“With the Rate Assured hotel program, Sabre is working closely with our hotel partners to ensure that travel agents can confidently book the best possible rates through Sabre,” said Greg Webb, chief marketing officer, Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Airline Solutions. “We actively measure pricing at each hotel, share this data back with the suppliers and work with them to ensure travel agents have the content they need to best serve their customers.”

“Sabre’s Rate Assured hotel program is a good complement to Marriott’s Look No Further Best Rate Guarantee program, “said Larraine Voll Morris, vice president of eChannels & GDS, Marriott International, Inc. “We believe that travelers should be able to find the best available rates for Marriott hotels regardless of the channel they choose, and we are supportive of agents who use Sabre being able to provide that experience to Marriott customers.”

Sabre is using rate canvassing capabilities provided by Rubicon, a leading provider of market information applications and services to the global hotel industry, to actively check rates on a global scale at up to 235 sites around the world, including direct and third-party online distribution sites. Sabre evaluates hotel rates on a weekly basis at the property level, varying the day of the week and the shopping parameters to ensure rate parity. If the search uncovers a publicly available rate that is lower than Sabre’s by $1 or more, Sabre will take steps to notify the hotelier and remove the Rate Assured designation from the hotel.

“The fact that we measure rates at the property level on such a large scale and provide that reporting to hoteliers is what sets Rate Assured apart from similar parity programs,” said Webb. “No other GDS is taking such action to measure rate parity and enforce it on behalf of its travel agents.”

Properties that provide rate parity are designated “Rate Assured” on the hotel availability display and receive enhanced visibility over properties that are not providing rate parity. Additionally, a new search qualifier will allow travel agents to limit search results to Rate Assured properties only.

“We applaud Sabre for taking this step on behalf of agents and hotel suppliers who support rate parity,” said Ted Schweitzer, vice president, eCommerce, La Quinta. “This will help travel agents by removing any uncertainty regarding whether or not they’re getting rates that are comparable to other channels.”

The Rate Assured hotel program is the latest of Sabre’s comprehensive offerings for hoteliers and travel agencies who shop and book hotels for their customers. Sabre Holdings sells more hotel room nights than any other company in the world through Sabre Travel Network, Travelocity and lastminute.com. Sabre’s hotel offerings include marketing tools such as Hotel UpSell and Sabre Surround, as well as a comprehensive suite of reservation and distribution services offered by SynXis through its RedX Distribution Management System.