ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
Sabre Corporation is a Delaware corporation formed in December 2006. On March 30, 2007, Sabre Corporation acquired Sabre Holdings Corporation (“Sabre Holdings”). Sabre Holdings is the sole direct subsidiary of Sabre Corporation. Sabre GLBL Inc. (“Sabre GLBL”) is the principal operating subsidiary and sole direct subsidiary of Sabre Holdings. Sabre GLBL or its direct or indirect subsidiaries conduct all of our businesses. Our principal executive offices are located at 3150 Sabre Drive, Southlake, Texas 76092.
At Sabre, we make travel happen. Our vision is to be the most valued global technology platform in travel. We are committed to helping our customers take on the biggest opportunities and solve the most complex challenges in travel. We connect the world’s leading travel suppliers, including airlines, hotels, car rental brands, rail carriers, cruise lines and tour operators, with travel buyers in a comprehensive travel marketplace. We also offer travel suppliers an extensive suite of leading software solutions, ranging from airline and hotel reservations systems to solutions that manage day-to-day hotel operations. We are committed to helping customers operate more efficiently, drive revenue and offer personalized traveler experiences with next-generation technology solutions.
Business Segments and Products
We operate our business and present our results through two business segments: (i) Travel Solutions, our global travel solutions for travel suppliers and travel buyers, including a broad portfolio of software technology products and solutions for airlines, and (ii) Hospitality Solutions, an extensive suite of leading software solutions for hoteliers. Financial information about our business segments and geographic areas is provided in Note 19. Segment Information, to our consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Travel Solutions
Our Travel Solutions business provides global travel solutions for travel suppliers and travel buyers through a business-to-business travel marketplace consisting of our global distribution network and a broad set of solutions that integrate with our distribution platform to add value for travel suppliers and travel buyers. Our distribution business facilitates travel by efficiently bringing together travel content such as inventory, prices and availability from a broad array of travel suppliers, including airlines, hotels, car rental brands, rail carriers, cruise lines and tour operators, with a large network of travel buyers, including online travel agencies (“OTAs”), offline travel agencies, travel management companies (“TMCs”), and corporate travel departments.
Additionally, our Travel Solutions business offers a broad portfolio of software technology products and solutions, through software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) and hosted delivery model, to airlines and other travel suppliers and provides industry-leading and comprehensive software solutions that help our customers better market, sell, serve and operate. Our product offerings include reservation systems for full-cost and low-cost carriers, commercial and operations products, agency solutions and data-
driven intelligence solutions. In 2024, we launched SabreMosaicTM, a proprietary offer and order retailing platform for airlines that is designed and built on a modular and open technology structure, enabling airlines to dynamically create, sell and deliver an array of personalized content to travelers. Our reservation systems bring together intelligent decision support solutions that enable end-to-end retailing. Our commercial and operations products offer services to our customers to enable them to better use our products and help optimize their commercial and operations platforms.
Hospitality Solutions
Our Hospitality Solutions business provides software and solutions, through SaaS and hosted delivery models, to hoteliers around the world. Our SaaS solutions empower hotels and hotel chains to manage pricing, reservations, and retail offerings across thousands of distribution channels while improving guest experience throughout the traveler journey. We serve over 40,000 properties in over 175 countries.
Growth Strategy
At Sabre, we are a technology company focused on four strategic areas: generating positive free cash flow, achieving sustainable long-term growth, driving innovation and enhancing our value propositions, and the continued modernization of our technology. Our growth strategy includes enhancing relationships with customers by promoting the benefits to them and travelers of adopting additional products and services, adapting those products to the changing needs of the travel ecosphere, including integrating new distribution capability (“NDC”), and pricing them in ways that align with our customers, growing our customer base by continuing to innovate our products, adding desirable content, and aligning our technology and personnel to best highlight our value proposition globally and expanding opportunities by extending our product lines into closely related areas of travel where our customer relationships can efficiently drive adoption.
Technology and Operations
Our technology strategy is focused on achieving operational stability, reliability, resiliency, security and performance at an efficient overall cost while continuing to innovate and create incremental value for our customers. Significant investment has gone into implementing a more modern, unified technical architecture with an emphasis on standardization, simplicity, efficiency, security, and scalability. We invest heavily in software development, delivery, and operational support capabilities and seek to provide best in class products for our customers. We operate standardized infrastructure in our cloud computing environments across hardware, operating systems, databases, and other key enabling technologies to minimize costs on non-differentiators. We expect to continue to make significant investments in our information technology infrastructure to modernize our architecture, drive efficiency and quality in development, lower recurring technology costs, further enhance the stability and security of our network, comply with data privacy and accessibility regulations, and focus on service-enabled and cloud-based solutions. We expect to see ongoing improvements in developer productivity, operational efficiency, and customer capabilities by utilizing generative artificial intelligence ("AI") technologies.
Over the last several years, our architecture has evolved from mainframe-based transaction processing to more secure, primarily cloud-based distributed processing. A variety of products and services run on this technology infrastructure: high-volume, machine learning based air and hotel shopping systems; sales and support applications for airlines, hotels, and travel agencies; airline and hotel inventory management and operational support systems; machine learning driven analytics and decision support systems; and web services that provide automated interfaces for intelligent retailing, distribution, and fulfillment of travel-related products and services. Additionally, we enable a variety of advanced retailing and servicing capabilities that are generative AI based, such as conversational chatbots for our airline customers. The flexibility and scale of our cloud-based technology infrastructure allow us to quickly deliver a broad variety of SaaS solutions and evolve these solutions to meet the changing needs of the travel industry.
Customers
Travel Solutions customers consist of travel suppliers, including airlines, hotels and other lodging providers, car rental brands, rail carriers, cruise lines, tour operators, attractions and services; a large network of travel buyers, including OTAs, offline travel agencies, TMCs and corporate travel departments; and airports, governments and tourism boards. Airlines served by Travel Solutions vary in size and are located in every region of the world, and include hybrid carriers and low-cost carriers ("LCCs") (collectively, “LCC/hybrids”), global network carriers and regional network carriers. Our airline and agency customers are in various phases of adopting NDC strategies, and those strategies vary by customer. Hospitality Solutions has a global customer base of over 40,000 hotel properties of all sizes.
Sources of Revenue
Transactions—Our Travel Solutions business generates distribution revenue for bookings made through our global distribution system ("GDS") (e.g., air, car and hotel bookings) and through our partners and generally we are paid directly by the travel supplier. A transaction occurs when a travel agency or corporate travel department books or reserves a travel supplier’s product using our GDS, for which we receive a fee. Transaction fees include, but are not limited to, transaction fees paid by travel suppliers for selling their inventory through our GDS and fees paid by travel agency subscribers related to their use of certain solutions integrated with our GDS. We receive revenue from the travel supplier and the travel agency according to the commercial arrangement with each.
SaaS and Hosted—We generate Travel Solutions' IT Solutions revenue and Hospitality Solutions revenue through upfront solution implementation fees and recurring usage-based fees for the use of our software solutions hosted on secure platforms or deployed via SaaS. We maintain our SaaS and hosted software and manage the related infrastructure with the assistance of third-party providers. We collect the implementation fees and recurring usage-based fees pursuant to contracts with terms that typically range between three and ten years and generally include minimum annual volume requirements.
Software Licensing—We generate Travel Solutions' IT Solutions revenue from fees for the on-site installation and use of our software products. Many contracts under this model generate additional revenue for the maintenance of the software product.
Professional Service Fees—We generate Travel Solutions' IT Solutions revenue and Hospitality Solutions revenue through offerings that utilize the SaaS and hosted revenue model which are sometimes sold as part of multiple performance obligation arrangements for which we also provide professional services, including consulting services. Our professional services are primarily focused on helping customers achieve better utilization of and return on their software investment. Often, we provide these services during the implementation phase of our SaaS solutions.
Media and Retailing—We generate Hospitality Solutions revenue from customers that advertise their website or booking engine on digital marketing channels. We also generate Hospitality Solutions revenue through retailing offerings and are typically paid a portion of the value of each transaction according to commercial arrangements.
Competition
We operate in highly competitive markets. Travel Solutions competes with several other regional and global travel marketplace providers, including other GDSs, local distribution systems and travel marketplace providers primarily owned by airlines or government entities, as well as with direct distribution by travel suppliers. In addition to other GDSs and direct distributors, there are a number of other competitors in the travel distribution marketplace, including new entrants in the travel space, that offer metasearch capabilities that direct shoppers to supplier websites and/or OTAs, third party aggregators and peer-to-peer options for travel services. Travel Solutions also competes with a variety of providers in a rapidly evolving marketplace which includes global and regional IT providers, various specialists in selected product areas, service providers and airlines that develop their own in-house technology. Hospitality Solutions operates in a dynamic marketplace that includes large global players, significant new entrants and hotels that develop their own in-house technology.
Intellectual Property
We use software, business processes and proprietary information to carry out our business. These assets and related intellectual property rights are significant assets of our business. We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark laws, confidentiality procedures, and contractual provisions to protect these assets and we license software and other intellectual property both to and from third parties. We may seek patent protection on business processes and other inventions relating to our business, and our software and related documentation may also be protected under trade secret and copyright laws where applicable. We may also benefit from both statutory and common law protection of our trademarks.
Although we rely heavily on our brands, associated trademarks, and domain names, we do not believe that our business is dependent on any single item of intellectual property, or that any single item of intellectual property is material to the operation of our business. However, since we consider trademarks to be a valuable asset of our business, we maintain our trademark portfolio throughout the world by filing trademark applications with the relevant trademark offices, renewing appropriate registrations and regularly monitoring potential infringement of our trademarks in certain key markets.
Government Regulation
We are subject to or affected by international, federal, state and local laws, regulations and policies, which are constantly subject to change. These laws, regulations and policies include regulations applicable to the GDS in the European Union (“EU”), Canada, the United States and other locations.
We are subject to the application of data protection and privacy regulations in many of the U.S. states and countries in which we operate, including the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") in the EU. See "Risk Factors—Our collection, processing, storage, use and transmission of personal data could give rise to liabilities as a result of governmental regulation, conflicting legal requirements, differing views on data privacy, or security incidents."
We are also subject to prohibitions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (the “OFAC rules”) and other similar global prohibitions, as applicable. The OFAC rules prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in financial transactions with or
relating to the prohibited individual, entity or country, require the blocking of assets in which the individual, entity or country has an interest, and prohibit transfers of property subject to U.S. jurisdiction (including property in the possession or control of U.S. persons) to such individual, entity or country.
Our businesses may also be subject to legislation and regulations affecting issues such as: trade sanctions, exports of technology, antitrust, anticorruption, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and e-commerce. These regulations may vary among jurisdictions. For example, Russia has adopted legislation and related regulations, effective October 30, 2022, that require activities related to the development, creation and operation of automated information systems for processing domestic air transportation within the Russian Federation to be owned and operated by Russian residents or legal entities with no updates from or connection with systems abroad. This legislation and these regulations have prohibited our ability to provide these services in Russia, which has negatively impacted our revenue and results. On May 23, 2024, Russia issued a decree establishing a process for the seizure of assets of U.S. companies and nationals in Russia, further limiting our ability to operate and provide services in Russia.
See “Risk Factors— Any failure to comply with regulations or any changes in such regulations governing our businesses could adversely affect us."
Seasonality
The travel industry is seasonal in nature. Travel bookings and the revenue we derive from those bookings, are typically seasonally strong in the first and third quarters, but decline significantly each year in the fourth quarter, primarily in December. We recognize air-related revenue at the date of booking, and because customers generally book their November and December holiday leisure-related travel earlier in the year and business-related travel declines during the holiday season, revenue resulting from bookings is typically lower in the fourth quarter. Similarly, we experience seasonality in our cash flow from operations with the first quarter lower in collections, reflecting the revenue generated in December, and higher cash outflows with annual compensation and incentive consideration payments, for the previous year.
Human Capital
We maintain a strategic framework that defines areas of focus for our culture and talent and highlights how we enable our people to execute the plans and priorities for our technology, product, financial and customer strategies.
Our People—In 2023, we began implementing a cost reduction plan that reduced our workforce by approximately 19% compared to 2022, impacting our human capital metrics through the year ended December 31, 2024. All activities associated with this plan are substantially complete as of December 31, 2024. We have not experienced any work stoppages and consider our relations with our employees to be good. As of December 31, 2024, we had 6,253 employees worldwide, consisting of the following:
No of Employees % of Total
United States 1,580 25 %
Asia-Pacific 1,812 29 %
Europe 1,678 27 %
All Other (1) 1,183 19 %
Total 6,253 100 %
(1) Includes Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa.
Talent Acquisition, Development and Retention—Through our long operating history and experience with technological innovation, we appreciate the importance of retention, growth and development of our employees. We seek to set compensation at competitive levels that help enable us to hire, incentivize, and retain high-caliber employees. We have launched our Leadership Framework to support our employees and cultivate talent. This framework includes frequent one-on-one conversations, regular team meetings, meaningful performance feedback, timely recognition and supportive career development. Our formal and informal reward, recognition and acknowledgement programs encourage employees to recognize peers, teams and departments to honor their champions and help promote satisfaction and engagement. To assist in retaining key talent, we offer compensation programs to certain key employees, such as long-term performance-based cash incentive awards, performance-based restricted stock unit awards, time-based restricted stock unit awards, and other awards as appropriate. We monitor and evaluate various turnover and attrition metrics throughout our management teams.
Diversity and Inclusion—With 56 offices around the globe, we believe that diversity and inclusion are at the core of our success and that the different backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and ideas of our employees are critical to spur innovation, drive growth and sustain competitive advantage in our industry. We maintain eight inclusion groups and an Inclusion and Diversity Council to help define a globally consistent approach to inclusion and diversity.
Health and Wellness—The health and safety of our team members is of the utmost importance. In addition to core health and welfare benefits, our wellness program offers resources to promote physical, emotional, and mental well-being. We maintain certain assistance programs to continue to support the well-being of our team members, including team members that operate in a remote working environment. Additionally, to help ensure the safety and wellness of our employees, we have provided robust
parental leave programs and enhanced our personal time off benefits, and maintain a hybrid work environment that allows our employees additional flexibility in work arrangements and opportunities to work remotely. Recently, we implemented a policy that permits employees that experience the birth or adoption of a child to work remotely for one year, which also aligns with our focus on inclusion.
Corporate Responsibility—We invest globally in our communities by encouraging employee volunteerism on company time through one paid day off per quarter for community volunteering. Our employees have donated a significant number of volunteer hours to support our community-oriented and philanthropic culture.
Available Information
We are subject to the informational requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and under these requirements, we file reports, proxy and information statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other information to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are available through the investor relations section of our website at investors.sabre.com. Reports are available free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with, or furnish them to, the SEC. The information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We may use our website, our LinkedIn account and our X account (@Sabre_Corp) as additional means of disclosing information to the public. The information disclosed through those channels may be considered to be material and may not be otherwise disseminated by us, so we encourage investors to review our website, LinkedIn and X account. The contents of our website or social media channels referenced herein are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.