Sabre-Google roundtable highlights AI’s relevance, impact on travel industry

Product and innovation experts from Google and Sabre have underscored the value artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) brings to the technological transformation of the travel industry, and emphasised that AI will radically reshape the travel industry.

The discussion took place on September 12 over a virtual roundtable involving Carrie Tharp, vice president of global solutions & industries, Google Cloud; Garry Wiseman, chief product & technology officer, Sabre; Sundar Narasimham, senior vice president, labs technology & platform, Sabre; and Amy Read, vice president, innovation, Sabre Hospitality.

Narasimham noted that more corporate boards are recognising the value of AI and investing in it, with 74 per cent of travel organisations currently re-working their strategy to incorporate AI.

He added that the value of GenAI in terms of increased global revenue for businesses could be over US$28 billion.

Both Google and Sabre caught on to the winds of change in 2020, and chose to work together to leverage Sabre’s data and travel-related domain knowledge and Google Cloud’s platforms and capabilities for innovation, so as to “provide AI-based, intelligent, personalised experiences to the end traveller”.

Narasimham explained that travellers desired the kind of seamless, personalised experiences that have become commonplace in other industries, such as retail.

Google and Sabre leadership said the partnership has helped to accelerate digital transformation in the travel industry. The partnership has so far resulted in the creation of Sabre Travel AI, which powers solutions such as the new Offer and Order platform for airlines, SabreMosaic.

The two companies shared previews of new use cases, including AI-powered prototypes set to launch this year, or already in the testing phase with customers. One of them is the SynXis Booking Engine Concierge.AI, a conversational tool for hoteliers that personalises guest experiences with tailored recommendations and itineraries.

Sabre is also using AI, and GenAI in particular, to improve customer care and boost innovation cycles with faster coding.

Narasimham emphasised that Sabre is accelerating its product innovation and implementation, with a focus on creating products for both the external marketplace and internal users.

Wiseman said during the roundtable that AI application could bring productivity gains and cost savings internally as well as potential improvements for travellers and advantages in marketing, sales, and service externally.

Google and Sabre panelists also discussed how AI and GenAI solutions are enabling greater personalisation to meet traveller expectations.

Tharp remarked that the travel industry has “gone from having an individual travel agent to the advent of platforms where you could book it all yourself”.

“(It is) now almost coming full circle where we are using technology to bring back a lot of that service level,” she said.

Both Narashimham and Tharp said AI has the ability to combine numeric or data intelligence with language intelligence to create levels of personalisation the industry has yet to see. Such high levels of personalisation, according to Tharp, would “break down the friction in a journey and not only lead to higher revenue but also potentially more trips and more things purchased during a traveller’s journey”.

Looking ahead, Wiseman said AI would be “table stakes for anyone in the industry”.

Meanwhile, Read shared that Sabre Hospitality is working with customers to “build foundations to understand their requirements and what we can do to solve for them”, adding that this effort is a “huge investment area for us”.