Business Travel Tips

Marriott offers members of Elite LANPASS – LAN’s frequent flyer program — free Silver status of its Marriott Rewards loyalty program.

Benefits Marriott Rewards Silver Elite members enjoy include:
- An Elite reservation and customer service phone line;
- Priority room selection and late check-out privileges;
- The Ultimate Reservation Guarantee;
- Exclusive Elite-only rewards;
- Weekend discounts, gift shop savings and more.
Find out promotion details here.

According to a survey released last week wealthier travelers are feeling increasingly unhappy about the service they get from U.S. carriers.

The Los Angeles Times cites a survey conducted by research firm PhoCusWright showing that passengers with annual household incomes of $100,000 or more are nearly twice as likely as travelers from households making less than $50,000 a year to have negative feelings toward their airline.

The study reveals business travelers and affluent fliers said they didn’t feel they were getting their money’s worth.

Of the 1,559 fliers questioned in the survey, 32% of those with incomes of more than $100,000 had somewhat negative or very negative sentiments toward their airline. This figure decreases to 17% when it comes to passengers with incomes of less than $50,000. (source)

A study on how attitudes and needs at airport are changing shows that the major problems passengers are still suffering whilst at the airport include checking-in, collecting and dropping off baggage and passing through security checks.
The report, “Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow“, is based on data from a survey conducted by JD Power on behalf of Amadeus that questioned 2, 978 global travelers.

Key findings of the survey reveal passengers would like see improvements in the following areas.

- Disruption management and baggage handling: 43% of travelers would like to see improvement in the area of disruption management with a 34% having suffered problems in baggage handling including delays when checking-in, depositing or picking up baggage.

– Information services: 40% of travellers would adopt services that delivered real-time information to their mobile devices on flight and baggage status, as well as directions at the airport.

- Self-service options at airport: more than 30% of respondents would love to see greater self-service options including the ability to purchase additional services at airport kiosks and self-tagging options for luggage.

The study also predicts the (more…)

Conrad Hotels and Resorts is offering a free night to those who meet minimum night stay requirement for stays booked between March 1 and June 12, 2011 and completed by June 30, 2011.

Minimum paid stay requirement is two to six nights, it will vary by individual hotel.

Rate must be booked at least 3 days in advance of stay.

Free night, which includes room rate and corresponding room taxes for the same room type and in the same hotel as stay, must be consumed on last night of the stay in which it was earned.

This offer is not applicable to existing reservations.
Details of the promotion are available here.

Global hotel bookings recorded an 1.1% increase in February 2011 compared to same month last year, according to data released by Pegasus Solutions.
The global average daily rate (ADR) is increased +5% over February 2010. This figure for North America is up by 2.9%.

Hotel rates for business travel in February 2011 recorded an increase of 7% year-on-year.

Global distribution system (GDS) bookings, representing the mostly corporate market, is increased by 23.5% pushing revenue up by 36.8% year-over-year.

Also, data for corporate travel shows an increase in length of stay and booking lead time. This market is also booking more groups and meetings business from corporations of all sizes.