Sabre on planning beyond the pandemic

Many companies are figuring out how to position themselves for customers, consumers and partners as travel looks to restart in some capacity and back to the levels enjoyed in 2019.

It's understandable that this fairly short-term outlook is what is occupying many of the executive teams around the industry - 2020 has, as we know, been devastating for the sector.

But Sabre CEO Sean Menke believes that his role at top of the company should be looking beyond 2021 and into 2022.

His "mindset" now is to prepare the business for the period after the mechanics of the industry have started warming up once more over the course of the next 12 months.

There are numerous challenges in doing so, yet Menke says this is not a reinvention of Sabre and the global distribution systems but a continuation of what was started before the pandemic hit in early-2020.

Sabre should be "running our own race," he argues, having learned that many organizations "want to change but don't understand what's required."

The problems the company will face are there for everyone, not least with the return of business travel being somewhat unknown in the current climate.

Menke was speaking at The Phocuswright Conference 2020 in November, covering topics from the evolution of distribution models and retailing to the hopes he has for next-generation systems for hotels and airlines.

The full interview with PhocusWire's Linda Fox is below...