Sabre Holdings announced the acquisition of SoftHotel, the largest provider of web-based property management solutions for the hospitality industry with over 4,500 installations.

This acquisition moves Sabre closer to a Hotel Enterprise Solution (HES), a fully integrated web-based solution that combines distribution, marketing and operations into a single platform for customers.  

SoftHotel will become part of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, the industry's leading global hospitality technology company, and division of Sabre Holdings.  This strategic convergence will bring Property Management System (PMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Revenue Management System (RMS) and Central Reservation System (CRS) functionality into an easy to use HES.  This solution will reduce system complexity and drive down IT costs for hotels globally.

"Our customers want a single provider with a complete solution to manage everything from hotel bookings through to marketing campaigns," said Felix Laboy, president of Sabre Hospitality Solutions. "Sabre will lead this industry trend, with a web-based solution that reduces IT costs while providing the latest in hotel management technology. The acquisition of a web-based PMS solution gives Sabre Hospitality Solutions the final component necessary in our pursuit to become a fully integrated Hotel Enterprise Solution." 

"Sabre and SoftHotel share a common belief in the game changing impact of a converged platform for property and distribution systems which delivers untapped customer and revenue management capabilities," said Michael Kennedy, president of SoftHotel. "We believe the time is now - this acquisition will significantly accelerate this anticipated industry innovation."

A complete HES will offer many benefits to Sabre's hotel customers, as well as travel agents and travelers.  Specifically, hotels will:

• Gain better channel and revenue management by using a complete solution from hotel to market
• Have better pricing and inventory control by having a true single image of inventory, pricing and customers
• Enable superior profile management with the ability to recognize customers shopping in every channel

In addition, moving to a web-based solution will eliminate the need for an onsite server, offering substantial cost savings at the property level.

"We will continue to innovate; finding new ways for our customers, large or small, to make money, save money and get closer to their customer," said Laboy.  "Our focus on meeting the current needs of hoteliers is only part of what we do.  Creating new products and services that deliver on their future needs is a very important part of that equation."

www.sabrehospitality.com