Sabre Travel Network will expand the reach of its increasingly popular AgentStream online community to travel agencies in the United Kingdom this quarter, with plans to make it available across Europe later this year. The free AgentStream service gives travel agents the ability to tap into the power of community and virtually connect with peers, interact on travel itineraries and products, and share business ideas to better serve leisure and business travellers.
Formally launched in North America in September 2009, more than 2,500 agents now have profiles on the site, collaborating with peers on diverse travel-related issues. AgentStream is available to travel agents working on any global distribution system (GDS), a particularly appealing element in Europe with agencies, tour operators and travel management companies often using multiple GDSs to serve corporate and leisure clients.
Once AgentStream goes live in the UK later this quarter, Sabre will ramp up awareness of the new service via newsletters and other communications to its agency customers and other clients.
AgentStream is built on Sabre’s cubeless technology - a community platform for businesses that today supports multiple Sabre-driven employee and client groups. It is an evolving service for agents, with Sabre continuing to enhance the community with new functionality allowing users to personalize the site and easily access information on pertinent topics. Features include the ability for agents to:
- Quickly access the knowledge of thousand of agents via a Q&A section;
- Blog on their personal page to share industry insights;
- Create and participate in public or private groups;
- Search capabilities by agent and/or areas of expertise;
- Personalize the home page by integrating widgets, pictures and graphics; and
- Identify current hot topics in the community through a word tag cloud.
AgentStream earned a Silver Award from Travel Weekly (US) in its 2009 Magellan Awards program. “Our industry is perhaps the most dynamic in the world, with suppliers, technology providers, and other parties constantly introducing and changing travel products and solutions,” said Martin Cowley, senior vice president of Sabre Travel Network EMEA. “AgentStream provides an easy-to-use, business-to-business community where agents can learn from their peers, share best practices and help their companies make money, save money and deliver superior customer service.”