Although the airline-owned CRSs have hardly been the object of
agents' affection of late, it should not go unrecognized that
Worldspan, Sabre and Galileo have begun to take steps to ease the
burden on retailers laboring under restrictive -- and increasingly
unrealistic -- contractual demands.
Forced to confront a harsh economic reality of pay cuts, caps
and Web-based competition from suppliers and virtual travel
sellers, the trade, after all, has resorted to bottom-line
strategies that, in some cases, make it tough for agencies to reach
productivity levels and equipment configurations that were agreed
to when things seemed rosier than they do now.
In short, some retailers can't make it if the CRSs don't cut
them some slack. And that, in fact, is what the big booking engines
are revving up to do.
Consider the following:
Worldspan, citing "ongoing changes in the industry," waived
some productivity demands, financial penalties and fees related to
equipment configuration changes and relocations made in the next
six months.Sabre said it will revise its subscriber agreements to include
language that will enable agencies to counter major business losses
by realigning their equipment configurations.In addition, Sabre said contractual language is being revised to
provide financial relief to firms that go out of business, a time
when onerous and unexpected bills often add insult to injury.
Galileo announced at the ASTA congress that it will reduce
costs for affiliated agencies by offering a 10% reduction in
minimum target bookings for new and existing contracts as well as
by waiving hardware installation and deinstallation charges.
Moreover, it said it will release moribund agencies from further
performance mandates.Whatever the motivation of the CRSs, and self-interest obviously
can't be discounted, we welcome these moves.