Sabre has partnered with the Barcelona-based company Byhours, which sells hourly hotel packages, to make Byhours' content available to Sabre's travel agency community. The partnership, Sabre said, marks the first time a GDS has offered "microstays," enabling advisors to book rooms by the hour.
Byhours content will be sold through the Byhours' Sabre Red App.
Sabre has seen an uptick in the need for microstays in several segments of travelers, the company said, which it attributed to the pandemic. Companies that have adopted remote-work policies are looking for space to hold meetings. Leisure travelers want microstays when they have a stopover, or they are increasingly looking to enjoy local leisure vacations that pair nicely with booking a room by the hour.
Byhours launched in 2012 in Barcelona and opened a second office in Mexico City in 2019. This agreement furthers its objective to penetrate the North American market.
"Giving travel agencies the power to offer relevant content to satisfy the changing needs of their clients is paramount to Sabre," Traci Mercer, senior vice president of the product segment at Sabre Travel Solutions, said in a release. "Today, more than ever, travel buyers want access to a broad range of content that better meets the needs of today's traveler."