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INDUSTRY NEWS & PEOPLE  June 2009
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Air Canada Guarantees Lowest Fares On Web Site Purchases
Air Canada has issued a guarantee that tickets purchased for its domestic and transborder flights will be the lowest available. The airline’s new Lowest Fare Guarantee also provides a $50 travel credit for their next trip should any passengers find a lower fare in the same fare brand and on the same flight within 24 hours of their purchase.
The airline has also eliminated booking fees for calls made to its call center from anywhere in North America.
The guarantee is available to all consumers and agencies that purchase their tickets, including those between Canada and the US, for Air Canada or Jazz flights through the Canadian edition of aircanada.com. Customers who find a lower fare can notify Air Canada online and are not required to buy the lower fare.
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Amadeus Gets Aggressive In Pursuit Of NA Market
Amadeus has launched on online shopping site offering information and demonstrations about its technologies, tools and services for US and Canadian travel agencies. Equipped with pull-down menus to facilitate navigation, the site features a “Solution Finder” search tool that allows users to find and customize the best solution for their needs in four steps. Amadeus is also continuing its interactive road show series and adding a webinar series to promote its products in the North American market.
Future phases of the site will allow agents to specifically type in, Google(tm)-style, what they need most. The site will then automatically present information about the most relevant solutions addressing their stated business need. The customizable packages, which offer multiple add-ons and third-party products, include a Leisure Specialist Package; Vacation Link of high-profit, commissionable cruises, shore excursions, tours, consolidator fares, rail, activities and entertainment; Hosted Agency Plus Solution for seasoned travel agents who desire support for ticketing and fulfillment services; and a Hosted Agency Solution for new agents or cruise-only agents who book limited air travel.
The Amadeus interactive road show series has added Toronto and Miami to its earlier itinerary and also plans a series of thought-leadership webinars for the coming months. The company also plans to roll out a new e-Support Center in North America this year.
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Amtrak: KC-St. Louis Bottleneck Will Be Uncorked By New Year
Construction has begun on an $8.1 million, 9,000-foot railroad side track that is expected to add capacity and reduce delays on the route used by Amtrak Missouri River Runner trains between Kansas City and St. Louis. Delays are expected to be reduced by nearly 17 percent. The project is scheduled for completion in December 2009.
The new siding, located just west of California, MO, will unclog a major bottleneck caused by a 25-mile stretch of single track by allowing slower freight trains to move off the main line so Amtrak trains can pass. The location is one of three bottlenecks between Kansas City and Jefferson City, as identified in a study conducted at the University of Missouri.
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ARC Launches New Corporate Site
ARC’s web site has been completely revamped to offer ease-of-use and pleasing aesthetics to its diverse customer base, with varying demographics in terms of business type, experience levels, and personality. Site features include:
• Agency Locator that allows users to input a zip code or city/state to find an ARC-accredited agent.
• Improved product information.
• Specific questions to ensure users speak to someone who knows exactly how to help.
• Downloadable marketing materials, including data sheets, logos and media kits.
• eSupport — a way for users to submit help tickets online.
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BostonCoach’s New Booking Site Offers More Control, Flexibility
BostonCoach has launched a new version of its web site that gives bookers real-time control of travel arrangements for travelers constantly on the move and enables online registration without a credit card. Among the site’s other new features:
• Save ride as a draft: Enables individuals to interrupt a booking transaction and revisit it later or to save a reservation for similar future trips.
• Auto-complete: Saves time and increases accuracy by checking against a database and enabling users to automatically complete location information being entered.
• Book to points of interest: Allows users to enter a destination name (for instance a hotel, restaurant or office tower), saving time and improving efficiency.
Additionally, users can quickly and easily book additional reservations from an existing booking. Individuals also are able to reconcile associated expenses more quickly because they can obtain receipts online as soon as receipts are ready.
The site’s new Control Center gives online bookers the ability to manage reservations, preferences and information for themselves and others, such as sorting multiple bookings by traveler, date or location for easier management; modify existing reservations in real time when travelers’ schedules change; add or delete travelers listed in a multiple-rider reservation, automatically populate appropriate fields. The same auto-population occurs when travelers book a return trip.
Best of Boston, BostonCoach’s destination-management company, has launched a new site mirroring the transportation company’s look and format.
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Concur Enlists Ireland’s TBI For VAT Recovery Service
Concur has launched a new partner service in conjunction with Ireland-based TBI to help its clients reclaim foreign value added tax (VAT) costs. Using high-end data analysis, the VAT recovery solution will inform Concur clients of their unrealized VAT recovery potential and provide a mechanism to recoup costs. Companies can reclaim foreign value added taxes on a wide range of expenses such as accommodation, meals, fuel and transport, entertainment or other inter-company expenses.
Reclaiming foreign VAT is a complex process that differs from country to country. European Commission research has shown that one in every two companies does not reclaim foreign VAT, and 80 percent of large companies making VAT reclaims encounter difficulties.
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Enterprise, National, Alamo Key Refueling Fees To Local Levels
The Enterprise family of companies (which includes the Enterprise, National and Alamo car rental brands) has modified its airport refueling policy to limit charges to the local-market price of self-serve gasoline, plus a mark-up not to exceed 50 percent of its own fuel cost.
Enterprise explains the formula using an exemplar cost of self-serve gasoline at $2 per gallon; its companies will charge customers about $3 per gallon when they bring a car back to the airport without a full tank of gas. The Enterprise, National and Alamo brands do not levy energy recovery fees. From Boston to Phoenix, Enterprise calculates, its policy holds gasoline refueling charges at roughly 65 percent lower than some competitors’ charges.
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GetThere & ETAP Plan Integrated T&E Service In EU
GetThere has reached an agreement with ETAP-ON-LINE, a European provider of corporate expense management, to build an integrated solution targeted to mid-size and large European and multi-national companies. The companies envision a system used by both travelers and travel arrangers that will drive in-policy bookings, deliver detailed reports and forge seamless processes.
ULYSSE Travel & Expenses, ETAP’s expense management solution, has 900,000 users in Europe and elsewhere, with rollouts in more than 20 countries and a major presence in France and the United Kingdom.
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JetBlue Reduces Refundable Fares By $100 On 24 Routes
JetBlue Airways has reduced fares on 24 of its transcontinental routes by $100, terming the reduction “a money-back guarantee as well as affordable convenience and flexibility in travel. Refundable travel for $499 is now available on flights:
• from Boston to Las Vegas, Long Beach/LA, Los Angeles (effective June 17), Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.
• from Fort Lauderdale to Long Beach/LA.
• from New York/JFK to Burbank, Denver, Las Vegas, Long Beach/LA, Los Angeles (effective June 17), Oakland, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Jose (CA), San Francisco and Seattle.
• from Washington, D.C./Dulles to Long Beach/LA and Oakland, CA.
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• NBTA Merger Idea Rebuffed, ACTE Aligns With PCMA
Directors of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) have announced that, after two years of informal collaboration, they are ready to actively pursue a formal strategic alliance. Each organization will remain independent with its own leadership, emphasized officers of both organizations in a joint press conference on June 25, but members will share reciprocal benefits without incurring new membership fees. Among the benefits discussed: co-located educational events, expanded professional networks, mutual access to research, sharing best practices, and "an enhanced advocacy voice."
The announcement came after weeks of rumors of a proposed merger with the National Business Travel Association, culminating in a favorable vote by the NBTA Board on June 18, rejection of the proposal by the ACTE Board on June 22 and the subsequent resignation of three of its officers who favored the move. When asked if the June 25 announcement of the alliance was the result of that "failed merger," ACTE's executive director, Suzanne Gurley said "It wasn't a failed merger - that would assume there was an actual merger in discussion ... this is not a shotgun approach." But the appearance of a hurriedly-called press conference was not easy to dispel. AirPlus International's Richard Crum, who stepped into the void left by the resignation of 2009 President Doug Weeks of Booz Allen Hamilton, joined the press conference by cell phone.
The demographics of the two organizations are very similar. Membership of both comes predominantly from upper-level management. Though both are headquartered in the US (ACTE in Alexandria and PCMA in Chicago), each claims an important international aspect. Sexton says half the members of PCMA host meetings outside the United States. ACTE claims membership of 6,000 from 82 countries around the world; roughly half are from the US. There is membership overlap in terms of the organizations represented, but it is seldom the same person.
PCMA membership is in the range of 5,500 and going up. It has 16 chapters, whose members are not always members of the national organization. Fourteen of the chapters divide representation for the 50 states, two others share representation for Canada. Membership in the chapters ranges from 151 to more than 1,500; the average is just under 400.
Acknowledging a similarity with airline alliances, leaders of the two organizations said the ACTE-PCMA alliance would preserve each one's independence while offering some economies of scale. Most frequently mentioned was the co-location of large events. The first opportunity for that, according to PCMA's president and CEO, Deborah Sexton, would be her association's January 10-13 meeting in Dallas. But that is not a sure thing. "We're still discussing if there's enough time. The first priority is a quality program and [if] the destination is prepared to handle [increased attendance]. ... We need to come up with plans very quickly," she said, adding that she expects to have plans laid within a month for 2010 and 2011.
Officers from both sides acknowledged the possibility of some staff realignment but offered no details other than a vague expectation that the alliance would serve to "elevate staff." Material subsequently provided mentioned that "there may also be a number of occasions where the expertise of employees can be purchased by alliance partners for special projects or events, creating a revenue stream where none previously existed."
Although both organizations publish periodicals, and PCMA's - recently launched - was mentioned specifically several times, there was no speculation about coordinating the two. The most clearly-viewed synergies, cited numerous times by all six officers involved in the press conference, are in the areas of peer-to-peer education and research.
Although questioned numerous times during the 45-minute conference about any financial terms involved in the alliance, officers of both sides cited nothing more specific than the possibility of revenue-sharing from co-located events. But rumors have circulated about ACTE's financial health and were raised again after the conference, speculating about the likelihood of PCMA lending money to ACTE or guaranteeing payment of its bills. "We certainly don't see an immediate need for either of those actions," replied a PCMA spokesman, "but we will guarantee that any aspect of a joint endeavor bearing the PCMA name will be adequately funded."
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Abacus Launches Branded Fares With Malaysia Airlines' Program
Malaysia Airlines is the first customer for Abacus International's Branded Fares program, which will allow airlines to bundle one-way fares with merchandising and upgrading opportunities into clearly differentiated offerings to fit the needs and preferences specific traveler types. Among the options that can be included: seat location, increased baggage allowance, lounge access and limousine services.
Travel agents in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei will be the first to have access to the packages. Abacus serves more than 15,000 travel agency locations in 25 markets. It is owned by Sabre and a consortium of Asian airlines, including All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, EVA, Garuda, Dragonair, Philippine, Malaysia, Royal Brunei, SilkAir and Singapore airlines.
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ABC Corporate Services Launches EZ Book Online Hotel Booking Engine
ABC Corporate Services has launched EZ Book with ABC, an online hotel booking
engine powered by Hotelzon that will support the diverse needs of various user levels, including travel planners, travel agency managers, agency owners and travelers. The company says EZ Book should prove especially useful to home-based travel agents without access to the global distribution systems (GDS).
The tool is available via a secure portal on the ABC Web site, giving users access to more than 30,000 global properties in 6,500-plus cities, commissionable rates, Premier Perks, Premier Block Space, simple access to customer-driven profiles, continuing user education and flexible reporting.
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Aer Lingus Expands International Routes To 14
Aer Lingus is introducing six new international destinations from Gatwick - Bucharest, Eindhoven, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Warsaw and Vilinus - for the coming winter. Sales began on June 9. Flights to Vilnius begin on September 10; all others begin on October 25.
Aer Lingus' current flights to Dublin, Faro, Knock, Malaga, Munich, Vienna and Zurich will continue through the winter months but those to Nice will cease.
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Air Canada Renegotiates Credit Card Deal, Looking For Other Savings
Air Canada says it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with "one of its principal credit card processors" to reduce the level of unrestricted cash it is required to maintain to $800 million. The agreement is on condition that the airline provides documentation by June 15. In the meantime, says Air Canada's president and CEO, Calin Rovinescu, the airline is in discussion with several potential lenders and is also working to obtain funding moratorium on its pension payments.
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Air New Zealand Reveals Biofuel Test Results, Sees 2013 Usage At 10%
Air New Zealand says its test flights have demonstrated that up to 1.4 tons of fuel can be saved on a 12-hour flight powered by a 50/50 blend of second generation jatropha sustainable biofuel and traditional Jet A1. The tests were made in December, using Rolls-Royce powered Boeing 747-400s. The test fuel still must be submitted to rigorous industry evaluation and approval protocol to enable it to be certified for everyday use.
Results of the test were announced on May 28 at the Eco-Aviation Conference in Washington.
Air New Zealand executives have said that it is the airline's goal to become the world's most environmentally sustainable airline. Noting that the airline currently has "a team looking at several different biofuel options," David Morgan, the airline's general manager and chief pilot, told conference attendees that "We remain committed to our ambition of having 10 percent of our fuel needs by 2013 met by alternative fuels, but appreciate there are many more steps to be taken by experts in other areas to deliver biofuel as a commercial aviation fuel source."
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Aircraft Management Group Adds Instant Quote Service To Site
Aircraft Management Group has redesigned its web site, giving prospective clients instant access to real-time information on fleet availability, estimated trip costs and flight times. Visitors to the site will also be able to verify the company's PASS (Pilot & Aircraft Safety Survey) Ready status, and to follow other development at the charter company on Twitter. Future updates to the web site include a fleet gallery, aircraft profiles and a direct link to Aircraft Management Group, Inc.'s Facebook page.
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AirPlus Survey Chronicles Growth Of Virtual Meetings
Based on an April survey of 192 travel management professionals in North America and Europe, AirPlus International reports that virtual conferencing is increasing as a budget-conscious alternative for corporate travel. Eighty-one percent of the respondents said they were using teleconferencing; 71 percent said they were using web-conferencing.
While more than half the respondents agree that virtual meetings are as effective as meeting in person, 25 percent maintained that it is rarely or almost never as effective.
Airplus, whose traditional market has been payment solutions for business travel purchases, indicates that its interest in virtual meetings stems from a continued need for rich data to prove and quantify those savings. In fact, the company offers free monthly webinars from its Data Lab focused on the value of the AirPlus Information Manager for analysis of corporate travel spend.
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AirTran Adds Flights to Serve Vacationers
AirTran Airways spent two days last week in a busy launch schedule that saw several new nonstop routes from its hub at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, as well as others that will bring travelers to Orlando.
On June 11, the airline launched seasonal service between Atlanta and Portland, ME, and Harrisburg, PA; twice-daily roundtrip service between Atlanta and Atlantic City (NJ) International Airport. Service to Harrisburg will operate through September 8; to Portland through November 3. That same day, AirTran began twice daily roundtrip flights between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee; and three-times-week service - on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays - between Asheville (NC) Regional Airport and Orlando.
The next day, more new flights took off for Orlando: a roundtrip from Atlantic City that will operate on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays, and a flight from Knoxville (TN) McGhee Tyson Airport that will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
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Alaska Airlines, Air Pacific To Codeshare Fiji-to-Vancouver Flights
Fiji-based Air Pacific and Alaska Airlines have established a codeshare agreement for service between Fiji and Vancouver via Los Angeles on Alaska-operated flights. The Air Pacific and Alaska Airlines terminals at LAX are adjoining. The agreement includes seamless handling of through-checked baggage. The full international baggage allowance applies.
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Amadeus Unveils XML Platform; Dollar Thrifty Is Launch Partner
Amadeus has developed a new platform enabling car providers to exchange 100 percent of their messages using OpenTravel Alliance XML technology, which it says make its own data exchange with car rental companies - and that between the rental companies and their customers - easier, more accurate, more timely and with higher data quality.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group is launch partner for the new platform. "We are now able to transmit all our content - rates and availability, plus location list and policy information - through one interface," says Charles A. Coniglio, the company's vice president of e-commerce and global distribution. "In addition, as Amadeus rolls-out new functionalities, we can implement them quickly and easily thanks to the same XML messaging exchange between Amadeus and ourselves."
Amadeus was already distributing content from its car rental partners to offline and online travel agencies using XML. Now, Amadeus's complete distribution chain uses XML protocol.
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American Airlines Goes Cashless On Domestic, Canadian Flights
As of yesterday (June 1), American Airlines has gone cashless on its flights within the continental United States, as well as flights to and from Hawaii, Alaska, and Canada.
Only credit or debit cards are being accepted for in-flight purchases, such as headsets, fresh meals, snacks and alcoholic beverages. Flight attendants use hand-held sales recorders to charge credit and debit cards. Receipts will be provided to passengers upon request.
Cashless cabins will not be implemented onboard American Eagle and AmericanConnection flights — only cash will continue to be accepted onboard those flights, just as it is today.
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American Eagle Linking Santa Fe to Dallas & Los Angeles
American Eagle will begin new daily, roundtrip air service between the Santa Fe Municipal Airport and Los Angeles International on November 19. The airline has already begun service between Santa Fe and Dallas. According to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Dallas and Los Angeles rank one and two among the most-requested connections from Santa Fe. He credited that to both the city's popularity as a cultural center and to the state's popularity as a film location. Last week, there were eight films being shot in New Mexico.
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American Expands Mobile Boarding Passes To Las Vegas, Atlanta, Minneapolis
American Airlines has expanded its mobile-based boarding passes to three more airports: Las Vegas McCarran International (LAS), Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) and Minneapolis-St. Paul International (MSP). The passes, which use a two-dimensional (2-D) barcode, were introduced at the end of 2008 for passengers departing on domestic flights from Chicago's O'Hare International (ORD), Los Angeles International (LAX) and John Wayne Orange County (SNA) airports.
The mobile boarding pass program is being rolled out in partnership with the United
States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) contains a 2-D barcode that can be scanned at TSA security checkpoints and at the airport gate. Customers scan their cell phone or PDA screen when going through Security (proper identification must be presented) and when boarding, just as they would a traditional paper boarding pass. AA customers wishing to check bags can also use the new option by scanning the boarding pass on their cell phone or PDA screen at American's self-service machines, ticket counters, or curbside check-in facilities.
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American Express Buying Back Shares From US Treasury For $3.39B
American Express says it has been notified by the United States Department of the Treasury that it has met all the requirements of the Capital Purchase Program (CPP) and may now repurchase the $3.39 billion in preferred shares issued to the Treasury.
American Express has estimated that the repurchase will have a one-time negative impact of about 18 cents per share in the quarter of the repurchase and be "slightly accretive" to common share earnings in subsequent quarters.
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American Express Buys Back $3.4B In Shares From US Treasury
American Express has repurchased the $3.39 billion of preferred shares that were issued to the United States Department of Treasury as part of the Capital Purchase Program. The price includes complete repayment of the Treasury's initial investment, plus a final pro rata accrued dividend of $15.1 million in addition to the $59.3 million in dividend payments previously received.
American Express says it plans to discuss also repurchasing outstanding warrants that would allow the Treasury to purchase up to 24.3 million shares of its common stock.
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American Express Selling Stock, Eyes Repayment Of Government Loan
American Express has put up a block of its common stock, valued at $500 million, for sale to the public, saying it will use the capital raised for general corporate purposes. That may include, says the company, the partial funding of a repurchase of $3.4 billion of preferred shares issued to the U.S. Treasury as part of the Capital Purchase Program (CPP).
The company announced last month that it was seeking permission to repay the government investment, after receiving a final report from the Federal Reserve that concluded there would be "no capital need" under the more adverse assumptions used by the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program. In accordance with recent additional guidance from the Federal Reserve, the company's equity offering is a precondition to repurchasing the preferred shares issued to the Treasury.
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American Express Unveils 'Travel Office Of The Future' In Cambridge
Though strongly focused on travel's leisure market, the flagship Travel Service Office just opened by American Express in Cambridge, MA, includes a business lounge area that is available for conferences, guest lectures and other functions (including administrative services) for an additional fee. Taken all together, American Express has dubbed to new facility its "Travel Office of The Future." Augmenting the more traditional agency services, the office includes a Cardmember lounge - which offers free Wi-Fi and refreshments - as well as technologies that help customers preview destinations and plan itineraries, and concierge services to help book all aspects of a trip.
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American Express, Maritz Join To Develop End-to-end Meetings System
American Express Business Travel and Maritz Travel have announced a preliminary agreement to launch MaXvantage, a strategic alliance to provide end-to-end strategic meetings management services by providing expense management capabilities, strategic sourcing expertise and "exceptional participant experiences" to corporate meeting, event and incentive travel programs. The alliance is subject to the execution of the final documentation.
No time frame for availability was given in the announcement but American Express says MaXvantage will be offered initially to North American clients. Its capabilities, says the company, will be "under the umbrella of strategic meetings management, which includes centralized sourcing, meeting planning and data analysis and business insight." It will be designed to:
* manage the meetings process, negotiate cost-saving agreements and favorable contract terms and conditions with suppliers, and improve the participant experience by designing and implementing memorable meetings, events and incentive travel programs to ensure maximum return-on-investment.
* develop transparent, company-appropriate spending policies that will enable increased accountability while helping companies consistently apply processes to control costs when planning meetings. MaXvantage will also track, measure and benchmark purchasing behavior to ensure maximum policy effectiveness over time.
* help companies create and execute exciting, engaging and compelling meetings and events that deliver rich, rewarding and valuable experiences for all participants, from customers and prospects to partners and colleagues.
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BTS Asia Facilitating Ancillary Services For Itineraries Into China
BTS Asia Inc., a niche travel management company focused on China, has launched Sericana, a branded service that facilitates online connections between local Chinese travel services and travel planners. This offers the latter potential new revenue streams from buying wholesale then choosing their own pricing; earning commissions for volume; and/or charging a transaction fee. Services can include airport transfers; interpreters; airport meet-and-greet; expedited customs clearance; personal security; and private tarmac shuttle.
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Carey Targets China, Hong Kong, Australia & New Zealand
Carey International Inc. has appointed AVIAREPS to manage its marketing and sales activities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. The agreement will be managed from AVIAREPS offices in Shanghai and Sydney.
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CBP: Trust Us, You Can Come Back Home
Less than a week before the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) went into effect (yesterday, on June 1), US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel were assuring US and Canadian citizens that, if otherwise admissible, they wouldn't have any trouble reentering the United States. "We will be practical and flexible in implementing WHTI using the same informed compliance approach that have proven successful during other major changes at our borders over the last two years," said acting CBP commissioner Jayson P. Ahern on May 27.
US and Canadian citizens who still don't have WHTI-compliant documents will be able to continue their travel plans by using their US or Canadian passports; trusted traveler cards (NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST/EXPRES); a US passport card; or state or provincial enhanced driver's licenses (when and where available). But they're being encouraged to obtain WHTI travel documents as soon as possible.
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CDC Says Little Has Changed But US Does Have Flu Hot Spots
In a teleconference on June 11, representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasized that the World Health Organization's declaration of a Phase 6 pandemic alert is not an indication that the virus has changed its behavior pattern or is more severe than first thought. "For all intents and purposes," said Dr. Tom Frieden (who has just assumed the role of director of the CDC after being the health commissioner for New York City), "the US government has been in phase 6 of the pandemic for some time now." Instead, the declaration is a "strong message that the virus is here, it's in all likelihood here to stay, and it's important that we continue our aggressive efforts to prepare and respond."
The virus has reached every state in the US, according to the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat: "Many of the states are seeing decreases in illness but there are a couple of areas where influenza-like illness is still above the baseline for this time of year." Last week, regions 1 (New England) and 2 (New York/New Jersey) were still seeing increases above expectations although cases in the latter area appeared to be plateauing.
"Fifty-seven percent of the cases that we're having reported to us occur in people 5 to 24 years of age, and 41 percent of the hospitalizations are in that same age group -- the older children and young adults," said Schuchat, adding that "the highest rates of hospitalization are actually in children under 5, and the next highest rates are in those people 5 to 24. ... 71 percent of the hospitalized patients (in the US) have occurred in people who have an underlying condition -- respiratory illness like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immune deficiencies ... there's been a disproportionate amount of pregnant women among those who have had infection."
Personal steps that must be taken by individuals includes covering coughs and sneezes, staying home when ill, not traveling when ill, and being prepared for increased incidence of illness in local communities and schools. Anyone who has a fever over 100, along with either cough or sore throat and an underlying pre-condition (asthma, diabetes, pregnancy, or under the age of 2), should immediately consult a doctor about the possible need to be treated for influenza with antiviral medication, advised Frieden.
Although the virus may "cause very different patterns in different countries," said Schuchat, "we're not restricting travel to particular countries." However, the CDC is currently intensely focused on the southern hemisphere, where the flu season is just beginning, she added. "We also have deployed staff to selected countries in the southern hemisphere to get a little more of the ground truth. We are hearing reports officially from several southern hemisphere countries about increases in disease ... Australia's going into their flu season. They've reported a lot of cases so far. Chile has also reported a lot of cases."
At this point the US government has launched an effort to develop a vaccine against this flu strain, reported Schuchat, "and we are in the early stages of manufacturing." But there has not been a decision to actually vaccinate people, she continued, explaining "that's a very separate decision that will be made ... quite a bit later once we have more information."
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Chapman Freeborn Opens Air Charter Office In Turin
Chapman Freeborn Airchartering has officially reopened its operations in Italy, establishing a new office in Turin to provide cargo and passenger charter service in Italy and across Southern Europe. Chapman Freeborn has 32 offices in 22 countries across five continents. It coordinated more than 5,000 charters last year.
Passenger charter operations will be overseen by Anna Pizzagalli, who has been with the company for more than five years.
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China Southern Adds Outbound Ticketing, Payment Options To Web Site
China Southern Airlines has extended its relationship with Amadeus to the distribution company's e-Retail solution so that travelers in China are now able to book tickets to the airline's global destinations via its web site. Amadeus has powered China Southern's inbound bookings since 2006.
With the e-Retail solution platform, customers of China Southern Airlines can book all international flights on its web site, including code-sharing flights originating from Sky Team and its other 10 members. Chinese customers can now also make payments via debit cards. The functionality to process other international payment cards will be added in the coming months.
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Continental Says Biofuel Test Showed Increased Efficiency, Cut Emissions
Continental Airlines says its January 7 biofuel demonstration flight testing a 50-50 blend of traditional jet fuel and derivatives of algae and jatropha successfully performed a number of flight maneuvers. The biofuel blend displayed an approximate 1.1 percent increase in fuel efficiency and 60 percent to 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as compared to traditional jet fuel.
The tests were made in partnership with Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM International, and Honeywell's UOP.
During the flight, which last about 90 minutes, Continental test pilots successfully engaged the aircraft (equipped with CFM International CFM56-7B engines) in a number of flight maneuvers, such as mid-flight engine shutdown and re-start, and power accelerations and decelerations. The aircraft's No. 2 engine operated with the biofuel blend; the No. 1 engine operated on 100 percent traditional jet fuel, allowing Continental to compare performance between the two fuels.
No modifications were necessary to the aircraft or engine for the tests. The Boeing 737-800 used in the flight was inspected and returned to regular revenue service the next day.
According to Leah Raney, Continental's managing director of global environmental affairs, the airline will continue to work with its partners as biofuels go through the certification process: "We hope to see these fuels produced in commercial quantities in the near future."
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CWT Wins Renewed FedRooms Contract With GSA
The U.S. General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service again awarded its FedRooms contract to Carlson Wagonlit Travel. CWT has supported FedRooms since its creation in 2004. Last year, by leveraging the federal government's buying power, the program delivered rates that were an estimated 40 percent below corporate rates.
FedRooms now offers federal travelers low-cost accommodations at more than 7,000 hotels in prime locations. The number has grown at an annual average of 40 percent since its launch.
In 2008, FedRooms' rates for the largest U.S. cities were 31 percent below the Business Travel News' corporate rates.
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Deals For Meeting Planners
Gaylord Hotels has secured prominent placement on the Cvent Supplier Network for several of its properties to promote its new Total Meeting Pricing package. The program bundles key services with an inclusive meeting package that covers ancillary costs such as audio/visual, IT, meeting space and rigging. Plus, meeting planners inquiring about the Total Meeting Pricing program through the Cvent Supplier Network will receive Gaylord Hotels' best available rates and flexible food & beverage options.
Kimpton's EPIC Hotelin Miami is fielding a revamped Pick-Your-Perks program in which all groups receive 20 percent off the best available rate and choice of one of the following: up to 15 percent off the master account folio charges, 2-hour complimentary boat cruise from the hotel's private marina, or 10 percent off published menu prices. In addition, planners may select two from a list of options that includes: 50 percent off meeting room rental; 20 percent off audio/visual equipment; two VIP guestroom upgrades; welcome amenities for up to five VIP guests; and the option to re-book another meeting with 25 percent off the best available rate.
SouthWood Golf Club in Tallahassee has announced a corporate package for small and medium-sized groups, coupling cottage accommodations, meeting space and complimentary green fees for 12 or more at a two-night weekday rate of $249 per cottage. Meeting space in the historic SouthWood House manor includes high speed wireless internet, basic audio/visual equipment and spaces for group discussions, presentations or break-out sessions. Catered meals from the club house are available upon request.
The National Conference Center in Leesburg, VA, is offering free Internet access for groups booking meetings through 2010. The facility offers "unparalleled bandwidth capabilities" as part of its training package.
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Delta Fields Miles-earning Debit Card For Small & Mid-sized Businesses
Delta Air Lines and SunTrust Banks have launched three versions of the SunTrust SkyMiles Check Card, one of which gives small- to medium-sized businesses the ability to earn one Delta mile for every $1 purchase. Annual fee for the business debit cards is $55; there is no mileage-earning cap.
The cards are available in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, and Washington, DC.
The other two versions of the check card are for consumers.
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Delta Makes More Cuts In International Service
Citing the effects of global recession and the resurgence of oil prices, Delta Air Lines says it will reduce its system capacity by 10 percent compared to 2008, beginning in September. Nonstop service targeted for suspension includes flights from Atlanta to Seoul and Shanghai; from Cincinnati to Frankfurt and London-Gatwick; and between New York-JFK and Edinburgh. The airline will also reduce weekly frequencies connecting Atlanta and Detroit to Mexico City; and postpone planned seasonal service between non-hub cities and Mexican beach destinations.
Customers ticketed for Seoul and Shanghai will be routed over Detroit or Tokyo, or on nonstop SkyTeam partner flights. Cincinnati customers will be able to reach Frankfurt and London via other European gateways.
Despite the reductions, Delta says its international capacity this fall will still be more than 20 percent larger than it was before 2005, and point out that more than 20 new markets are being added to its international network in 2009, including Los Angeles-Sydney; Salt Lake City-Tokyo; Detroit-Shanghai; New York-Prague; Pittsburgh-Paris; and Atlanta-Johannesburg.
While acknowledging that the capacity cuts could affect staffing needs, the airline described no specific layoff plan.
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Dollar Thrifty's Risk From Chrysler Bankruptcy Drops 'Significantly'
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. says its credit exposure to Chrysler LLC has "declined significantly" due to payments received since the commencement of the car manufacturer's bankruptcy proceeding and asset sale. Dollar Thrifty's primary credit exposure to Chrysler relates to residual value guarantees on vehicles in its rental fleet, as well as on those that had previously been returned to auction. Under terms of its bankruptcy agreement, Chrysler Group has agreed to assume liabilities under residual value guarantees and rebate bonuses offered to fleet customers.
Based on that assumption of liability, Dollar Thrifty says that it "believes that its primary exposure will be fully honored and settled in the ordinary course of business." As of June 10, that exposure included $6.4 million in trade receivables under incentive and vehicle repurchase programs; $250,000 for about 40 vehicles that have been returned to auction but not yet sold; and $23 million for residual value guarantees on approximately 3,600 program vehicles currently in its rental fleet. (These vehicles are subject to return to auction in the third and fourth quarters of 2009.) All valuations are approximations.
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Egencia Integrates Travel Into New Meetings & Incentives Division
Reward Worldwide, a meetings and incentives agency acquired by Egencia in June 2008 in conjunction with its purchase of Synergi Global Travel Management, is being rebranded as Egencia Meetings & Incentives. The new company offers an integrated global solution for meetings policy and reporting, combining online registration, attendee management, and travel booking and reporting. The combination "brings together our highly-experienced meeting managers with market-leading technology in a single solution," says Pam Keenan Fritz, senior vice president of Egencia North America.
Attributes of the new company include:
* Expert support for clients' meeting needs, whether for small meetings, large and complex corporate events or creative incentive trips. Egencia's in-house negotiation team is also available to drive flexible and cost-effective contracts.
*Consolidated management for meetings and corporate travel into a single tool, helping identify savings opportunities. Clients can leverage Egencia preferred supplier relationships to attain deeper savings and bypass reservation fees levied by outside agencies.
*A consolidated reporting platform with insight into online and offline bookings and real-time visibility into meetings and corporate spend. Clients of Egencia's travel management service also get quarterly reviews combining corporate travel and meetings spend.
The company also points out that combining the travel and meeting management functions reduces complexity and the chance of errors; drives online adoption; and saves travelers the need to enter their preferences twice.
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Elite Aviation Linking Abu Dhabi to Dusseldorf & Berlin
Elite Aviation, will launch services between Abu Dhabi and Dusseldorf and Berlin on June 15. The services will be operated by the German carrier Blue Wings. It is Elite's first commercial flight with Blue Wings. The flights will leave Abu Dhabi bound for Dusseldorf three times per week ; for Berlin, twice weekly. Currently no other airline operates services between the two German cities and Abu Dhabi.
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Embassy Suites Survey Quantifies Changes In Business Travel
Fifty-one percent of the 500 business travelers responding to an Embassy Suites survey say they are traveling less for business these days, but the travel itself hasn't been bad. In fact, 78 percent say it's been enjoyable. Most important to their happiness: having a room to themselves (85 percent - although 11 percent say they now share rooms with colleagues); the value of the hotel accommodations relative to price (79 percent); and having a direct flight (68 percent). Flying in first class and staying in a five-star hotel ranked far back in their satisfaction criteria, 16 percent and 32 percent respectively.
All the survey respondents take at least one business trip annually "in an average year," according to the Embassy Suites report. Most (76 percent) go on no more than five; but 12 percent are accustomed to traveling on business more than 10 times a year.
The way they travel has changed in many ways:
26 percent only fly coach.
27 percent only book at preferred hotels.
24 percent have cut back on meal and other incidental expenses.
29 percent are teleconferencing instead of traveling to meetings.
Twenty-seven percent say they haven't changed the way they travel for business.
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Emirates Accelerates Delivery Of A380 For Paris Route
An Emirates A380 super-jumbo will begin serving Paris on February 1, 2010. The French capital is the latest destination to be added to the growing list of gateways served by the airline's double-decker. Plans to introduce the aircraft at Charles deGaulle airport have been accelerated by almost a year because of "encouraging sales," according to Tim Clark, the airline's president.
The superjumbo's First Class cabin features leather seating, shower spas, a lounge (serving a wide range of beverages and canapés) for First and Business class passengers, and an additional lounge area located at the front of First Class. A380 passengers will be offered an elaborate menu, access to and in-flight entertainment system, and an advanced mood lighting system that simulates a starlit sky, which adjusts throughout the flight to reflect the time at the destination and to help combat the effects of jet lag.
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Emirates, Citing Medical Tourism, Says It Will Expand Service To India
Emirates airline has announced a further expansion of its India operation, adding 22 weekly flights to its existing 163 flights per week to 10 Indian gateways. High demand routes - Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram - will be the chief beneficiaries. Emirates is witnessing a surge in Middle East travelers seeking medical tourism options in India, according to Majid Al Mualla, the airline's senior vice president for commercial operations in west Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
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Executive Jet Management Taps Wyvern For Safety Check On Charters
Executive Jet Management (EJM) has named Wyvern as the provider of operator, aircraft and pilot safety data for its preferred vendor network. The data collected, maintained and analyzed by Wyvern will be used by EJM to assist in selecting and evaluating air charter vendors, aircraft and crew when they charter with third-party vendors.
Each evening, Wyvern's Aviation Safety Intelligence platform queries an array of federal and other publicly available data sources for updated information. Data not available through such sources is obtained directly from charter operators and monitored on a regular basis.
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Extended Stay Hotels Remain Open Under Chapter 11
The Chapter 11 filing by Extended Stay Inc. (ESI) should have no impact on operations of the hotel chain, according to HVM L.L.C., a separately owned company which manages the 684 hotels. There are no plans to either close or sell any of the hotels, according to Gary DeLapp, president of HVM; he expects that hotel employees - approximately 15 at each location - and HVM's corporate staff, as well as vendors to the hotels, to be paid as usual.
ESI is owned by the Lightstone Group, headed by David Lichtenstein, who bought it in 2007 from the Blackstone Group. Lichtenstein paid $7.4 billion, funded by loans that were to be repaid by earnings from the hotels.
Extended Stay has petitioned the Court for immediate use of cash collateral from continuing operations, in lieu of debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing. "Our end of the business - hotel operations and administration - remains strong on an operating basis. Because we generate significant positive cash flow, ESI does not need DIP financing to meet its operating obligations," DeLapp said.
The Spartanburg, S.C.-based company's brands include Extended Stay Deluxe, Extended Stay America Efficiency Studios, Homestead Studio Suites, StudioPLUS Deluxe Studios and Crossland Economy Studios in the US and Canada.
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Fairmont Hotels Expands Canine Companion Staff
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is expanding "Canine Ambassadors," its resident dog service for pet-lovers, with the addition of Sonny, a yellow Labrador retriever, taking up residence at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, and of Gracie, a golden Labrador at the Fairmont Tremblant.
Other Fairmont hotels, and their canine ambassadors are The Fairmont Copley Plaza Boston and Catie; Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac and Santo; and The Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver and Holly. Two hotels have two canine ambassadors instead of one; The Fairmont Acapulco Princess, with Chunki and Kimi; and the Fairmont Vancouver, with Mavis and Beau.
Two Golden Retriever Concierges have also taken up greeting and walking duties at The Fairmont Acapulco Princess in Mexico. After spending months in a specialized training program, Chunki and Kimi are on hand to play, greet and guide guests around the hotel and even relish the opportunity to be accompanied by other guest's pets.
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Frontier Returning To Tulsa
Frontier Airlines will begin twice-daily nonstop service to Tulsa International Airport (TUL) from its Denver hub on August 2. Frontier's wholly-owned subsidiary Lynx Aviation will provide service for the route.
This is the first new city added to the Frontier network in 2009. The airline originally began service to Tulsa in May 2005 before leaving as part of a network-wide capacity reduction in 2008.
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Frontier, Midwest To Codeshare As Each Awaits OK For Republic Buyout
Frontier Airlines has reached a codeshare agreement with Midwest Airlines that will extend both companies' networks when it goes into effect late this summer. In the meantime, both airlines are awaiting various government approvals for separate deals to be acquired by Republic Airways Holdings.
The terms of the Frontier-Midwest agreement, Frontier will sell tickets under its own code, offering additional destinations currently served by Midwest from its Milwaukee hub. Midwest customers will connect to Frontier and Lynx Aviation flights in Denver. More details of the program, along with specific cities that will be available through the codeshare, will be announced at a later date.
Frontier, currently operating under Chapter 11 protection, announced a week ago that it had reached an investment agreement with Republic, in which Republic will serve as equity sponsor for Frontier's plan of reorganization and purchase 100 percent of the equity in the reorganized company for $108.75 million. The plan is subject to bankruptcy court approval and various conditions. If approved as proposed, Frontier would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Republic when it emerges from Chapter 11. The plan also applies to Frontier's Lynx Aviation subsidiary; both would maintain their current names and continue to operate as usual.
Midwest's deal with Republic is similar. The Milwaukee-based airline also will retain its brand name by becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic. Its Boeing 717s will be replaced with Embraer 190s, so it will be able to offer nonstop service to key destinations.
Republic Airways Holdings' deal with TPG Capital of Fort Worth to purchase Midwest has been priced at $31 million - $6 million in cash and $25 million in a five-year note. Its purchase price for the post-Chapter 11 Frontier has been priced at $108.75 million.
Republic, based in Indianapolis, already owns Chautauqua Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. Together the three currently employ approximately 4,500 aviation professionals and operate 212 regional jets, offering scheduled passenger service on approximately 1,200 flights daily to 101 cities in 37 states, Canada and Mexico through airline services agreements with seven US airlines. All of the airlines' flights are operated under their airline partner brand, such as AmericanConnection, Continental Express, Delta Connection, United Express, Midwest Connect, Mokulele Airlines and US Airways Express.
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Frontier, Still In Chapter 11, Reports Net Profits For April
Frontier Airlines Holdings has reported a net profit in April of $2.4 million and its sixth consecutive monthly operating profit after a year of restructuring and cost reduction, including filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Frontier's president and CEO, Sean Menke, credited AirFairs, the company's three-level fare offering, and the generation of ancillary fees for the increase in total unit revenue.
Operational results for the month of April included a 16.1 percent year-over-year mainline capacity reduction; revenue per passenger mile at 8.51 cents, down 2.1 percent from the previous year; and total unit revenue of 9.30 cents, down 1.3 percent from April 2008.
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GlobalStar Adds Partners In Europe & Asia
GlobalStar Travel Management has added four new partners to its network: Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia are represented by Business Travel Unlimited (BTU). Halcon Viajes (part of Globalia Group) is GlobalStar's new partner for Spain. FlyAway Travel joined as the partner for Poland, Zenith Travel Services became the representative for Nepal.
Announcement of the additions were made by GlobalStar chairman Peter Klebanow at the group's annual conference, in Macau in May. Next year's conference will be held in Brazil and hosted by GlobalStar Latin America.
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Hilton Negotiates High Visibility On Cvent RFP Network
Cvent has formed a strategic partnership with Hilton Hotels Corporation guaranteeing the hotel company enhanced search placement on the Cvent Supplier Network. Hilton properties will be highly visible to meeting planners who use Cvent to send group business electronic RFPs. Hilton will be positioned to capture immediate group business leads since 89 percent of the Cvent electronic RFPs are for meetings and events occurring within the next 12 months.
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Hospitality Management Holdings Selects Trust Int'l CRS/CRM Tools
Dubai-based hotel group Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH) has selected
Trust International's central reservation services, Voyager|CRS, and integrated customer relationship management tools, Discovery|CRM, to handle all aspects of its hotels' distribution, reservation and channel management needs. HMH comprises four distinct hotel brands: Coral Hotels & Resorts, Corp Executive Hotels, EWA Hotel Apartments and ECOS Hotels.
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Hospitality News
Chicago: Accor North America has completed renovations on several properties in the Chicago area, Arlington Heights; West-Villa Park; North-Glenview; Elk Grove; Northwest-Palatine; Southwest-Aurora; and Joliet. Each of the renovated properties features elements of the new "Phoenix" prototype design, which includes a modernized interior, sleek European boutique-style guestroom, wood-effect laminate flooring, and a variety of energy management systems.
Chicago: The Courtyard Chicago Elmhurst/Oakbrook has completed renovations - including a host of high-tech upgrades for businesses seeking a conference venue in Chicago. Available technologies include free hotel-wide high speed wireless internet access and the Marriott's proprietary E-Interface, a "one-stop shop" for local information including mapping tools, up-to-the-minute weather data, and dining and leisure options, as well as a host of national news feeds. The Courtyard features a 75-person conference room, plus all the business amenities needed for a successful, stress-free meeting,
Cutler Bay, FL: Accor North America has opened a new corporately-owned Motel 6 here at on Caribbean Boulevard in Miami-Dade County, near the Florida turnpike. The 150-room property was formerly a Best Western.
Dallas:The Residence Inn by Marriott Dallas Park Central has completed a full-scale $2.3 million property renovation that encompasses all areas of the hotel including guest suites, meeting rooms and public areas. All 139 newly-renovated suites offer the latest Marriott bedding with plush mattress and high quality triple sheeting, new carpeting and granite countertops in the kitchen and bathroom. The upgrade also includes in-suite enhancements such as high-definition, flat-screen LCD television and complimentary wireless Internet access.
Paris:The five-star Hotel Banke, the latest property in the Derby Hotels Collection, has opened in Paris. The hotel occupies a 20th-century building designed by Paul Friesse and Cassien Bernard that once housed the HSBC Bank. Teller windows, lobby and loan offices have been replaced by an art gallery, opulent lobby lounge and 93 luxurious guest rooms.
Penn Square, PA: Interstate Hotels & Resorts has opened the 299-room, full-service integrated Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square and Lancaster County Convention Center, comprising a combined 90,000 square feet of meeting space. The $177-million hotel and convention center project is a joint venture of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster, Lancaster County Convention Center Authority and private developer Penn Square Partners. Interstate operates both parts of the integrated facility. The 19-story Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square incorporates the 19th-century Beaux Arts façade of the landmark Watt & Shand department store, featuring a lobby highlighted by cathedral ceilings and mahogany paneling. The integrated facility features a spacious 46,500-square-foot exhibition space; a 9,000 square-foot ballroom; and numerous smaller, finely appointed meeting spaces. Wireless connectivity is available throughout the facility.
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Hospitality News
Frederick, MD: Accor North America has announced the opening of a new corporately-owned Motel 6 here near US Highway 40. The 158-room property was formerly a Quality Inn.
Moscow: Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has signed an agreement with China Huaming International Investment Corporation (CHMIIC) to manage a hotel in Moscow, which will be the group's first property in Russia. Set to open in 2012, the 400-room hotel will occupy the top floors of a 42-story tower in the Park Huaming Business Centre - a new major multi-purpose development in the northeast of the city, next to the Botanical Gardens on Vilgelma Pika Street, about 6 miles from Red Square and 15 miles.
Moscow:The InterContinental Moscow Tverskaya is scheduled for completion in September 2010. The opening will mark the return of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts to Moscow; the company previously operated a hotel in the Russian
capital city. Situated in a prime location on the site of the former Minsk Hotel, the new-build 203-room hotel will form the centerpiece of a new development incorporating luxury retail outlets and state-of-the-art offices in the heart of the main business and shopping district and within close reach of the Kremlin, City Hall and Pushkin Square.
San Antonio: The Watermark Hotel & Spa will be represented by the "OM" GDS code for Omni Hotels, effective July 1, signifying its departure from the Preferred Hotel Group and new association with Omni. Situated on the famed River Walk in downtown San Antonio, The Watermark offers 98 guest rooms, most with sweeping views of the Paseo del Rio, River Walk and myriad festivals and celebrations hosted there annually.
Shanghai: InterContinental Hotels Group's first Hotel Indigo(r) in Asia Pacific - Hotel Indigo Shanghai on the Bund - will bring together the past, present and future of Shanghai in a design by award-winning HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates. The 180-room hotel is scheduled to welcome its first customers in 2010.
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Hospitality News
A word to the wise: pay attention to Steve Rushmore, president of HVS International. He called it pretty precisely four years ago when he predicted that the hotel industry would go into a downward cycle in 2009 or a little sooner "if we go into a recession." Then he cautioned against overbuilding.
Hoteliers listened. And the recession arrived. His observation now: "When the recession ends and travel resumes, occupancies will rebound quickly since there isn't an oversupply of rooms that needs to be absorbed." Rushmore's advice is really for investors: don't wait - start looking for hot buys now. He's pointing out to them that when travel began to revive in 2004 from the shock of 9/11, the situation was similar - no oversupply, plenty of pent-up demand - and recovery that was "rapid and strong."
There's time for investors to exercise good due diligence, and for corporate travel departments to negotiate advantageous contracts. "As of today," he writes in the April 5 issue of "Lodging Hospitality" magazine, "hotel values have already fallen about 20 percent with 2009 shaping up to be a disastrous year with a 25 percent decline expected. The outlook for 2010 looks like another down year, with a decline of nearly 10 percent. In all, values will probably decline 40 to 50 percent before recovery starts. Like the 2004 recovery, hotel values will rise rapidly and be back at pre-recession values by 2014."
Bear in mind that Rushmore's scenario is focused on the value of hotels, with demand as a leading indicator. So when he talks about this year's expected 25 percent decline in value, followed by a 10 percent decline in 2010, he's also describing a decelerating drop in demand over the next 18 months. Somewhere in there, depending on the local market you're looking at and regardless of whether you're an investor or a corporate purchasing agent, is the time to nail down a good deal.
Chicago: A $26 million first mortgage financing has been arranged for the 521-room Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza Hotel. Proceeds are being used to retire the existing debt and fund a portion of the hotel's nearly-completed $24 million comprehensive renovation. The Holiday Inn is situated on floors 14 through 23 of the Chicago Apparel Center, adjacent to the Merchandise Mart. Among its full-service offerings, the hotel includes two food and beverage facilities, 20,500 square feet of meeting space, 200 on-site parking spaces, a business center, and fitness facility. Refinancing was arranged by HVS; the hotel is being managed by Hostmark Hospitality Group.
New York City: Grand Hyatt New York's Empire Ballroom will undergo a $12 million transformation beginning this July. Scheduled for completion in September 2009, the renovation includes all 18,000 square feet of space on the hotel's ballroom including the luxurious foyer and pre-function space. The Empire Ballroom can host events from 100-1700 people.
PORTLAND, OR: The Courtyard by Marriott - Portland City Center has opened in the former Toronto National Building of the city's downtown urban core. Developed by Sage Hospitality and designed by noted Portland architects SERA, the hotel is expected to receive LEED Gold certification, which would make it the first Courtyard in the country to receive such recognition. The 256-room hotel features 5,310 square feet of flexible meeting and event space, including the Sequoia Ballroom, plus a Business Library with computers, docking stations and printers, and a state-of-the-art fitness facility. Conveniently located on the new Green Max Line (coming September 2009), the hotel will also provide easy access to the Oregon Convention Center and Portland International Airport.
Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec: InterContinental Hotels Group has broken ground for the new Holiday Inn Express(r) and Suites Saint-Hyacinthe, which it expects will be the first hotel in Quebec built to meet LEED certification standards. The 94-room hotel will feature hybrid parking lots and showers for employees who cycle to work.
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Hospitality News
Chicago: The InterContinental Chicago O'Hare Hotel, which opened nine months ago, has announced the completion of its meeting space expansion with the addition of the Artists Wing, a de facto gallery that features an energy-efficient "green roof" as well as increasing the hotel's existing meeting and event space from 28,000 to 53,000 square feet. Hanging sculptures act as lighting fixtures in the Artists Wing, designed in harmony with the 1,600 works of art displayed (and for sale) throughout the existing hotel space.
Fort Lauderdale: W Hotels Worldwide has opened its 30th property worldwide, W Fort Lauderdale and The Residences at W Fort Lauderdale, marked by twin 23-story towers. W Fort Lauderdale features 517 stylish guestrooms and residences, all with state-of-the-art entertainment options, including flat-screen LCD TV and docking station for MP3 players. In addition to restaurants and a fitness facility, the hotel offers a business center and nearly 18,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space, including The Great Room, which can accommodate more than 400 guests.
Houston: The $12 million Staybridge Suites Houston-Clear Lake has opened in the city's suburbs, near Lockheed Martin and the NASA Johnson Space Center. The hotel offers the brand's "Just Like Home Theater," situated in the common area and complete with a 52-inch plasma HDTV, surround-sound and comfortable, overstuffed chairs; saltwater pool; outdoor putting green; and outdoor living room with bar counter, outdoor HDTV and spacious courtyard.
Staybridge Suites Houston-Clear Lake is one of four Staybridge properties already in the Houston area; eight more are in the pipeline.
Paris: The iconic Hôtel Le Bristol will unveil a new seven-story 26-room wing, adjacent to the current structure, in September. The wing will maintain the hotel's original early 1900's interior design and architecture, including a freestone façade on the outside and the use of delicate fabrics and vintage furnishings on the inside. But the rooms will also boast contemporary colors, affording a twist of modernity throughout. The sixth floor suite will include a dining room and private kitchen; the seventh, a penthouse suite with panoramic vistas of the city.
Toronto: Intercontinental Hotel Group's Indigo brand continues its Canadian rollout with the opening of the Hotel Indigo Toronto Airport. The 120-room hotel is located minutes from the Toronto Pearson International Airport as well as several major corporate offices, including Air Canada, Colgate-Palmolive, Boeing Toronto Ltd. and Hewlett-Packard. It is 15 minutes from the heart of downtown Toronto, home to an array of entertainment from restaurants and concert venues to art galleries, museums and performing art centers. Additionally, the hotel has almost 2,000 square feet of meeting space for business functions and special events, a 24-hour business center. It is owned by 1542543 Ontario Inc., and managed by Sunny Hospitality under a license agreement with IHG.
Washington, DC: Renovations at The Jefferson, four blocks from the White House, will be unveiled in August. A 99-room Beaux Arts building has an illustrious history; first opening in 1923 as a luxury residential building for Washington's diplomatic and social circles. It was converted into a hotel in 1955, acquired by DC CAP Hotelier in 2005, and closed for renovations on March 1, 2007. The hotel lobby will feature memorabilia of Thomas Jefferson; reminders of his life have influenced much of the hotel's decor.
Worcester, MA: The Beechwood Hotel, a luxury boutique hotel here, will adopt Carino Hotels and Resorts Worldwide's new GDS code "UN.
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Hospitality News
The U.S. hotel industry posted declines in all three key performance measurements during the week of May 31-June 6, according to data from Smith Travel Research. In year-over-year measurements, the industry's occupancy fell 13.9 percent to end the week at 56.6 percent; average daily rate dropped 10.5 percent to finish the week at $95.90; and revenue per available room decreased 22.9 percent to finish at $54.24.
Among the top 25 markets, Oahu Island, Hawaii, was the only market to avoid an occupancy decrease for the week, posting essentially flat growth of 0.5 percent to 71.4 percent. Nashville reported the largest occupancy decrease, down 31.1 percent to 51.6 percent. Minneapolis-St. Paul also reported an occupancy decrease of more than 25 percent, falling 28.1 percent to 54.4 percent.
New Orleans reported the largest increase in ADR, which was up 18.1 percent to $134.44. Orlando also reported an ADR increase, rising 2.5 percent to $104.98. New York reported the largest decrease in ADR, down 33.7 percent to $201.20. Two other markets reported ADR decreases of more than 20 percent: San Francisco/San Mateo, down 27.6 percent to $123.26; and San Diego, down 20.7 percent to $116.83.
New Orleans was the only top 25 market to report a RevPAR increase, rising 5.4 percent to $78.72. Nashville reported the largest decrease in RevPAR, which dropped 42.9 percent to $45.48. Eight other markets reported RevPAR decreases of more than 30 percent: New York, down 41.7 percent to $155.59; San Diego, down 39.2 percent to $69.86; Minneapolis-St. Paul, down 38.2 percent to $49.22; San Francisco/San Mateo, down 36.5 percent to $85.90; Denver, down 32.7 percent to $52.68; Phoenix, down 32.2 percent to $34.60); Houston, down 30.9 percent to $49.34; and Chicago, down 30.6 percent to $74.84.
Boston: The Crowne Plaza Boston-Newton has opened after extensive renovations and a conversion from a Sheraton hotel. Renovations include change to the carpets, wallpaper, windows and furniture. The 270-room hotel is four minutes outside Boston and eight minutes from Logan International Airport. It has five spacious meeting rooms with 7,000 square feet of flexible, upscale meeting space, including a 4,000 square foot ballroom with a scenic view of the Boston skyline. The property is owned and managed by Bowden Hospitality Newton, LLC.
Dallas: When meetings hotel NYLO Dallas/Las Colinas opens in late July, it will run on 100 percent renewable energy under an agreement with TXU Energy. NYLO Dallas is the first hotel customer in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to purchase 100 percent Renewable Energy Certificate-based electricity. It is the brand's third green hotel and largest to date, housing 200 rooms and 7,000 square feet of meeting space.
Gillette, WY: The new 80-room Country Inn & Suites By Carlson(r) Gillette today announced it is open for business at 2597 S. Douglas Highway, less than eight miles from Campbell County Airport.
London: The Lanesborough (a St. Regis Hotel) has introduced complimentary use of Sony VAIO(r) Laptops in all guestrooms. The hotel is the first in London to offer this amenity; others charge as much as Ł200 for laptop rentals.
Nashville: The new Holiday Inn Express Nashville-Opryland has opened directly across the street from the entrance to the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center and 15 minutes from downtown Nashville. The property is the fifth to open in the Nashville area with the brand's new sign
Norfolk, VA: The new 67-room Country Inn & Suites By Carlson(r) Norfolk Airport South has opened for business. The hotel is three miles from Norfolk International Airport and provides complimentary hotel shuttle to and from the airport. It is also close to Norfolk Naval Station and on the border of the City of Norfolk and the City of Virginia Beach.
Orlando: Loews Portofiono Bay Hotel is refurbishing its meeting space through end of July. Work will include re-painting of all ballrooms & foyers; air wall fabric replacement; new carpet and thresholds. None of the work will disrupt existing meetings and events.
Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt: Malta-based CHI Hotels & Resorts will open its newly-built 351-room Tiran Hotel as part of the Corinthia Beach Resort Sharm el Sheikh on July 1. The hotel features 351 rooms and suites, an amphitheatre, a business centre, and a conference hall with adjoining syndicate rooms. The property is owned by Mr. Abdulhafiz Ali Mansouri's Cyrene Tourism Investment Corporation of Egypt.
Shenzhen, China: The 411-room JW Marriott Shenzhen luxury hotel has opened in the Shenzhen's Special Economic Zone. Meeting space includes a 600-square-meter grand ballroom, four meeting rooms, ranging from 52 to 89 square meters, and a 58-square-meter board room.
Washington, DC: Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square is offering a courtesy chauffeured Towncar transportation to morning appointments; complimentary long-term storage of personal belongs and in-room adaptors to fit personal electronics. The new benefits are a continuation of
Sofitel's belief in sharing its French art de vivre with its valued clientele. When guests alert Sofitel to the brand and reference of all their electronic devices prior to their visit, Sofitel will provide all the necessary equipment in the room by the time the guest arrives.
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HRG Adds Raleigh's TMP To North American Program
Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) has added Travel Management Partners (TMP), based in Raleigh, NC, to its North America Affiliates Program. A privately owned company that began operations in June of 1994, TMP operates in 40 states with sales in excess of $300 million. It joins existing Affiliate Program members: Austin Travel of Melville, NY; Avia International Travel of Houston; Casto Travel of Santa Clara, CA; Global Crew Logistics headquartered in Miami Beach and Directravel of New Jersey.
Each member of the Affiliates Program counts corporate travel management as a core competency; all have experience in the global arena.
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iFly Puts Airport Information On iPhone
iFly.com, a travel portal that combines trip planning, purchase and monitoring, has launched two iPhone applications: iFly Airport Guide, which provides detailed information about terminal services and amenities; and iFly Pro, which adds a flight tracking capability as well as map-based information about gate locations and baggage claim. More than 350 commercial airports are profiled.
iFly.com is owned and managed by Red Cirrus LLC, based in Los Altos, CA.
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JAL Cuts More Frequencies From International Routes
The JAL Group says it will reduce frequency of weekly flights from Tokyo to Seoul and New Delhi, as well as from Osaka to Seoul and Shanghai from July 1 to the end of October 2009. It will maintain the reduced flight frequency on routes to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei; those routes were originally reduced for the period of March to June 2009.
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JAL Expands Codeshare With Air France
Japan Airlines (JAL) will expand its code share network with Air France (AF) to include the latter's Paris-to-Istanbul service, effective July 7. JAL already connects to 11 other destinations in Europe via Paris. JAL and Air France first started code sharing in 1960 and at present, the agreement includes code share flights from Tokyo (Narita) and Osaka (Kansai) to Paris. The other existing code share flights connect Paris to Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Lyon, Munich, Nice, Prague, Stockholm and Warsaw.
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Jet Airways Economy Service Grows To 100 Flights
Jet Airways Konnect, Jet Airways' new all-economy service, is expanding its services to more than 100 flights daily. Konnect's service includes the option of purchasing in-flight meals from a menu of food and beverages.
Konnect operates a fleet of seven Boeing 737-800s and 10 ATR 72-500 aircraft on several key domestic routes across India. Flights link several cities across India such as Indore, Raipur, Agartala, Jorhat, Guwahati, Bhavnagar, Madurai, Bhopal, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Vadodara, Kochi, Amritsar, Madurai, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Pune and Goa. Most of these cities are connected with one of the five major Indian metros: Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.
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JetBlue Airways Begins Boston-Santo Domingo Flights, Plans BWI Link
JetBlue Airways has begun service to its 31st city: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, nonstop from Boston three days a week: Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The airline plans to expand the route to daily service over the peak winter season.
JetBlue will further expand its service from Boston on September 9 with the launch of four daily flights to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).
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Jurys Doyle Hotel Group Rebranded As The Doyle Collection
Jurys Boston Hotel has been rebranded The Back Bay Hotel by The Doyle Collection, itself formerly known as Jurys Doyle Hotel Group. In addition to The Back Bay Hotel, the new Doyle Collection is comprised of The Dupont Hotel, The Normandy Hotel, and The Courtyard by Marriott in Washington DC; in Ireland, Dublin's The Westbury and The Croke Park Hotel as well as The Cork Hotel; and in England, The Bristol Hotel, and London's The Marylebone Hotel, The Great Russell Hotel, and The Kensington Hotel.
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KDS Adds Agent Assistance, All Invoices To Corporate Solution
KDS has expanded the functionality of its corporate online solution through two new modules: KDS Total Travel, an online solution accommodating trips that have been completed with agent Assistance; and KDS Invoice Reconciliation, which automates cost allocation and reconciliation for imported supplier invoices.
In Total Travel, all requests are made online, including complex requests that are routed to an agent who proposes options back to the traveler. By routing all bookings through KDS Corporate, policy is enforced, costs are monitored and data capture is complete.
In Invoice Reconciliation, lodge card data, travel agency and other supplier-invoiced costs can be viewed and matched against existing trip data, eliminating the need for accounts payable teams to manually cross-check every line item. With all travel related costs held in the same database,
the much sought-after, total trip cost reporting now becomes a reality.
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KDS Survey Reveals Non-essential Business Trips Still Being Taken
Despite significant cut-backs in their business travel over the past few months, 42 percent of respondents to a global survey by KDS travel and expense management systems say that at least one of their recent trips was not important for their companies' success. A total of 435 business travelers from around the globe participated in the survey.
Almost half of respondents feel that business travel is important for their company's success. Asked about the importance of their five most recent trips, 49 percent said all were essential for their work. But 16 percent said one of the five was not essential, and another 26 percent said that as many as four of the five were not essential. Nine percent said that none of their last five trips were essential.
The respondents said trips for sales and commercial relations have been the likeliest to be allowed - comprising 45 percent of approved travel. Customer support trips made up 21 percent of approved travel; conferences and presentation visits, 20 percent; intercompany meetings, 10 percent; and training-related trips, 4 percent.
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Leading Hotels Packages Plan For Unmanaged Accounts
The Leading Hotels of the World Ltd. has launched the Leading Advantage Business Plan Plus, which targets small non-managed corporate accounts, as well as corporate executives who are not bound to corporate travel policies. The plan offers a non-restricted rate, inclusive of two additional amenities, which are pre-determined and vary by hotel.
Participating hotels were asked to select one from each of two levels. The first group consists of "richer options," such as continental breakfast, high-speed internet or wireless account, health club (only if there is typically a charge), or $25 credit for the minbar and/or room service. The second group includes garment pressing, two cocktails in bar, free parking, or complimentary incoming and outgoing faxes. A final benefit is access to a dedicated Leading Hotels Concierge Desk, which can secure dining reservations, airport transfers and sight-seeing excursions as well as organize meetings.
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Lufthansa Adds New Route To African Network
Lufthansa is expanding its services in West and Central Africa on July 15, adding Libreville, Gabon, to its network. The airline will fly five times per week from Frankfurt via Accra, Ghana, to Libreville. Up to 16 transatlantic flights per day connect American and Canadian travelers to this additional destination via the airline's hub in Frankfurt. The route will be operated by Airbus A340 and A330 aircraft with first, business and economy class cabins.
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Lufthansa Wins EU Nod For Acquisition Of Brussels Airlines
The European Commission has granted regulatory approval for the tie-up of Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines, paving the way for the German airline's purchase of an initial 45 percent stake in SN Airholding SA/NV, the parent company of Brussels Airlines. Clearance from the EU competition authority will also give Lufthansa an option, to buy the remaining 55 percent stake in Brussels Airlines as of 2011, once it has secured the necessary traffic rights, thereby completing the takeover of the Belgian carrier. The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of June.
Lufthansa and Brussels airline passengers already profit from their partnership in the run-up to Brussels Airlines' accession to Star Alliance.
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MNS Unveils Global Conferencing Network To Replace Dedicated Lines
Media Network Services, based in Oslo, has launched a global video conferencing network enabling any business with video conference equipment to experience High-Quality to Telepresence and HD video conferencing without the need of traditional dedicated networks. There is no need to invest in new video conferencing equipment in order to use the MNS network.
MNS offers two services, based on company size and existing equipment: one for users of Telepresence and HD video conferencing, usually large enterprises, and another for High-Quality Video Conferencing, usually the choice of small- and medium-sized companies.
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MobilityPass's New Global Card Eliminates Need For Local SIM Versions
MobilityPass has introduced its Global Voice SIM card, which allows users to stay connected from country to country without the expense of purchasing local SIM cards or subscribing to mobile services. The Global Voice SIM is a pay-as-you-go card; MobilityPass says it can save business travelers up to 80 percent of their overseas mobile costs.
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Names In The News
AirPlus International has promoted Aaron Kelling to executive vice president, strategic partnerships, a newly-created position designed to foster continued growth in the US market through the further development of executive level relationships with key industry partners.
Formerly vice president of sales and account management for the Northern US and Canada, in his new role, Kelling will have responsibility for the entire US market. AirPlus has also promoted Alexander Houston to executive vice president, sales, and Kathy Cantwell to vice president of client services. Houston was formerly vice president of sales for the southern US; Cantwell, director of customer and agency relations. The new management roles are effective immediately and represent the development of segmented US sales and account management teams.
Signature Flight Support has named Patrick Sniffen vice president marketing for its worldwide network of FBOs. He is based at Signature's corporate offices in Orlando. Previously vice president of marketing and communications for a prominent international flight services company, Sniffen will focus on enhancing the Signature brand, marketing and communications as well as media relations.
Travelport GDS has named Mark P. Ryan its new chief information officer, with global responsibility for formulating and executing the company's technology strategy, including software solutions and applications development. From his base in Atlanta, Ryan will lead a team of more than 500 technology professionals worldwide with development hubs in Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City and Langley, UK. He also oversees Travelport's joint venture technology operation in Delhi, India.
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Names In The News
American Airlines has appointed Kenji Hashimoto to the position of vice president-strategic alliances and Don Casey to the position of vice president-revenue management. Hashimoto joined American in 1998 and has held a series of managerial positions of increasing responsibility within the finance and planning organization, most recently as managing director for airline profitability and financial analysis. Casey, who succeeds the retiring Scott Nason, joined American from Canadian Airlines in 2000 as managing director of capacity planning.
Barceló Hotels & Resorts has appointed Deyna Molina to sales manager for the southeastern region of the United States. Molina joins Barceló from Automatic Data Processing (ADP) in Miami, where she served as district manager, overseeing payroll and human resources services for a broad range of clients. Prior to her experience with ADP, she served as a branch manager for Enterprise Rent a Car.
Benchmark Hospitality International has named Cheryl Ferguson director of sales and marketing for Hotel Contessa, the Personal Luxury Hotel(tm) on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Ferguson most recently served as vice president of sales for Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina and the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Michigan.
PRA Destination Management has opened PRA New England in Boston under the leadership of Dusty S. Rhodes as president and Chris Meierhoefer as director of destination management services. Both are industry veterans with 30 and 15 years' experience respectively.
Rearden Commerce has announced that David Cassady has signed on as president and general manager of B2B operations. In this role, Cassady will focus on scaling the company's sales, services, channel, marketing operations, and developing and maintaining strategic relationships with marquee partners. Cassady most recently was executive vice president of operations at SpikeSource, where he was responsible for worldwide sales, channel programs, marketing and business development, including the company's strategic relationship with Intel. Prior to Spike Source, he was senior vice president of worldwide operations for Virsa Systems, where his development work culminated in a successful acquisition by SAP.
The Hyatt Regency Albuquerque has named 14-year Hyatt veteran, Daniel J. Kuperschmid has been named general manager. In his first GM role, Kuperschmid will oversee all day-to-day operations of the 395-room hotel. Most recently, he was regional vice president of revenue for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, North America where he was responsible for the sales and revenue oversight for 21 Hyatt hotels in the South East and Mid-West.
The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites has named Lawrence McCue director of group sales for the 1,354-room hotel, located in the heart of the business district in downtown Los Angeles. McCue has been director of sales and marketing for the Keystone Resort and Conference Center in Colorado since 2004. Prior to that, he was vice president of sales for Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina for three years.
US Airways has filled two open positions on its leadership team, naming Keith A. Bush to vice president, financial planning and analysis, and promoting Todd L. Christy to vice president, business technology. Bush comes to US Airways from Northwest Airlines, with more than 14 years in financial planning and analysis, and treasury experience. Christy has been a key leader in the design and implementation of critical information systems at US Airway for the past eight years.
XOJET has named Mark S. Long, a veteran aviation finance executive with over 20 years experience, to be its chief financial officer. Immediately prior to joining XOJET, Long was a managing director at Skyworks Capital, LLC, a global investment banking boutique focused on the airline transportation sector. Before joining Skyworks, he was with Northwest Airlines, serving as an officer and vice president in finance. Earlier in his career, he spent five years at Continental Airlines in multiple management roles.
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Names In The News
Cybershift has promoted Gene Wronko to vice president of IT and on-demand services. He has served as director of the area since November 2007. In his expanded role, Wronko will be directly responsible for the technical direction and operations of CyberShift's on -demand services, as well as being directly responsible for corporate IT, information security, business continuity and quality assurance. He also serves as the company's information security officer.
Europ Assistance USA has announced that Paige Schaffer, its vice president of operations and chief service officer, has been appointed to the 2009 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. As an examiner, Schaffer is responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Award. The board is composed of approximately 500 leading experts selected from industry, professional and trade organizations, education and health care organizations and government.
HVS Hodges Ward Elliott has recruited Chris Martin, formerly of Jones Lang Lasalle Hotels in London, as a director. Martin, who was a senior vice president at Jones Lang Lasalle, has more than 15 years of specialist hotel brokerage experience, gained in Europe, Asia and Australia.
His appointment reinforces the firm's position in the European hotel transaction market in anticipation of increasing activity in the sector.
The Renaissance M Street Hotel in Washington DC has named Matt Felix general manager. Prior to his new role, Felix was GM for the Washingtonian Center Marriott in Gaithersburg, MD.
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Names In The News
Benchmark Hospitality International has named Greg Champion chief operating officer. A seasoned hotelier with over 15 years of senior-level industry experience, Champion previously was president for Noble House Hotels & Resorts of Kirkland, WA, and its portfolio of 14 properties. He has also served as president and chief operating officer for Tiburon Hospitality Management of Carefree, AZ. He launched his hospitality career with ITT Sheraton through its general management training program.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel has appointed Andrew Winterton to the newly created position of president /suppliers, products and technology, effective June 1. Based in the United Kingdom, he reports to CWT president and CEO Douglas Anderson and is a member of the company's global executive team. In this new position, Winterton assumes duties held by Mike Koetting, recently promoted to chief operating officer from executive vice president of global supplier management, as well as those held by Loren Brown, chief information officer and executive vice president for technology and product management, Brown will leave CWT in July to pursue new interests.
Etihad Airways has appointed Hasan A Saleh Al-Hammadi to the position of vice president of special projects. His role will be to undertake special liaison tasks and projects relating to protocol, the security services in Abu Dhabi, government departments and Emiratisation. His previous positions have included various roles within the UAE government.
Frontier Airlines has named Daniel M. Shurz to the position of vice president of strategy and planning. He will oversee management of Frontier's route planning and aircraft scheduling, and have responsibility for forging and managing the company's strategic alliances and joint venture efforts. Shurz joins Frontier from Air Canada Inc, where he was most recently vice president of network planning and alliances. He also has held a number of other senior-level positions in the transportation and airline industries, including with the Chicago Transit Authority and United Airlines.
Hilton Hotels: Tracy Walker has been named general manager for the new Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, scheduled to open on October 1. Her appointment makes Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek the destination's largest hotel managed by a woman, as well as the largest property in the Hilton portfolio under female leadership. (The hotel will offer 1,000 rooms and suites and 122,000 square feet of meeting space.) Walker is a 21-year industry veteran and has been affiliated with Hilton Hotels since 2002, most recently as general manager for Newark Airport Hilton. Previous positions were with the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach, Hilton Chicago, The Mayfair in St. Louis and the Wyndham Salt Lake City.
Lanyon Inc. has named Michael Boult, previously president and CEO of StarCite Inc., as its Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Boult brings to Lanyon over two decades of experience in global business travel automation and spend management solutions, including provision of independent advisory services to a number of start-up and early stage companies across a variety of industries. In 2001, he founded and led eCLIPSE Advisors, which was acquired by American Express Business Travel in 2004.
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has confirmed that Kurt Wachtveitl, who recently announced his retirement after 41 years as general manager of the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok, will remain with the Group in the capacity of special adviser. In his new role, his responsibilities will include acting as brand ambassador at Mandarin Oriental events worldwide, the recruitment and development of talented employees, and assisting in the development of new hotel projects, restaurant concepts and spa operations.
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Names In The News
Benchmark Hospitality Internationalhas appointed Tom Cross as resort manager for Turtle Bay Resort, the landmark property located on Oahu's North Shore. Cross was previously the e director of operations for Turtle Bay Resort. He joined the north shore property and Benchmark Hospitality International in 2005 as director of conference services and food & beverage.
Holiday Inn Northwest/SeaWorld in San Antonio, has announced that Penny Herring has been named director of sales & marketing for the soon-to-open hotel. With more than 30 years of experience, mainly in the downtown area, Herring joined the hotel in May. The hotel will feature 194 guest rooms including 10 suites and 20 ADA rooms. The hotel also features 6,000 square feet of function space.
Lodgian Inc. has announced that Daniel E. (Dan) Ellis has been named president and CEO and appointed to the board of directors. Concurrently, the company announced that Peter T. Cyrus has resigned from his positions as interim president and chief executive officer, and a member of the company's board of directors. Ellis has been a member of the management team at Lodgian since 1999.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler has started his one-year term as the chairman of its Board of Governors. Tyler succeeds Samer Majali, CEO of Royal Jordanian Airlines, who served as Chairman from June 2008.
The Affluent Traveler Collection has announced that Cheryl B. Weldon is stepping down as executive vice president, effective July 19. Jackie Johnson, who joined the American Marketing Group family of companies in March as EVP of TravelSavers' CruiseXpress booking engine, will now serve as executive vice president. She will continue to oversee the development of the new and improved CruiseXpress, which is slated to be unveiled later this year.
The San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau has named Angela Smart a national sales manager. Smart will work with regional director of national accounts Mary Gallagher in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast territories of the US, focusing on citywide groups. She will also target the specialty market outside of sports. Smart comes to the SJCVB from the Fairmont, where she worked for more than three years. Prior to that, she worked in sales manager roles at the San Jose Marriott and Hotel DeAnza.
Warwick Melrose Hotel: Steve Sherman has been promoted to associate director of sales at the Warwick Melrose Hotel in Dallas. Previously senior sales manager at the hotel, Sherman joined the Warwick Melrose in 2004. He will focus on growing group sales for the hotel.
American Express has appointed Claire Bennett to senior vice president of its U.S. Consumer Travel Network, effective July 6. She succeeds Lynne Biggar, who was recently named senior vice president, membership rewards for American Express. Bennett has been senior vice president, global advertising and brand management, responsible for managing operations for advertising, sponsorships, agency management, marketplace research, as well as leveraging partnerships and nontraditional media opportunities.
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Omega World Travel Launches Trondent ProFILER Express
Omega World Travel has joined the list of launch customers for Trondent Development Corp.'s ProFILER Express, a browser-based profile builder and maintenance tool that gives travel professionals the ability to create, configure and customize web-based profiles, ultimately enabling them to instantly publish their profile forms to the Internet.
"Since the tool is GDS- and online booking tool- agnostic, ProFILER Express enables us to synchronize traveler profiles to a broad range of downstream targets," says George Fant, Omega World Travel's CIO. "The flexibility and customization capability within ProFILER Express gives us the power to build unique account-level profile forms and URLs that extend beyond simply adding logos and color schemes." HR data integration is also available for corporations who want their traveler profiles to remain in sync with their own HR records.
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Oneworld Equips Malpensa With Free Charging Stations
Oneworld has positioned 14 charging stations throughout Milan Malpensa Airport, enabling travelers to charge their laptop computers, mobile phones, iPods and other mobile items for free.
The stations will remain at the airport for at least a year. Branded with the logo of the alliance and its member airlines, they come with a range of international power sockets, enabling travelers to plug in their equipment for a power top-up before their board their flights.
The charging stations first appeared in September in Amsterdam and Brussels airports.
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Oneworld Recruits Russia's S7 Airlines
Russia's domestic airline S7 Airlines is to join oneworld(r), adding 54 cities - 35 of them in Russia - and eight countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.) into the alliance's network. Full membership is expected to occur sometime in 2010 but the airline's route network has already been added to oneworld's Global Explorer round-the-world fare.
S7's fleet is all Western-built Airbus and Boeing models. It has also adopted full electronic ticketing and online reservations and sales. British Airways is acting as its oneworld sponsor as it goes through an 18-month alliance implementation program. In the course of its implementation, S7 will adapt key internal processes to oneworld requirements, link its IT systems to those of its oneworld partners and carry out an extensive employee training and communications program.
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Passkey Debuts Real-time Tracking Dashboards For Planners, Hotel Staffs
Passkey has launched Live Dashboards, a real-time event and group tracking technology that is being used in two versions. One allows meeting planners and hotel staff to track and manage individual events in real-time; the other is strictly for hotel staff, helping them to monitor and maximize their group performance.
Event Dashboards provide meeting planners a user-friendly real-time visual
snapshot of their event, allowing them to easily track and manage their events
anytime without having to constantly call the hotel for updates. The Dashboard delivers such critical metrics as block pick-up, delegate lists, reservation pace, revenue and an event timeline, as well as the ability to manage reservations and rooming lists online.
Since the dashboards are deployed across many hotel brands, properties and meeting destinations, planners can “toggle” their dashboard from event to event, allowing them to track all of their events in one place, regardless of the venue or destination.
Hotel Dashboards give the hotel staff and management a consolidated, real-time view of all their group business in one screen. This provides them important insights into their groups, such as tracking performance trends, viewing each event's metrics and forecasting future group business. With it, hotels can easily address any potential inventory availability issues, track overall group trends and identify up-sell opportunities. They also monitor critical business metrics such as reservation cost savings, up-sell revenue, and group LOS and ARD.
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Pegasus Market Vision Reports Refine Hotels' Forecasting Abilities
Pegasus Solutions has teamed with Rubicon to offer agency demand reports to hotels so that they can measure market performance and forecast market potential based on revenue, net reservations, room nights, ADR (average daily rate), market share, average lead time and average length of stay. Additionally, booking patterns can be analyzed through the evaluation of room rate achieved, geographical source of business, travel agency, consortia / travel management company (TMC), or the channel that produced the bookings. Labeled MarketVision, the business intelligence tool helps property view of booking demand up to 120 days out.
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Porter Airlines Announces Toronto-Boston Service
Porter Airlines is adding Boston to its growing list of destinations, launching service between Toronto City Centre Airport (TCCA) and Boston Logan International Airport on September 14, with up to three daily non-stop roundtrips. The route offers connecting flights to other Porter destinations, including Ottawa, Montreal, Thunder Bay and Quebec City.
Porter's onboard service includes complimentary wine, beer and premium snacks. On the ground in Toronto, the airline offers complimentary shuttle buses to the financial and entertainment districts.
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Porter Airlines Upgrades Fleet With Orthopedic Seats
Porter Airlines, a regional passenger carrier based at Toronto City Centre Airport, has upgraded its aircraft interiors with orthopedically-contoured Spectrum seating across the entire 12-aircraft Bombardier Q400 fleet. Spectrum seats offer larger meal trays, built-in head rests, and longer seat cushions. The seats also feature Lantal leather and a thin profile for maximum cabin living space including an extra half-inch of leg room. Porter's 70-seat configuration provides up to 34 inches of seat pitch, two to three more than typical economy seating.
The seats, made by B/E Aerospace, will be the standard on all new Porter Q400 deliveries. Travelers can sample the Spectrum seats throughout June as part of a passenger lounge display at Toronto City Centre Airport.
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Porter Signs Full-content Pact With Travelport
Travelport GDS has reached a multi-year full content agreement with Porter Airlines, giving all Galileo- and Worldspan-connected travel agents access to the airline's full published fares and inventory, including access to the airline's lowest web fares. Porter will also be available through Travelport's Agencia booking solution. Apollo agencies will gain access to Porter inventory immediately; Worldspan and Galileo will follow suit in August.
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Rearden Uses New Technologies To Strengthen Incumbent Functions
Acknowledging that "travelers' demands are getting more sophisticated," Tony D'Astolfo, vice president of worldwide sales at Rearden Commerce, is "going back to the drawing board and redoing a bunch of stuff" to the company's Personal Assistant purchasing management platform to meet those demands. The results so far include Book Again, a new iteration of trip templates that's able to cope with frequent voluntary and involuntary changes in travel plans; improved functioning of its personalized dining reservation service; and a rail booking function with direct access to Amtrak inventory.
All upgrades will be available in aXiom, Rearden's joint offering with American Express Business Travel.
Rearden's "Book Again" technology addresses a frequently-encountered stumbling block in early trip templates, caused when "something changed" from the original booking. According to D'Astolfo, those situations cropped up as much as three-quarters of the time and could be something as simple as the hotel in the original pattern being sold out when it came time for a repeat booking" "The same thing would have happened with an airline schedule change or the fare being higher than in the original booking."
In the improved function, Book Again will recognize the change and use its "matching technology" to suggest an alternative that best replicates the chosen template while using preferred suppliers and observing policy. The "Book Again" capability also enables travelers to view, side by side, similar itineraries to compare cost differences when booking a similar trip. By eliminating the need for the traveler to start from the beginning to build a new itinerary, says D'Astolfo, booking time is cut by as much as 75 percent.
Similarly, administrative assistants booking trips for more than one traveler headed to the same destination can clone an itinerary; the system will intelligently apply each traveler's personal preferences and policy parameters.
Rearden Personal Assistant's corporate dining service "is being taken up a notch," continues D'Astolfo, with the addition of personalization and intelligent search functions. Corporate employees can indicate favorite cuisines, select price points, designate specific locations or identify favorite restaurants. The Rearden Personal Assistant will then make intelligent recommendations based on preferences indicated and company spending policies, and then show the restaurant locations on a map embedded within the service page. "We done it before," says D'Astolfo, "this time we're just doing it better."
Rearden Personal Assistant's integration of Amtrak's live inventory with corporate rail policies and discounts at point-of-sale allows immediate purchase of a train ticket, print it out at home or pick it up at a station kiosk. Direct access to the Amtrak inventory is accomplished through Wondrian, which standardizes the providers' technologies as its rail connections expand further. The system allows users to save their "home train stations" and separates these booking templates from those involving air for easier use.
Travelers also have the ability to see different classes of tickets (i.e., those which fall within their corporate policy and those that do not). Consistent with other services within the Rearden Personal Assistant, a traveler can load preferred rail stations and search for hotels near their destination.
Again, says D'Astolfo, "We're not new but adding enhancements that are new and unique ... and we're working on other things using this same approach."
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Rescott Pledges Savings From Cross-platform E-conferencing Service
Rescott, an Indiana-based technology company, has developed a web conferencing platform that encompasses rich video, six way video broadcast, voice-over-IP and telephone audio, PowerPoint, streaming media content, and PayPal billing integration. Dubbed DoConference, the system is cross-platform compatible and can handle several thousand attendees in one webinar.
Ease of use and low cost are the main selling points. According to Toby Reeves, president of Rescott, DoConference will accommodate up to six presenters "for the same low cost." The company is offering a special introductory price as low as $41 per month for unlimited usage.
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RideCharge Brings Mobile Booking For Black Cars To NYC
RideCharge and The Executive Transportation Group (ETG) have introduced Taxi Magic for iPhone and Blackberry for New York City. The mobile tool books an ETG car for immediate pickup anywhere in Manhattan, and has it arrive in 20 minutes or less. It provides instant confirmation and updates through the iPhone or Blackberry with the car number and driver's estimated time of arrival.
Executive Transportation Group's New York black car brands include BlueLine, Avalon, NY One, Love, Bell and ETG Green (a hybrid service), totaling over 1,600 cars.
iPhone users can download the Taxi Magic application from iTunes. Blackberry users can download Taxi Magic from the Blackberry App World.
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Singapore To Begin A380 Service To Hong Kong In July
Singapore Airlines says it will begin flying a 471-seat Airbus A380 on its Singapore-Hong Kong route beginning July 9. Hong Kong will be the fifth international destination and second Asian city to accommodate Singapore's superjumbo aircraft. The daily A380 flights represent an increase of 10 percent in seat capacity to the city.
The Airline started operating the A380 in October 2007 to Sydney and has subsequently added services to London, Tokyo and Paris.
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Sofitel Contracts For Five New Hotels in Middle East & China
Sofitel has signed five new contracts expanding its reach into Asia and the Middle East.
These five new properties are already under construction and scheduled to begin opening at the end of 2010. These openings will bring a total of 2,000 additional rooms to the hotel's presence in these regions.
In the United Arab Emirates, the Sofitel Dubai Sheikh Zayed Road is scheduled to open in 2012; the Sofitel Abu Dhabi Capital Plaza, will open in 2010. In China, the new contracts are for the Sofitel Qingdao in the eastern region, and in the south, the Sofitel Dongguan and the Sofitel Guangzhou. No opening dates were projected for the three hotels in China.
Sofitel has five other hotels under construction in the two regions: the Sofitel Karachi Clifton in Pakistan; the Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq Beach Resort in Bahrain; the Sofitel Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia; the Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach and the Sofitel Dubai Palm Jumeirah Resort & Spa in Dubai. The Accor luxury brand now has 150 hotels on five continents.
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Southwest Begins New Fees For Pets, Unaccompanied Minors, Third Bags
Southwest says that it will soon allow customers to bring along small cats and dogs in the aircraft cabin for a "pet fare" of $75 each way. All pets must be in a carrier that fits under the airplane seat, and the carrier will count as the customer's carryon bag. Sale of the special fares began yesterday, for travel beginning June 17.
The new pet policy is one of several programs and processes that Southwest Airlines is implementing in an effort to enhance service and at the same time generate incremental revenue.
Also effective June 1 for travel beginning June 17, an additional $25 service charge, each way, for unaccompanied minors. Customers traveling on or after June 17 will be charged $50 to check a third or overweight bag; the first two bags continue to be free.
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Spanair Offers Free Parking To Business, Avant Class Customers
Spanish carrier Spanair is offering VIP parking free of charge at Madrid and Barcelona airports to passengers travelling in its Business and Avant class. Business passengers flying on a return basis travelling from Madrid or Barcelona to any Spanair destination are entitled to a maximum of two days of free parking at the airport of origin.
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Springfield (MO) CVB Earns DMA Accreditation
The Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau has earned accreditation from the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI). Accreditation standards cover a variety of topics, including governance, finance, management, human resources, technology, visitor services, group services, sales, communications, membership, brand management, destination development, research/market intelligence, innovation and stakeholder relationships.
The only other destination marketing organization in Missouri that has earned
accreditation is the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association. Internationally,
about 90 DMOs are accredited.
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Star Alliance Adding Greece's Aegean Airlines
Star Alliance has accepted the membership application of Aegean Airlines of Greece. Aegean operates a fleet of 31 aircraft, covering 23 domestic and 24 international routes on 200 daily flights. Integration of Aegean into the Star Alliance will begin shortly, and is expected to take around 12 months.
Once this process is complete, the Star Alliance network will encompass a total of 26
carriers (current 21 and confirmed future members Aegean Airlines, Air India, Brussels
Airlines, Continental Airlines and TAM) and three regional member carriers (Adria Airways, Blue1 and Croatia Airlines). Together they will offer more than 1,000 destinations in 176 countries, served by 21,000 daily flights.
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Star Alliance Co-location Program Continues In London, Barcelona
Five Star Alliance carriers have moved from London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2 to the refurbished Terminal 1 while, at the same time, all 14 members serving Barcelona have into the new Terminal 1 at "El Prat" Airport.
At Heathrow, Austrian, Croatia Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS and TAP join Air New Zealand, Asiana, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, South African Airways, United and US Airways. As part of the move, a common Star Alliance branded check-in area used by Austrian, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa and TAP has opened. This area features dedicated check-in counters for business and economy class passengers as well as a premium check-in zone, reserved for Star Alliance Gold Card holders travelling on any of the five member carriers and for Lufthansa first class passengers. A number of self-service check-in kiosks as well as a bag-drop area are also available. After check-in, passengers pass through a separate security line, which also features a fast track lane for top-tier customers.
Air New Zealand, Asiana, South African Airways, SWISS, United and US Airways each have dedicated check-in counters in Heathrow Terminal 1's completely redesigned main hall. Once airside, Star's first and business class passengers, as well as its Gold Card holders, have access to its departure lounge, featuring separate first class and business class sections, food service areas, two business centers with computers, printers, fax service, Wi-Fi, shower facilities and a special area for children. bmi offers a check-in zone convenient to its international and domestic departure gates at Heathrow, as well as two lounges, one for UK and Ireland departures and a new international lounge, located next to its international departure gates.
In Barcelona, Star is the first alliance to operate from the new El Prat Terminal 1. Current users are Adria Airways, Austrian, Blue1, Croatia Airlines, Egyptair, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Spanair, SWISS, TAP, Turkish Airlines and US Airways. Future members Aegean and Brussels airlines are also operating from Terminal 1 and provisions have been made to accommodate Continental Airlines in the same area at a later stage.
Until September, when Spanair opens the doors to its new VIP lounge, Star's first and business class passengers will use the VIP lounge operated by the Spanish National Airports Company (AENA). Spanair's lounge will be the largest at Barcelona Airport.
On El Prat's arrivals side, any baggage enquiries will be handled at the Star Alliance-branded common baggage service facility.
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StarCite, Starwood Integrate Systems To Streamline RFP Process
StarCite Inc. is integrating its platform with Starwood Hotels & Resorts sales automation system, eliminating several redundant steps to directly connect corporate meeting planners' RFPs to specific members of the hotel company's sales team, based on Starwood's own internal business rules. StarCite says the new technology will ensure that Starwood's top groups and meetings salespeople will be engaged and responding "in the most expedient manner possible" to high-potential sales opportunities.
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Starwood To Acquire Golden Tulip Hotels
Pending completion of due diligence, which is expected to be accomplished by June 26, Starwood Capital Group Global has reached an agreement to acquire Golden Tulip Hospitality BV. Starwood says it will leverage the acquisition of the distribution platform of Louvre Hotels (a budget hotel company acquired in 2005) to grow the Golden Tulip brand in existing and emerging markets.
The combination of Golden Tulip and Louvre hotels (Premiere Classe, Campanile, Kyriad and Kyriad Prestige) will enable Starwood to offer a full range in accommodation and service levels across over 40 countries, with over 1,000 hotels, comprising some 82,000 rooms. The alliance of will have offices worldwide in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, South and North America.
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The Next 8 Days
June 16 ACTE - Beijing will meet from 8:30 am to 1 pm in The Westin Beijing Chaoyang. www.acte.org
June 16 Dallas/Fort Worth BTA meets at 10:30 am in the Hyatt Regency DFW Airport. www.dfwbta.org
June 17 ACTE - Ottawa meets from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm in Novotel Ottawa Hotel, Ottawa, Ontario. www.acte.org
June 17 Arizona BTA will meet from 7:30 am to 5 pm in XONA Resort Suites, Scottsdale. www.azbta.org
June 17 Philadelphia BTA meets at 11 am in the Holiday Inn Historic District in Philadelphia. www.phillybta.org
June 17 Pittsburgh BTA will meet at 11 am in the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel. www.pbta.org
June 17 Puget Sound BTA meets at 11 am in Seattle's Hyatt Olive 8. www.psbta.org
June 18 First Coast BTA will meet at 11:30 am in the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville, Riverfront. www.centralfloridabtabta.org
June 18 New York City BTA meets at 11:30 am in New York City for lunch..www.nycbta.org
June 18 Northern Plains BTA will meet in Marriott West Des Moines. www.npbta.org
June 23 ACTE - Chicago meets from 8:15 am to 1:30 pm for an Executive Forum. www.acte.org
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The Next 8 Days
June 9 ACTE - Prague meets from 10 am to 4:15 pm in Sheraton Prague Charles Square Hotel Prague, Czech Republic. www.acte.org
June 9 Austin BTA meets at 11:15 am in the Embassy Suites Hotel - Central, Austin. www.austinbta.org
June 9 Connecticut Westchester BTA will meet at 11:15 am at the Canyon Club, Armonk, NY, for a golf outing. www.cwbta.org
June 10 Los Angeles BTA meets at 6 pm in the Los Angeles Airport Marriott. www.labta.org
June 10 Texas BTA will meet at 11 am in the Hilton Garden Inn Energy Corridor, Houston. www.tbta.org
June 10 Wisconsin BTA will meet at 5:30 pm in Miller Park, Milwaukee. www.wisconsinbta.org
June 11-12 Florida BTA meets from 7:30 am on the 11th through 5 pm on the 12th in the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort for Education Day. www.fbta.org
June 11 Oregon BTA will meet at 9:30 am in Heathman Lodge Vancouver, WA. www.obta.org
June 11 Silicon Valley BTA meets at 11:15 am in the Toll House Hotel, Los Gatos. www.svbta.org
June 11 Utah BTA meets at 11 am in Marriott University Park, Salt Lake City. www.ubta.org
June 12 San Diego BTA will meet at 7:30 am in Homewood Suites San Diego/Del Mar. www.sdbta.org
June 15 New York City BTA meets from 6 to 9 pm in the Premier- Symphony House, New York. Advance registration is required. www.nycbta.org
June 16 ACTE - Beijing will meet from 8:30 am to 1 pm in The Westin Beijing Chaoyang, for an Executive Forum. www.acte.org
June 16 Dallas/Fort Worth BTA meets at 10:30 am in the Hyatt Regency DFW Airport . www.dfwbta.org
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The Next 8 Days
June 23 ACTE - Chicago meets from 8:15 am to 1:30 pm for an Executive Forum at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
June 24 Bay Area BTA meets at 5:30 pm in Pac 55 Hotel in San Francisco. www.babta.org
June 26 ACTE - Boston will meet from 8 am to 2 pm in Boston's Omni Parker House. www.acte.org
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The Next 8 Days
July 1 Inland NW BTA meets at 11:30 am in the Davenport Hotel. www.inbta.org
July 5 Hawaii BTA meets from 5:30 to 7:30 pm in Ronald McDonald House, Honolulu. www.hawaiibta.org
July 7 Georgia BTA will meet at 11:30 am at Renaissance Waverly, Atlanta. www.gbta.org
July 8 Hawaii BTA will meet at 11 am in Ruth's Chris Steak House, Honolulu. www.hawaiibta.org
July 8 Texas BTA meets at 11 am in the Hilton Houston Post Oak. www.tbta.org
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The Next Eight Days
June 3 ACTE – Toronto will meet at 6 pm in the Union Station – VIA1 & Glenfraser Cars. www.acte.org
June 3 Northern Virginia BTA will meet from 11:30 am to 1:45 pm in Herndon. www.nvbta.org
June 4 Mid South BTA meets at 11:30 am in Little Rock Hilton. www.msabta.com .
June 4 Ohio Valley BTA will meet from 9 am to 3:30 pm in Cherry Valley Lodge, Newark. www.ovbta.org
June 4 Tennessee BTA meets from 8 am to 5 pm in the Marriott Nashville Airport. www.tennesseebta.org
June 5 Chicago BTA will meet from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm in the Wyndham Lisle-Chicago. www.chicagobta.org
June 9 Austin BTA meets at 11:15 am in the Embassy Suites Hotel – Central, Austin. www.austinbta.org
June 9 ACTE – Prague meets from 10 am to 4:15 pm in Sheraton Prague Charles Square Hotel Prague, Czech Republic. www.acte.org
June 9 Connecticut Westchester BTA will meet at 11:15 am at the Canyon Club, Armonk, NY. www.cwbta.org
June 10 Los Angeles BTA will meet at 6 pm in the Los Angeles Airport Marriott. www.labta.org
June 10 Texas BTA meets at 11 am in the Hilton Garden Inn Energy Corrider, Houston. www.tbta.org
June 10 Wisconsin BTA will meet at 5:30 pm in Miller Park, Milwaukee. www.wisconsinbta.org
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TransportationReviews Begins Rating System For Ground Transport
TransportationReviews, an online directory for airport ground transportation services, has unveiled its GroundCar Score "transparency" rating system, which rates the companies on the basis of the amount of information available on their web sites or willingness to provide that information to the directory. Information sought includes complete business address, permit information, transfer or hourly rates and cancellation policy.
Scores can range from zero to 100, and dictate the placement of the companies in the directory; the higher the score, the nearer the top a company will be placed on a list of providers in each category. Users can switch from that default listing to a traditional alphabetized list.
The site is owned and maintained by the computer service division of Get Digitally Organized Inc., based in Scottsdale.
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TravelCLICK Offers Social Networking Service To Hotel Marketers
TravelCLICK has developed Social Marketing Optimization (SMO), a personalized strategy and service offering designed to help hotels by opening the door to online communities, engaging consumers in interactive conversations, and driving traffic from numerous marketing channels.
SMO will include the work of the TravelCLICK digital marketing team to build the right social network presence, leveraging user-generated content across all media, from blogs and guest review sites to video and picture-sharing sites. The goal is to engage users in a dialogue that builds brand awareness and community, increases web traffic and search rankings, and ultimately delivers new guest connections.
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Travelex Currency Conversion Technology To Debut In Japan
The Travelex foreign exchange company has launched Currency Select, its dynamic currency conversion technology, in Japan in conjunction with UC Card, one of the largest Visa and MasterCard merchant acquirers in Japan. The technology allows international travelers the option of paying for goods and services in their home currency, giving them visibility as to the actual cost of their purchases despite current volatility in exchange rates.
Currency Select services are also available in Singapore, the UAE, Australia and New Zealand.
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Travelex, U.S. Bank Renew Pact To Sell Cash Passport Through Branches
Travelex and U.S. Bank have extended the relationship first established in 2003, enhancing the ability for the bank's branch network to offer Travelex's Cash Passport and banknotes. Cash Passport is a prepaid card denominated in Euro and British Pound Sterling. It's been sold through U.S. Bank branches since August 2008.
There are currently 18 onsite locations in the states of California, Oregon, Colorado, Illinois and Ohio. The onsite agreement allows certain branches in those locations to have products available for immediate delivery. For other branches, the products can be purchased at the bank, but the products themselves are delivered to the customer's homes.
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Travelport Agencia Unites Air Canada's Fares With Ancillary Menu
Travelport GDS has launched Agencia, a merchandising technology being used by Air Canada to offer access to all its fare families (Tango, Tango Plus, Latitude and Executive Class) as well any service from the airline's a la carte menu (e.g., lounge access, pre-paid on board cafe vouchers, checked baggage and seat assignment); and the Air Canada Flight Pass program of pre-paid electronic one-way flight credits.
In the coming months the same capability is being added to Travelport's own corporate online booking tool, Traversa(tm), deployed with companies such as IBM. And in 2010, says Travelport's CEO, Gordon Wilson, the lessons learned from its Air Canada experience will be visible in the global rollout of Travelport Universal Desktop.
"What differentiates Travelport Agencia in the market is the efficient aggregation of Air Canada's full range of a la carte products that until now sat outside the GDS, requiring inefficient business practices (Christ later specifically mentioned screen scraping) for travel agencies as they had to work around this limitation" explains Travis Christ, president and managing director, Travelport GDS for the Americas.
Travelport Agencia is available on a subscription basis to subscribers of the Galileo GDS. Agents, who can earn incentives for booking through the system, get the same content as they would by going to the Air Canada web site, but with the added convenience of having a single PNR containing both traditional GDS and Air Canada content. Agencia also integrates with Galileo Agency Private Fares and ATPCO private fares to ensure private and negotiated fares are incorporated into every shopping request. They are also able to modify or cancel flights booked through Agencia and get automatic updates to their Galileo booking files.
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Trondent Uses Pre-population, Modifiable Templates In ProFILER Express
Trondent Development Corp. has launched ProFILER Express, the next generation of its browser-based profile management technology. The system is designed to deliver quick and cost-effective implementation, facilitated by a standardized traveler profile template that is then pre-populated with readily-available information. These include all mandatory fields specified by The Department of Homeland Security in compliance with the TSA's Secure Flight Program.
The standard template, as well as an unlimited number of client-built templates, can be easily modified. ProFILER Express also enables users to customize color themes, insert logos, reset passwords, create, modify and delete profiles, add languages and create reports using a query builder.
ProFILER Express offers real-time profile synchronization to every major GDS and online booking tool.
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Uniglobe Signs Dubai-based Arabian Global Tourism & Travel
Uniglobe Travel International Limited Partnership has signed Arabian Global Tourism and Travel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as a global partner. The agreement is an extension of Arabian Global's current association with Uniglobe; it also has an agency in Nairobi, Kenya, that is a Uniglobe member operating under the name Uniglobe Fleet Travel.
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US Airways Announces Schedule for Rio de Janeiro Service
US Airways says that it will launch daily nonstop flights between its hub at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina and Rio de Janeiro on December 2, pending final approval from the Brazilian government. The new route is US Airways' first service to South America and the airline's fifth new international route this year. The flight will originate at the airline's hub in Philadelphia and continue on to Charlotte and Rio de Janeiro. Service between Charlotte and Rio de Janeiro will be operated with Boeing 767 aircraft with seating for 18 in Envoy, US Airways' international business class, and 186 in the main cabin.
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Virgin Atlantic Orders 10 New A330-300s; Delivery Starts Next Year
Virgin Atlantic Airways has placed a $2.1billion order for 10 new Airbus A330-300 aircraft, Five will be delivered in 2011; five in 2012. The new aircraft, which can seat up to 270 passengers, will operate on many of Virgin Atlantic's existing routes as well as assist in planned growth to new destinations from London such as Beijing, Cancun and Vancouver.
A330-300s are known for their fuel efficiency, lower maintenance costs and substantial cargo Capacity; Virgin Atlantic already owns 38 of them. Each new aircraft will feature lighter, more comfortable seating, and USB ports and power sockets in Upper Class and Premium Economy cabins. All passengers will be able to send and receive emails and texts on their Blackberries, handheld PDAs and other mobile devices.
Delivery of the airline's 15 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on order is expect to begin in 2013.
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Wally Park Equips LAX Lots With Digital Flight, Weather, Traffic Info
WallyPark has installed FlyteBoard's real-time airline flight information display at its Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) parking facility. The implementation provides up-to-the-minute LAX airline departure times plus national weather and traffic information for the Los Angeles area.
WallyPark's full-service offsite airport parking at LAX accommodates 1,600 vehicles.
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Where Airlines' Ancillary Income Is Headed
Growth in airline revenue from current ancillary charges has begun to top off, according to John Thomas, an aviation specialist with L.E.K. Consulting, and now airlines are launching into the next phase of what may be an evolution towards greater dependence on the fledgling income stream. The next phase is to go after new customer segments. In the not too distant future, he suggests, airlines will begin to assemble the sources of those ancillary income streams into packages designed to appeal to specific customer segments.
Thomas was one of three panelists in a recent webinar panel moderated by Air Transport World's senior editor, Aaron Karp, and also featuring, Rick Hunger of IATA's global aviation consulting group, and Dan McKone, also from L.E.K.
Ancillary revenue streams are beginning to look far from subordinate and inconsequential - and that may not be a bad thing. For instance, Thomas says that JetBlue's "Even More Legroom" seats aboard its A320s and E190s are bringing in an annual income in the millions of dollars. Now the challenge is to harness that potential to help power airlines' future.
Right now, they are still testing the possibilities by unbundling what they already offer, attaching prices and watching the results. That's a low-risk activity, requiring little added investment. Because of that, margins (as demonstrated by JetBlue) are wide.
But it's still complicated. First, products or services that are unbundled and sold must represent a choice to the consumer - which pretty much cancels that famous speculation about charging for access to airline toilets. Charging travelers to check their bags, on the other hand, does offer a choice. There are plenty of possibilities. Sticking pretty much to what we've already heard, the panelists suggested advertising opportunities, mileage redemption, standby fees, on-board Internet access, fees for unaccompanied minors, lounge access, trip insurance, upscale amenity packs, etc.
More about this particular vision of the future of airline services and revenue is in the June issue of Business Travel Executive magazine.
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XOJet Expands Fixed-price Routes To Nationwide Network
XOJET has launched a nationwide network of fixed price charter routes starting at $12,000. The "all-in" package includes travel on an XOJET Citation X, which seats up to eight passengers, ground transportation in both the departure and arrival cities, standard catering and unlimited in-flight worldwide calls. Clients do not pay any additional fees, repositioning costs or fuel surcharges.
Earlier this year, the company launched select fixed-price coast-to-coast Citation X packages starting at $19,000, a savings of approximately 20 to 30 percent over typical charter rates.
The fixed-price routes include service between major US business destinations including: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Leisure destinations are also included in the program.
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