Travel agents using the SABS Travel Technologies back office have been given notice that the system is to be discontinued.
The supplier, which has been in the travel industry for more than 30 years, operates legacy back-office system Traveller and Quantum, a newer version.
SABS Managing Director Brian Sheerin wrote to clients this week to say Quantum, which only launched last year, will be removed from the marketplace and closed down on 31 August.
Customers who haven’t moved over to Quantum will continue to be supported on legacy system Traveller until the end of the year but there will be no support from 1 January 2024.
The letter said: “With an ever increasing cost base and a diminishing high street market to target, sustaining the product offerings post pandemic has become commercially and operationally unviable.”
One travel agent told Travel Gossip: “We’ve been with them for 25 years and they sent us a letter yesterday telling us that was it.
“They spent all that money on rolling a new system out and we’ve been loading all our bookings on to Quantum. Now they have told us that, after the end of August, we can’t use it.
“We’re now rapidly looking to see if we can get a new supplier.”
Chris North, Managing Director of Vertical Systems, said several agents using SABS have been in contact since they heard the news.
Chris said: “The key thing for agents is to be able to get their existing booking data from SABS to a new system, and we can do that for them in minutes.
“In these circumstances we can get agents trading again quickly. When Thomas Cook ceased trading, we onboarded Freedom Travel Group members to our system within the day, ensuring a seamless transition.”
Advantage agents have recently migrated from SABS to the Vertical system.
Travel Gossip has contacted SABS for a comment.
The post Travel tech supplier to discontinue agent back-office system appeared first on Travel Gossip.
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The supplier, which has been in the travel industry for more than 30 years, operates legacy back-office system Traveller and Quantum, a newer version.
SABS Managing Director Brian Sheerin wrote to clients this week to say Quantum, which only launched last year, will be removed from the marketplace and closed down on 31 August.
Customers who haven’t moved over to Quantum will continue to be supported on legacy system Traveller until the end of the year but there will be no support from 1 January 2024.
The letter said: “With an ever increasing cost base and a diminishing high street market to target, sustaining the product offerings post pandemic has become commercially and operationally unviable.”
One travel agent told Travel Gossip: “We’ve been with them for 25 years and they sent us a letter yesterday telling us that was it.
“They spent all that money on rolling a new system out and we’ve been loading all our bookings on to Quantum. Now they have told us that, after the end of August, we can’t use it.
“We’re now rapidly looking to see if we can get a new supplier.”
Chris North, Managing Director of Vertical Systems, said several agents using SABS have been in contact since they heard the news.
Chris said: “The key thing for agents is to be able to get their existing booking data from SABS to a new system, and we can do that for them in minutes.
“In these circumstances we can get agents trading again quickly. When Thomas Cook ceased trading, we onboarded Freedom Travel Group members to our system within the day, ensuring a seamless transition.”
Advantage agents have recently migrated from SABS to the Vertical system.
Travel Gossip has contacted SABS for a comment.
The post Travel tech supplier to discontinue agent back-office system appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
