Business Travel Tips

Air passenger traffic results for September, published by International Air Transport Association (IATA), show passenger traffic recorded a 5.6% year over year growth as air freight fell 2.7% compared to September 2010.

In August the passenger traffic increase was 4.6% year-on-year.
The largest traffic increase was reported by Latin American carriers (+10.6%), the smallest growth was posted by North American carriers (+1.2%).

Freight demand decreased for a fifth consecutive month, recording year-over-year contraction (-2.7%) stronger than the decline (-2.4%) recorded in August.
The freight demand trend reflects the fall of business and consumer confidence.
IATA said they are also expecting a general weakening in passenger traffic towards the end of 2011.

Egencia, the travel management company owned by Expedia, Inc., unveiled its Corporate Travel Forecast and Hotel Negotiability Index for 2012.
Based on Egencia´s 2012 Global Corporate Travel Forecast, airline average ticket prices (ATPs) and hotel average daily rates (ADRs) for top corporate travel destinations are expected to slightly increase overall in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific next year.

ATPs to top business travel destinations are expected to be:
- Slightly up (4%) for European points-of-sale
- Slightly up (4%) for North American points-of-sale
- Slightly to moderately up (6%) for Asia-Pacific points-of-sale

ADRs in top business travel destinations are expected to be:
- Europe (up 2%)
- North America (up 5%)
- Asia-Pacific (up 7%)

Also Egencia´s 2012 Corporate Travel Forecast shows, through the Advance Purchase Advisory — index that gives an indication of the best booking timeframe and possible savings for advance air ticket purchases — that business travelers should book 22 days or more in advance for the majority of key business destinations to realise maximum savings. It suggests that booking in advance to Frankfurt and Stockholm, for example, can save as much as 47 percent compared to last-minute bookings.

About travel spend, the survey shows a continued rise in overall travel demand, with 43 percent of European travel buyers (versus 23 percent last year) and 42 percent of North American travel buyers (percentage is flat year-over-year) who have slightly or significantly increased travel over the last six months.

About other travel trends, the study shows that mobile devices are becoming increasingly important to today´s travel managers. 80 percent of European respondents said that mobile devices are moderately important to very important to their travel programmes. According to survey respondents, the most important uses for mobile technology during business travel include:
- Online check-in (77%)
- Check flight status (68%)
- Urgent destination/flight alerts (56%)
- Paperless boarding (56%).

The full Egencia’s report is available here.

Club Carlson offers a special 50% points discount on hotel award nights in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The offer, available only to Club Carlson members, is valid for Friday, Saturday and Sunday stays only through December 15, 2011.

Bookings must be made via clubcarlson.com or via the Member Service Centre in Dublin at +44 207 949 0378.
You must mention the promotional code ‘50REDEEM’ and your Club Carlson number.
Terms and conditions can be found here.

United, Continental and Delta added up to $5 each way to ticket prices for many domestic flights.
United and Continental raised fares by $2, $3 or $5 each way, Delta added up $5 each way on all flights of more than 1,500 miles.

However, if key competitors will not match the increase, the airlines will roll back price hikes.
The biggest Airlines in the U.S. have announced a fare hike about 20 times this year, and about half of them have been withdrawn.

For more than two months the base fares were mostly unchanged, but this is the second fare hike in a week. (source)

Marriott offers 70,000 bonus points after first use of its Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card.

Also those who sign up Marriott Rewards Credit Card get one free night stay at a category 1-4 location, no foreign currency transaction fees and annual fee — $85 value — waived for the first year.

This offer is valid only for first-time Marriott Rewards Credit Card Cardmembers with new accounts.
You can find details of this offer here.