Business Travel Tips

SITA, leading provider of technology for tracking air passenger baggage, issued its annual Baggage Report.

It shows that 42.4 million of the 2.25 billion pieces of checked baggage air transport industry handles every year, were mishandled or delayed in 2007. That means around 2 percent of the total volume.

Major cause of baggage delay was in transfer baggage mishandling, 49%, down from 61% in 2005 . Other causes: failure to load, 16%; ticketing error or passenger bag switch, 14% ; space-weight restriction, 5%; loading or offloading error, 5%; tagging errors, 3%; and arrival station mishandling, 8%.

The report also says air transport industry lost $3.8 billion in 2007 because of growing pressures on baggage management linked to passenger volumes, tight aircraft turnaround times, and heightened security measures.

Marriott has opened its first Courtyard hotel in Hong Kong. This new 245-room Courtyard by Marriott Hong Kong, is located in the Sai Ying Pan district on Hong Kong Island.

The location provides easy access to the financial district in Central as well as to Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Wanchai.

The hotel offers a free shuttle bus service between the Sheung Wan, Central, Admiralty and Wanchai districts.

For Business travelers, Courtyard by Marriott Hong Kong features a full business center with two work stations, boardroom, executive lounge and 24-hour fitness center. Furtherly, each of the 245 guestrooms comes with high-speed internet access.
Room rates start from US$199 per night.

According the analysis on business travel cost for 2007 released yesterday by American Express Business Travel, international rates experienced increases while rates in the U.S. remained stable.
Tight global supply and high fuel costs drove continued price growth for international business travel in 2007. However the average airfare for U.S. stabilized in 2007 due to a combination of factors including the expansion of low fare models and the behavior of travelers who book their trips further in advance by taking advantage of lower, advance purchase fares.

Herve Sedky, Vice President and General Manager, Global Advisory Services, American Express Business Travel, says: “Companies can achieve savings in this environment through a well managed, dynamic travel and entertainment program allowing the flexibility to adjust their travel policies in real-time accordance with fast-moving industry changes“.

American Express Business Travel has recently added Change Management as a consulting competency. A practice area that offers best practices for monitoring and influencing traveler behavior to improve compliance to corporate policies and procedures.
Frank Schnur, Vice President, Advisory Services, American Express Business Travel, says incremental cost savings made possible through this new practice area can range between 11 percent and 33 percent of a company’s total air spend.

Below data from American Express Business Travel’s analysis on business travel cost for (more…)

As in-flight cell phone service has been blocked so far by Federal Aviation Administration, increasingly airlines in the U.S. are poised to offer wireless Internet access inside their planes.

By making use of a variety of technologies, the airlines are aiming to offer people in-flight same capability they enjoy at home or in the office.
Analysts predict business travelers will like the service; a recent Forrester Research survey showed 55 percent of travelers on flights of four hours or more said they would be interested in paying for in-flight wireless access.

San Francisco Chronicle reports on the status of in-flight wireless Internet access for U.S. carriers.
- Alaska Airlines: Testing wireless Internet access this summer
- American Airlines: Testing service on 15 planes by mid-year
- Continental: Testing limited wireless next year
- JetBlue: Currently testing one plane offering limited Yahoo e-mail, IM chat and BlackBerry e-mail service
- Southwest Airlines: Testing service on four planes in late summer
- Virgin America: Testing service late this year
Regular Wi-Fi service could begin on many of the airlines by the end of this year.

- Costs -
The cost of the domestic Wi-Fi service is still being worked out. Most of carriers are working with their technology suppliers to set pricing. Aircell, which is providing the wireless service for American and Virgin America, is looking at charging $12.95 for flights longer than three hours and less for shorter trips.

- Revenue opportunities -
Wi-Fi could end up becoming a new source of revenue for airlines. A few examples: Virgin America is using the new connectivity to provide Internet access to its seatback entertainment systems; Virgin is also tapping game developers to create networked games that can be played by passengers in the same plane and by travelers on different flights.

- Workload for flight attendants -
Flight attendants likely will have to field technical questions for the first time. They’ll also have to police against passengers viewing inappropriate content online. Example of inappropriate use could be users trying to download large files. As Skype and other Internet phone services will be disabled to ensure peace and quiet in the cabin. (source)

Despite about 20 hotels were scheduled to open in Manhattan in 2008, no one of them seems to be aiming at luxury segment. With one exception, the Mark Hotel, at 77th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan, which reopens later this year after an extensive renovation. Its room rates will start at around $1,000 a night.

(photo by atomicshark licensed under
the Creative Commons license).

The New York Times quoted Bjorn Hanson, who tracks the hotel industry for PricewaterhouseCoopers, saying about hotels opening in Manhattan in 2008: “They’re either very small, or they’re not at the price point the Mark will be at,”. He adds “it is still a very positive time to open a hotel in Manhattan, especially at the high end.”

James Sherwin, who recently took the job of general manager at Mark Hotel, said one of his goals would be to keep prices from slipping.
He explains: “Today, hotels are likely to lower prices whenever demand softens. But by doing you potentially take in people who aren’t necessarily the caliber that the business is based on.” In short, he said, “I’m a great believer in, if necessary, letting the occupancy drop a bit, but keeping your rates as you wish.”

Mr. Senbahar, co-owner of Mark Hotel, says: “People are willing to spend the money, but you’ve got to make it stress-free for them. That’s basically the game plan.”

Mark hotel won’t have to manage its own dining room because it has formed a partnership with Sant Ambroeus, an Italian restaurant on Madison Avenue, which will open a branch inside the hotel. (source)