GetThere

GetThere is a business-to-business corporate travel reservation and management brand. Its roots date to 1995, when Dan Whaley, Al Whaley, and Bruce Yoxsimer founded Internet Travel Network, a company focused on using the web to support travel distribution and booking. One of the earliest notable transactions associated with the business was an airline reservation from San Francisco to Las Vegas made through an Internet Travel Network server on June 5, 1995. This event placed the company among the early commercial pioneers of online travel booking. The company later adopted the GetThere name and became a publicly traded business on the Nasdaq under the symbol GTHR in 1999. Its independent period was relatively brief. In August 2000, Sabre acquired GetThere for a reported $757 million. After the acquisition, GetThere was integrated with Sabre's business-travel systems and became part of the Sabre Travel Network. The brand continued as an enterprise-oriented online booking and travel-management platform rather than as a consumer travel agency. GetThere provides software-as-a-service tools for organizations that need to manage employee travel, travel policy, booking workflows, reporting, and related corporate-trip activity. Its core proposition is to combine online booking with configurable controls and reporting for large multinational companies and mid-sized organizations. The platform supports air and hotel reservations and can be configured for different corporate policies, approval structures, markets, and language requirements. A mobile offering extends core functions to smartphones, allowing travelers to review itineraries and arrange air or hotel travel while away from their desks. The platform has been described as serving thousands of companies in 95 countries, with availability in 16 languages and more than 3,000 configurable site options. Reference material also describes approximately five million unique users per month visiting the service to shop for and book business trips or meetings. These figures reflect the scale of the broader enterprise platform rather than a consumer-facing brand proposition. GetThere has also been associated with corporate travel benchmarking and procurement services, as well as Sabre Virtual Meetings, a reservation system for public and corporate high-definition videoconferencing rooms announced in 2012. In January 2025, Serko announced that it had completed the acquisition of GetThere from Sabre for $12 million. The transaction returned the brand to an independent travel-technology owner while Sabre was reported to have become a partner in the former subsidiary. GetThere therefore remains an active corporate-travel technology brand, now positioned within Serko's portfolio rather than Sabre's direct ownership. Its primary market is enterprise travel management, with emphasis on online self-booking, mobile access, policy compliance, reporting, and configurable global deployment.

GetThere originated in 1995 as Internet Travel Network, commonly associated with the domain itn.net. The company was founded by Dan Whaley, Al Whaley, and Bruce Yoxsimer during the formative period of commercial Internet services. Its early objective was to apply online connectivity to travel reservations, a field then dominated by travel agencies, airline distribution systems, and proprietary reservation terminals. On June 5, 1995, an airline itinerary from San Francisco to Las Vegas was booked through an Internet Travel Network server in Palo Alto, California. The transaction is widely cited as the first airline reservation made over the World Wide Web. It marked an important demonstration that the web could support real travel transactions rather than merely publish schedules or destination information. Internet Travel Network later changed its name to GetThere as its product and corporate-travel focus developed. In 1999, GetThere became a Nasdaq-listed company under the ticker GTHR. Its public-market period coincided with the rapid growth of online commerce and investor interest in Internet-based travel distribution. The company was acquired by Sabre in August 2000 for a reported $757 million. Following the acquisition, GetThere was merged with Sabre's Business Travel Solutions system and became part of Sabre Travel Network. Under Sabre ownership, the brand operated as an enterprise corporate-travel platform. Rather than competing primarily for individual leisure travelers, it supplied online booking, reporting, travel-policy controls, and related services to employers and travel-management programs. The platform was built as a configurable software service capable of supporting different corporate requirements, geographic markets, languages, and approval processes. The brand's service portfolio included the principal GetThere web platform and GetThere Mobile, a smartphone-oriented web application for itinerary review, hotel reservations, and air bookings. The business also developed adjacent corporate-travel capabilities. In 2012, it announced Global Specialty Services, including benchmarking for travel and procurement programs, and Sabre Virtual Meetings, a reservation and scheduling system for public and corporate-owned high-definition videoconferencing rooms. Reference material describes GetThere as being used by thousands of companies in 95 countries. It reportedly supported 16 languages and more than 3,000 configurable site options, while attracting approximately five million unique users each month to search and book business trips or meetings. From 2000 through 2016, a GetThere customer was recognized in at least one year with a Business Travel News Travel Manager of the Year or Best Practitioner award, indicating the brand's presence in professional corporate-travel management. In January 2025, Serko completed its purchase of GetThere from Sabre for $12 million. The transaction changed the brand's ownership but preserved its identity as a corporate-travel technology service. Reports also described Sabre as becoming a partner in the former subsidiary. GetThere is therefore an active enterprise travel platform within Serko's portfolio, with a history spanning the earliest web-based airline booking experiments, public ownership, long-term integration into Sabre, and a later transition to a new travel-technology parent.

• 2025

  Serko completes acquisition

  [1]GetThereen.wikipedia.org

  Serko completes the purchase of GetThere from Sabre for $12 million.

• 2012

  Expansion into specialty services and virtual meetings

  [1]GetThereen.wikipedia.org

  GetThere announces Global Specialty Services and Sabre Virtual Meetings as extensions of its corporate-travel offering.

• 2000

  Sabre acquisition

  [1]GetThereen.wikipedia.org

  Sabre acquires GetThere and integrates it with its business-travel systems and Sabre Travel Network.

• 1999

  GetThere lists on Nasdaq

  [1]GetThereen.wikipedia.org

  The company adopts the GetThere name and becomes publicly traded on Nasdaq under the ticker GTHR.

• 1995

  Internet Travel Network is founded

  [1]GetThereen.wikipedia.org

  Dan Whaley, Al Whaley, and Bruce Yoxsimer establish Internet Travel Network, the predecessor to GetThere.

• 1995

  Early web airline reservation

  [1]GetThereen.wikipedia.org

  An airline booking from San Francisco to Las Vegas is made through an Internet Travel Network server in Palo Alto, an event cited as the first airline reservation completed over the World Wide Web.

An enterprise-focused, SaaS-based corporate travel booking and management platform for multinational companies and mid-sized organizations.

• Corporate travel management software

  GetThere

  The core GetThere service is a web-based software-as-a-service platform for corporate travel booking and administration. It supports business-trip shopping and reservations, including air and hotel content, while providing organizations with configurable travel policies, reporting, and workflow options. Its architecture is designed for large multinational and mid-sized corporate programs operating across multiple markets and languages.

• Mobile corporate travel application

  GetThere Mobile

  GetThere Mobile is a smartphone-oriented web application that gives business travelers access to itinerary information and selected booking functions while traveling. Reference material identifies hotel and airfare booking, together with itinerary checking, as core capabilities.

• Travel procurement and benchmarking services · 2012

  Global Specialty Services

  Announced in 2012, Global Specialty Services extended the corporate-travel proposition beyond reservations. The offering included benchmarking and related support for corporate travel and procurement programs, helping organizations evaluate purchasing and program performance.

• Meeting and videoconferencing reservation system · 2012

  Sabre Virtual Meetings

  Sabre Virtual Meetings was announced as a global system for reserving and scheduling public and corporate-owned high-definition videoconferencing rooms. It addressed meeting coordination as an adjacent business service within the corporate-travel technology portfolio.

• 2025

  Sale of GetThere to SerkoM&A

  Background

  After more than two decades associated with Sabre, GetThere changed ownership within the travel-technology sector.

  Action taken

  Serko completed the purchase of GetThere from Sabre for $12 million.

  Aftermath

  GetThere became part of Serko's portfolio, while Sabre was reported to have become a partner in the business.

  Acquisition price. $12 million (January 2025)

  Source

• 2012

  Expansion beyond core bookingStrategy

  Background

  Corporate travel programs increasingly required procurement analysis, benchmarking, and technology for remote meetings in addition to reservation tools.

  Action taken

  GetThere announced Global Specialty Services and Sabre Virtual Meetings.

  Aftermath

  The announcements broadened the brand's stated scope into travel-program analytics, procurement support, and meeting-room scheduling.

  Source

• 2000

  Sale of GetThere to SabreM&A

  Background

  GetThere was an online corporate-travel company that had become publicly traded the previous year. Sabre sought to combine the business with its existing business-travel systems.

  Action taken

  Sabre acquired GetThere in August 2000 for a reported $757 million and integrated it into Sabre Travel Network.

  Aftermath

  GetThere continued as a Sabre-associated corporate travel platform rather than as an independent public company.

  Reported acquisition price. $757 million (August 2000)

  Source

1. 1GetThereen.wikipedia.org