Sabre Launches New Service to Streamline Chargebacks for Travel Firms

Sabre Corporation has launched a new service through its travel payments division, Sabre Direct Pay, aimed at simplifying chargebacks and enhancing dispute resolution for travel companies. This innovative solution, developed in collaboration with Chargebacks911, allows users to initiate and manage charge disputes more efficiently across various issuing and acquiring channels.

The newly introduced service enables travel firms to handle chargebacks without the complications of navigating multiple issuer or acquirer systems. By eliminating separate logins, manual data entry, and technical integrations, it consolidates traditionally disjointed workflows into a single user-friendly interface specifically designed for the travel industry.

Addressing Industry Challenges

Patricio Boccardo, Managing Director of Sabre Direct Pay, highlighted the long-standing issues related to the lack of standardisation in chargeback processes within the travel sector. “Each issuer enforces its own formatting, evidence rules, and submission windows,” he noted. “That complexity reduces win rates, inflates case handling time, and complicates auditability across jurisdictions.”

The new service incorporates a dedicated chargeback layer that automates dispute creation and aligns submissions with issuer-specific requirements. This streamlined approach allows providers to consolidate workflows in one environment, offering full visibility and measurable recovery outcomes.

Monica Eaton, CEO of Chargebacks911, emphasized the complexities of the dispute process in the travel industry, which involves high-value bookings, variable fulfilment timelines, and multiple parties. “Most providers still rely on manual uploads, siloed portals, and general-purpose tools not designed for this use case,” she explained. “Our platform resolves that by automating issuer requirements and tracking dispute progress in real time.”

Enhancing Financial Operations

The launch of this service is part of Sabre Direct Pay’s broader initiative to streamline financial operations within the travel industry. Recent partnerships have expanded the platform’s capabilities across various regions. These include collaborations with Trustly for Pay by Bank solutions in Europe, TerraPay for instant cross-border payouts, CellPoint Digital for airline payment orchestration, and large-scale virtual card issuance with partners such as Revolut, Sunrate, and WEX.

In Brazil, Sabre has also partnered with Jazz Tech to facilitate fast and compliant local card issuance for travel agencies and suppliers. Each of these initiatives addresses significant structural gaps in travel payments, and the addition of chargeback resolution integrates critical dispute management into the same unified framework.

With this new service, Sabre aims to empower travel companies to navigate the complexities of chargebacks more effectively, ultimately protecting revenue and enhancing operational efficiency in a rapidly evolving industry.