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The past decade has seen a massive revamp in how jobs are done, in the hospitality industry, the food industry, and especially the travel industry. The rise in technology continues to push companies to question the mantra "It’s always been done this way". As the status quo is challenged, what enables companies to succeed – and deliver in a short time – the solutions customers desperately need? At Sabre, the answer lies in how to get the job done.

What is Sabre Black?

Sabre made a bold decision in 2019 to create a dedicated team focused on disrupting the travel industry. An incubation initiative, Sabre Black funds the effort for Sabre to explore ideas that solve the toughest problems. Leveraging lessons learned from lean startups, the team operates differently to fully understand customer problems well before investing in solutions. 

Rather than going dark and building a full-blown product, Sabre Black aims to solve problems a community of customers faces today. To start, the team lists assumptions that must be true for the product to succeed. Then, they formulate a set of hypotheses to test these assumptions. Experiments are conducted to determine what customers say they want and what they do in practice. In early phases, customers provide feedback in interviews and surveys. Later, experiments are run through deployment of a live prototype and studying usage. Sabre relies solely on data to determine how to move forward.

Short cycles constrain what can be accomplished before the team must make a recommendation to pursue the idea or not. Development sprints are set up to allow the team to deliver new features in days, not months. If a product idea is not popular with the target customer base, the team can pivot and focus energy on solving more meaningful problems. 

Do You Have the Next Industry-Disrupting Idea?

Since its inception, Sabre Black has motivated passionate problem solvers around the globe to submit ideas that could change the game. As new technologies emerge, new opportunities to challenge the status quo will surface. The time is ripe for Sabre to partner with the right companies and create the next wave of disruption. If you’re interested in submitting an idea to partner on, fill out this form. You’ll be contacted within a month if your idea fits.

Authored by: Pooja Kumar and Sierra Dunaway