencies
another avenue in which to compete with online travel Web sites that have
been luring consumers away, via online booking
and the convenience of 24-hour access.
The offline travel industry has felt particularly
threatened by Orbitz, an online travel site
backed by 30 airlines. The site drew
fire from the American Society of Travel Agents (ATSA) before
it even had a name.
In a complaint filed
with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in
February 2000, the ATSA said that the new
discount travel company posed an unfair competitive threat
to online and offline travel companies.
Orbitz, which was scheduled to launch last year, has delayed its entry
into the online travel arena until at least this summer.
Adapt or Die
A dramatic increase in the amount of corporate travel bookings
made through custom Web-based systems is expected to cut deeply into sales
made by traditional travel agencies -- unless those agencies develop
new services to remain competitive -- according to a report
released earlier this month by Jupiter Research.
"Travel agencies, in many cases, will have to adapt or die,"
Jupiter senior analyst Melissa Shore told the E-Commerce Times.
Shore noted that while "travel
agencies are not going away," she said that
in order to survive, they will need to evolve away
from only offering automated services to providing value-added
services to corporate clients. Those enhanced services could
include negotiation of corporate rates with travel sellers.
Other potential enhanced services, according to Jupiter, include travel expense
management and event planning.
The Traveling All-Stars of E-Commerce January 30, 2001
The key to e-commerce becoming the norm rather than a cultural novelty
is to mainstream it, and the poster child for that shift is online travel.
Travelocity Eyes Profits After Beating Street January 18, 2001
Travelocity chief executive officer Terrell B. Jones said
that the company 'stayed the course and executed the plan,'
during a difficult year.
20 U.S. States Target Airline Mega-Site January 11, 2001
Despite widespread criticism of Orbitz, the U.S. Department of
Transportation has sent out some positive signals about the venture.
One Year Ago: E-tail Invades the Real World February 12, 2002
The latest step of the dot-com move toward brick-and-clicks is the Internet kiosk placed
in a real-world store. Surprisingly, in-store Web kiosks have some
advantages over at-home online shopping.
Headline Feeds
Talkback: 
