Concur to Expand Sabre, Amadeus User Automatic Upgrades in Coming Months

SAP Concur will begin automatic upgrades to the new Concur Travel experience in most markets for Sabre users next month, with Amadeus users to follow in July, according to a notice published this month.

Automatic upgrades to the new booking experience for Sabre users in the Canada, Mexico and the U.S. began last year, and starting April 25, that will expand to "all supported markets" with the exception of 12: Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, according to the notice, reported by The Beat today. Automatic upgrades for Amadeus users, excluding those same 12 markets, will begin July 25.

Concur has not set a date for automatic upgrades for the customers in the excluded countries nor for Travelport Plus users, but the notice indicated that would happen sometime this year.

The upgrades apply to both direct and indirect customers, with Concur noting travel management company opt-out status would no longer apply after a targeted market and GDS' upgrade date has passed.

In the note, Concur identified "high-impact limitations" that could delay an upgrade until those are addressed. However, air, car and hotel verticals will migrate independently, so if one of those verticals qualifies and the other two do not, that one vertical will still be upgraded, according to Concur.

In an interview with BTN earlier this month, Concur Travel president Charlie Sultan said that while "the list of what to do always keeps growing," most [global distribution systems] in most geographies have gone live in the new experience.

"The transition so far is going great," Sultan said. "The new Concur Travel was launched to address a lot of the customer suggestions and issues over the last five years or so, and they're excited, because they have a modern UX, they have the same capabilities on mobile as they do on the desktop, and they're still integrated into expense."