Jan 22 – Jan 28 – Sabre files for IPO, Progress for NDC, Metasearch in frame, Orbitz’s personal touch, Content campaigns and more…our pick of the week’s stories

Sabre spurred on by travel tech boom

Privately held travel technology company Sabre, which owns Travelocity, has filed for an initial public offering in a bid to raise up to $100m, although some analysts are predicting a lot more. The loss-making company provides technology solutions to the global travel and tourism industry and was spun off from American Airlines parent AMR Corp in an IPO in 2000. Today it employs some 10,000 people in 60 countries and operates three business segments: Travel Network; Airline and Hospitality Solutions; and Travelocity. In 2012, it was reportedly responsible for 37% of the air bookings made on global distribution systems but for the first nine months of 2013, it had a net loss of $127.3m and revenue of $2.35bn, Reuters reports. The travel industry is growing rapidly (it added $6.6trn to the global GDP in 2012, according to a research report by the World Travel & Tourism Council)so IPOs are becoming increasingly popular. Hilton's stock price, for instance, is up about 11% since its IPO in December and Sabre, no doubt, hopes for similar success.

NDC moves forward

In what is being called a truce by Travel Market Report, this week 

IATA and Open Allies for Airfare Transparency filed a joint motion asking the US Department of Transportation to approve, with conditions, the foundation document for the new distribution, known as Resolution 787.
The members of Open Allies include the three GDS companies, ASTA, and other advocacy organisations and travel agencies, agreed to withdraw its opposition to Resolution 787 as long as various conditions were met. For one, the conditions clarify IATA’s commitment to anonymous shopping, compatibility of existing data standards with the NDC standard and the voluntary nature of the standard. IATA and Open Allies have also agreed to work together and with other stakeholders “to establish an industry forum that will support a collaborative approach on distribution standard-setting”.
 This seems a step forward on the road to next generation travel distribution that all can agree on.

Meta-search under the microscope

The Telegraph travel site has been assessing the effectiveness of meta-search engines and finds that it is still necessary to check at least three to find the best flight. Twenty routes were selected from Britain to long- and short-haul destinations, plus one internal flight in the US and one between Australia and Asia. The writer tried five different dates, ranging from a short-notice week away in February to a 20-night trip in August and searched for every flight on eight leading flight websites. Overall, Momondo came out cheapest but there was only £100 in it with Skyscanner and Kayak in second and third place. Google Flight Search was apparently no match for the specialists when it came to finding the best prices. In fact it came eighth in price performance, almost 12 per cent more expensive than Momondo. However, Google’s recent partnership with Ryanair is the beginning of a trend that could see the search engine striking more deals with other airlines. So there is still everything to play for.

Orbtiz refines its offering

In a bid to deliver a more personalised experience, Orbitz has launched Orbitz Labs, a new site that tests experimental travel tools and features to improve the online shopping experience and lets consumers give ideas and feedback directly to the engineers and technology experts developing new products and services for the popular online travel site. Orbitz Labs launches with eight consumer-friendly tools and features that chart out the most popular destinations, best travel prices, personalised hotel options and trends to help travellers plan the perfect vacation. According to Roger Liew, chief technology officer at Orbitz, the technology team is constantly innovating and thinking about ways to make booking travel easy and a lot more fun.

Steps to better content on Facebook

Visual content can be improved on Facebook and this week on EyeforTravel.com Ritesh Gupta tells us how in six straightforward steps. Part of this has been driven by Facebook’s own developments: for example making it possible to upload a picture by introducing a camera symbol directly below the status box. The tie up with Instagram is another factor. In interviews with various executives, Gupta comes up with six tips which include carefully considering your campaign objectives; keeping close tabs on what works and what doesn’t; monitoring what is being said about your brand; and working on content formats that have the potential to go viral.

Dreaming big

From flying like a superhero on a jet pack in San Diego to playing princess at a castle among the vineyards of Napa Valley, California makes it possible to ‘dream big’. Well that’s the focus of a Visit California and Qantas campaign (Dreamers and Kids at Play) which will run on commercial television from January 27 to March 16 when there will also be promotions on flights. The video can also be viewed on the website and also identifies sixteen top locations with a focus on dreaming big. The campaign will run on commercial television from January 27 through to March 16 when Qantas will offer promotions on flights.