Business Travel Tips

Ritz-Carlton Rewards members will earn one free night certificate if they complete 2 stays at participating Ritz-Carlton Hotels between February 1 and April 15, 2012.

In order to be eligible for the offer you must have been a member of Ritz-Carlton Rewards as of January 13, 2012 or a new member who has not been a member of of the Marriott Rewards program.

To qualify, you have to register or enroll in The Ritz-Carlton Rewards by March 1, 2012.

You may earn up to two free night certificates during the promotion — Feb 1 – Apr 15.
The free night certificate is valid for a Tier 1-3 Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
Details of the promotion are available here.

United Airlines announced it has added Economy Plus seating on all its long-haul international Boeing 757-200 flights. That means economy customers now have the option of six inches of extra legroom.

With the reconfiguration, the aircraft have 16 flat-bed seats in BusinessFirst, 45 seats in Economy Plus and 108 in coach.

The 41 Boeing 757-200s principally operate between Newark Liberty and Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamburg, Lima, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Manchester, Oslo, Paris, Shannon, Stockholm and Stuttgart, and between Washington Dulles and Amsterdam and Paris.
United says customers with premier status in United’s MileagePlus and OnePass frequent-flyer programs may confirm complimentary seat assignments in Economy Plus, when available.

American Airlines will increase flights to Brasil starting June 14.

The number of AA weekly flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and Sao Paulo will be increased from seven times a week to 12 beginning June 14. AA will use the new Boeing 777-300ER on the route.

Also, beginning the same day, AA will expand its service between Miami and Brasilia (from five weekly flights to daily) and between Miami and Belo Horizonte (from five weekly flights to daily).

The carrier will also begin in June new service between Miami and Manaus, using the 160-seat Boeing 737-800.

Beginning May 3, 2012, Air Canada will fly three times a day between Toronto Pearson and New York JFK.

Air Canada Express will operate the new service using a 50-seat CRJ regional jet.

By adding JFK service, Air Canada will be the only carrier that operates to all three major New York City area airports.
Also, the carrier announced that it will increase to hourly its flights to LaGuardia Airport (LGA).

Air Canada will operate a total of up to 38 non-stop return flights a day between Canada — from Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary — and New York City.

STR Global released hotel performance data for 2011.

The three key performance metrics by region in 2011 (year-on-year
measurements) are as follow.

 
The following are highlights of key market performers for 2011 (year-on-year
comparisons).

- Asia Pacific
The largest occupancy increase was recorded in Bangkok, Thailand, +17.6% (to
63.2%) and Shanghai, China, +14.2% (to 65.9%). The largest decrease was reported by Shanghai, China, -11.6% (to 56.6%).

- Americas
Santiago, Chile, reported the largest growth in occupancy with a +9.4% (to 71.5%), followed by Mexico City, Mexico which recorded a +7.9% (to 62.5%). The largest occupancy decrease was in Vancouver, Canada, which reported a -1.9% (to 66.6%).

- Europe
Venice posted the largest — the only double-digit — occupancy increase, +13.8% (to 68.1%); Malmo, Sweden, recorded the largest occupancy decrease, with -7% (to 59.0%), followed by Istanbul, Turkey which posted a -4% (to 70.1%).

- Middle East/Africa
The largest increase in occupancy was recorded by Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, with a 9.9% (to 64.8%), followed by Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a 7% increase (to 75.4%).
Cairo, Egypt, which fell 44.9% (to 36.1%), and Beirut, Lebanon (-12.9% to 56.2%) reported the largest occupancy decreasesin the region.