SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Aug. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty four hours of intense hacking, trouble shooting and energy drink chugging came to a close last week with the conclusion of Sabre's #ReinventTravel Hackathon powered by Sabre Dev Studio. The 24-hour codefest culminated in the creation of 16 unique and ingenious apps that have the ability to impact the travel industry in many different ways. Developers were given access to the new Sabre Dev Studio API platform for the contest but they didn't stop there. Contestants also used APIs from other sources including Facebook and Twitter in order to create the most unique and intelligent applications possible.
Developers came from very diverse backgrounds, some as young as 15-years-old and from as far away as Silicon Valley and New York. Of the 16 teams involved, four participated virtually and three comprised Sabre's very own tech-savvy workforce. The diversity of the developers and the open-ended nature of the competition were mirrored by their applications, each having its own unique flare and purpose while leveraging different coding languages and various APIs.
The teams competed vigorously across four challenges with clear winners emerging only at the end after much deliberation. The winning application, TripMaker, is a data-driven trip-planning service. It allows travelers to create a profile and then uses their profile information to offer intelligent trip suggestions based on the available data rather than flooding them with random trip possibilities. Not only did this team win the "Mine Your own Business" challenge, it also took the grand prize worth $15,000.
The winner of the "Social Swagger" challenge created a micro-funding application called Kick Travel that allows would-be travelers who are unable to afford their journey to post their story and have other users review these stories and donate funds in order to help them fulfill their travel dream.
First place winner in the "API Alchemist" challenge was the BucketList app which uses four different APIs to help users plan a once-in-a-lifetime trip at an affordable cost.
"Travel in a Non-Travel World," the final challenge, was won with a concept application called Erbase that would allow travelers to connect with users who need to send items around the world and act as a delivery service by taking these items with them during their travels.
"While we did award a cash prize, at the end of the day the real prize for these teams and for all of us at Sabre is seeing the creativity and innovation that these teams were able to muster with the help of Sabre Dev Studio," said Greg Webb, Sabre Travel Network President. "The future for travel app development is endless. As long as people use their imaginations, there will be no end to what great innovators can do in travel with this platform."
The #ReinventTravel Hackathon offered developers the opportunity to show off their coding and creative prowess and gave all of those involved a chance to see how the new Sabre Dev Studio API platform and tools can have a tremendous impact on the travel industry.
"We look forward to continuing to innovate and collaborate with developers and the technology community at large in order to push the boundaries of what is thought to be possible in travel," said Webb. Be on the lookout for more great events in the very near future with Sabre sponsoring several upcoming hackathons and tech conferences.
About Sabre
Sabre® is a leading technology provider to the global travel and tourism industry. Sabre's software, data, mobile and distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel properties to manage critical operations, such as passenger and guest reservations, revenue management, and flight, network and crew management. Sabre also operates a leading global travel marketplace, processing over $100 billion of estimated travel spend in 2013 by connecting travel suppliers to their most valued customers, the business traveler. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre operates in approximately 60 countries around the world.
www.sabre.com
Media Contact:
Heidi Castle
682-605-4290
[email protected]
SOURCE Sabre
Share this article