Sabre Travel Network is rolling out Upsell, a program that displays amenities and upgrades that are available at a hotel that is about to be booked.
The program is part of its drive to move more into a merchandising mode, rather than simply processing transactions. Hotels that agree to participate in the program will share a portion of the incremental revenue they receive with Sabre.
"After an agent makes a sell, we display an offer of an amenity or upgrade and show the incremental amount it will cost," Brian Sullivan, director of hotel product marketing, said.
"It drives pure incremental revenue to the hotel," he said. "The sell is already made, so the supplier can feel very good about it."
The sharing of the incremental revenue "puts us in a pay-for-performance mentality, and suppliers really like that," Sullivan said.
He said Sabre is only displaying offers available at the hotel that is being booked. Presenting offers from competitors "is not a business model that we're really keen on, and it certainly would cause issues with our suppliers," he said.
Sabre also is working on a "delivery vehicle" called Cross Sell that it is aiming to roll out by the end of the year.
When an agent sells an air ticket, Cross Sell's intelligent logic will detect whether the PNR is eligible for a hotel room sale as well. A day trip, for example, would not be eligible.
An eligible booking would trigger the display of appropriate hotel offers. "We have the technology and we have a prototype," Sullivan said. "Right now, we're looking at different business models."