Moments” to Reinvent Travel

Sabre’s 24-hour
hackathon taps into booming Asia Pacific tech scene; Singaporean team awarded
US$10,000 for Best New Technology Application “Moments”

SINGAPORE, 4
November 2016 – Developers, start-ups and technology and
travel industry innovators from around Asia Pacific gathered in Singapore to
code through the night during Sabre Corporation’s (NASDAQ: SABR)
first Asia Pacific hackathon, ‘Destination Hack: Singapore’. The challenge? In 24-hours, conceptualise and
program a new technology application with the scope to reinvent travel – from
the way it’s shopped, sold and managed to how it’s experienced.

The winning App,
branded “Moments”, was developed by a Singaporean team of techies and
entrepreneurs. Designed to respond to a growing trend for ‘Bleisure’ travel in
Asia Pacific, it’s intended to help travel agents plan and book more
personalised trips tailored for travellers combining business and leisure in
the same itinerary.

The winning team was
awarded US$10,000 which will go towards supporting future development of the
“Moments” App. From left to right: Isolda Josy and Pranay Roy, Moments; Roshan
Mendis, senior vice president of Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific; and Marco
Angeles, Moments.

The App allows travel
agents to access a ‘social profile’ created by the business traveller, shared
through Sabre’s travel merchandising platform, to make relevant leisure
activity ‘add-on’ recommendations such as tickets for concerts or local
exhibitions. Powered by API integrations of existing travel Apps, including
Sabre’s travel itinerary management tool TripCase and event booking platforms
like Expedia and Eventbrite, these additional leisure bookings can be booked
and added into the main travel itinerary, which also incorporates itemised
expense tracking to distinguish between business and personal expenses.

The “Moments” App is
designed to work in the ‘Decision Support Bar’ of the new Sabre Red Workspace, Sabre’s
next-generation travel merchandising platform launching in APAC next year.

Once approved,
developers can sell new travel Apps, like the ones designed during this
hackathon, through the Sabre
Red App Centre which is a B2B App marketplace for
travel agents to shop third party Apps that extend the capabilities of Sabre’s
travel merchandising platform.

“We loved the idea of
an App that addresses a very specific traveller group. A combination of
socioeconomic factors and rapidly advancing technological enablement in this
region is fuelling a rapid evolution in the way people travel, and we’re seeing
a lot of new patterns and preferences emerging. It’s essential that travel
businesses have the right technologies in place to adapt to these changing
traveller demands,” commented Roshan Mendis, senior vice president for Sabre
Travel Network Asia Pacific. 

Judges from Expedia,
Ctrip, DHISCO and Sabre, rated the entries on a combination of technical
quality, design, potential and originality criteria.

Greg Schulze, Senior
Vice President, Commercial Strategy and Services for Expedia, commented that
information is the key to travel selection. “As consumers, we’re getting
smarter about travel options, with more information made available at our
fingertips. We often ask ourselves at Expedia – how can we leverage our
investment in technology and data, so that every traveller can find the trip
they want – whether it’s their 1,000th or their first? Many of the ideas we saw
during the hack explored ways to filter this information to drive more relevant
travel choices, which is where the whole travel experience begins.”

Destination Hack
Singapore Winners:

Best New Technology Application – Moments

By Marcos Angeles, Isolda Josy, Paul
Amazona and Pranay Roy.

Best Use of VR, sponsored by SabreLabs – TraveGo

Built with the technology used by
Pokémon Go, TraveGo lets travellers interact with an avatar to search and
review potential destinations interactively.

Chatbot Challenge, sponsored by
SabreLabs – Chat Planner

Chat Planner is a Chatbot engine that
turns travel conversations into actionable bookings, using AI and natural
language processing to make trip planning more intuitive.

Best Widget Idea for the new Sabre Red
Workspace Panels – CreditCardsOffer

A widget letting travel agents quickly
access a summary of credit card promotions with airlines, hotels and car rental
companies, all in one place and from within their workflow.

Best Widget Idea for the new Sabre Red
Workspace Decision Support Bar – Travelbrain

A Chatbot-based virtual assistant
integrating with Facebook Messenger to analyse customer preferences, helping
agents build more personalised itineraries.

Best use of Giata APIs, sponsored by
Giata – Stranded Flights

A microsite for airline passengers
delivering real-time updates and information during disruptions, from flight
details to vouchers for airport services or hotel stays.

Most Likely to Succeed, sponsored by
DHISCO – Flightzilla

A Chabot that helps travellers search
for flights then share their recommendations with friends to win rewards
whenever a recommendation generates a booking.

Since 2015 Sabre has
been expanding its dedicated product and technology team in Asia Pacific to
capture more innovation from within the region and explore future development
opportunities and local collaborations. 

“This was our first
global hackathon held in Asia Pacific but it was no surprise to see the depth
of talent and vision present,” commented Anupam Bokil, vice president of
technology for Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific. “This region is leading the
way in terms of digital evolution and adoption, and the travel sector is a
prime target for many of the new technologies we’re seeing.”

Destination Hack:
Singapore took place from 14 to 16 October 2016 at The Hub in Singapore. It
was held in partnership with WIT and in conjunction with the WIT Conference.