Corporate travel e-Newsletter - February 2008

Every quarter we draw a winning name. The odds are miles better than winning the lottery (and cost you nothing!), so anyone who has not already done so, now is the time to subscribed to our free e-Newsletter, and be in with a chance of winning the subscribers' prize draw for the 1st quarter 2008!

Congratulations to Sue Jemmett of Planit Holdings plc, Ashford, who was winner of this valuable prize, generously provided by Classic Collection Holidays. We are sure she will thoroughly enjoy her holiday, once she has selected it from the great range of possibilities.

We would like to thank all the many other responders to this competition, and wish them better luck next time.

Like Sue, you could chose to spend a few days of spring or summer in one of the much-loved holiday destinations. With clear blue skies, warm morning sunshine, blossoming trees, fragrant landscapes, bird song carried on a refreshing breeze, a rustling of palm trees and the gentle lapping of waves on the shoreline….. How can you possibly resist booking a Classic Collection Holiday for 2008. However, unlike for Sue, there would be a bill to settle!
 
But Classic Collection Holidays provide competitively priced luxury holidays to a wide range of sought after hotels and charming rural retreats in Bermuda, Portugal, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Dubai. Each holiday is tailor made to your own requirements with flights from your local airport. You are able to choose the flights, from either scheduled, charter or no frills. Private transfers between your arrival airport and hotel are included as standard.

Holidays can be taken over any duration, so if you only have time for a City break in Rome, a golfing weekend to Mallorca or an indulgent Spa package in Cyprus, it can be arranged. For those of you that have more time, maybe 10 nights on the pink beaches of Bermuda or 14 nights exploring Morocco with a twin centre holiday might be just what you are looking for. And don't worry if you like to book at the last minute, at Classic Collection Holidays we can find a holiday to suit your needs no matter how late you book.
 
Lead in prices start from £430 for 7 nights at the Quinta da Penha de Franca, in Funchal, Madeira. All prices are per person based on 2 adults sharing a twin room on a bed and breakfast basis and include daytime scheduled flights and private taxi transfers.

Medway Leisure Travel is easily able to give quotations for Classic Collection Holidays incorporating business class seats on scheduled flights and room upgrades to sea views, junior suites and suites, so do contact us for that well earned break!. Better still, have you considered adding a break to a buisness trip, and taking your partner with you? We would be delighted to make the arrangements for you.

 

As we have already reported, Medway Travel has moved from the GDS supplier – Sabre - that we have been using for the last three years for our computer reservation system, to Galileo.

The various GDS companies tend to leap-frog each other in their technology and productivity potential and, as Medway Travel is keen always to have the best, this is the forth time in 15 years that we have changed supplier.

We apologise if the time taken for necessary staff training over the last few weeks in preparation for the change, has caused any reduction in our service levels, but the consultants have all worked very hard to try to maintain our normal high standards in spite of colleagues’ absence on the required courses.

From our readers’ point of view, there will be little obvious change, except that our on-line itinerary system now has a new link and it looks a little different. Nevertheless, Viewtrip, as it’s called, is still very straightforward to use and provides provides 24/7 access to your travel plans as well as links to many other sources of useful travel information.

The detailed display lets you view air, car and hotel reservations booked by Medway Travel. Click here to find out more.

Hilton is the number one hotel brand in Western Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin-America, according to a recent major survey.

The chain came top in all regions, except for the Nordic area, where it came second to Radisson SAS. Hilton's recent sale of Scandic in the region, will make it difficult for it to take pole position in this market.

The survey indicates that Hilton records highest “top of mind” mentions of any hotel brand in all regions, including Nordic, and also is the most preferred brand based on the first and second choice of business guests.

It is a fantastic achievement and quite clearly speaks for the strength of the brand in its sector. It will clearly not be easy for any other hotel brand to challenge Hilton's current global position.

In Western Europe, on a country by country basis, Ibis took the lead in both France and Germany while NH Hotels dominated in Spain.

In Asia Pacific, Hilton had to give way to stronger local brands in some individual countries like Shangri-La in China, Taj in India and Fiesta Americana in Mexico.

These surveys are conducted annually amongst more than 12,000 hotel business guests, and focus on hotel brand awareness, usage, preference, and image perception.

They also examine the hotel selection and reservation process, hotel and travel internet websites and other marketing issues.

Medway Travel consultants are always pleased to research your accommodation requirements and find the most suitable and best value hotels for your trips, from the tens of thousands of properties (including of course Hilton hotels), for many of  which we have better than corporate rates. This is free of any transaction fees, if booked at the same time as your related airfares.

 

If you are looking for a venue to hold your next company conference, and want something a little more inspiring than your ‘average’ hotel space, then you may find The Conservatory Painshill Park in Surrey to be just what you are looking for.

Located less than 20 miles from central London, and within the M25, there can be fewer more unique settings for your corporate event than The Conservatory; a stunning marquee situated in the tranquil surroundings of Painshill's private Walled Garden. Finished to the highest specification, it includes an integrated speech and music sound system, with PA and microphones, customised lighting, a blackout ceiling and stage. Breakout rooms can be arranged on request, as can a free shuttle service to local accommodation just a mile away – ideal if you want to incorporate a champagne reception or gala dinner with your meeting.

Whilst at the Conservatory, why not explore the surrounding acres of rolling parkland and 18th century features which lend themselves perfectly to teambuilding activities, tours and treasure hunts – the ideal way to spend the afternoon following your meeting.

Day Delegate Packages start from just £40+VAT per person, and are available for up to 400 guests, and what’s more the events team at Painshill will do their absolute best to work within your budget to create a fantastic event.

Please contact our Groups and Events specialists for more details and to discuss your requirements. We have access to hundreds of venues in the South East, and can shortlist conference centres worldwide, in order to match your needs with the ideal venue, or perhaps you would prefer to look through the Groups and Events section of our website first?

London City Airport handled a record of more than 2.9 million passengers in 2007, which represents a rise of 23% over the previous year.

Lufthansa launched twice-daily flights to Berlin-Tegel on January 14 and British Airways plans new routes to Nice, Barcelona, Warsaw and Amsterdam this spring.

The airport is spending £30 million constructing four new aircraft parking stands and the departure lounge is being reconfigured to allow for additional passengers to be accommodated. Both projects are forecast for completion within 2 or 3 months. Eleven airlines will then serve 33 destinations across the UK and Europe.

A planning application seeking an increase in flight movements to 120,000 was submitted last August. This increase will create an additional 1,000 jobs at the airport.

The docklands airport's chief executive Richard Gooding said: "There is no doubt that passengers all across London and the South East are waking up to the options offered by this airport; not least the attractive five minutes taken to exit the terminal from the steps of the aircraft. New services commenced during the year to Belfast, Glasgow, Groningen, Madrid, Nice, Oslo and Vienna. Additionally, the Docklands Light Railway services that commenced in December 2005 have continued to prosper with over 50 per cent of all passengers now using the link."

London City therefore presents a really good alternative to Heathrow for many of our clients, although it still may not immediately come to mind when planning your business trips, so do ask our consultants to provide the London City options, if they could be of interest.

BA announces direct flights to Hyderabad

British Airways is to start flights from Heathrow to the Indian city of Hyderabad from October 27, 2008. There will be five flights each week on a Boeing 777 aircraft.

The airline already flies to Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Bmi drops Heathrow-Inverness air link

Bmi is dropping a daily link from the north of Scotland to London and trimming frequency between Leeds/Bradford and Heathrow. The airline's Inverness to Heathrow service will cease from the March 30 start of summer flying schedules, as will a late evening flights between London and Leeds/Bradford, leaving four flights a day.

Passengers with reservations on services which are being suspended, will be offered a full refund or re-booked on another service.

However, the new timetable will see the introduction of an additional late evening service between Heathrow and Manchester, taking the total to eight flights a day, as well as an improved schedule for the three times daily service between Heathrow and Durham Tees Valley.

BMI acknowledges the efforts that Inverness Airport has made to assist Bmi in the continuation of the route but load factors have not been sufficiently high to sustain the service.

Continental to start Heathrow flights 

Continental Airlines will start flights from London Heathrow to New York Newark and Houston from March 29.
The daily New York flights will operate using 283-seat 777-200s, while the Houston services will use a 174-seat 767-200ER.

The airline will continue to offer twice daily flights from Gatwick to New York and daily to Houston, as well as seasonal daily flights to Cleveland.

BA to serve New York from London City

An all-business class service between London City Airport and New York is to be established by British Airways. The new flights will operate on Airbus A318 aircraft with 32 seats onboard with a double daily frequency.

The move to fly transatlantic from the London Docklands airport will pitch BA against all-business class carriers Silverjet from Luton and Eos from Stansted. Once onboard, BA promises its customers will experience all the benefits of its business class cabin including a fully flat bed.

BA will offer a 15 minute check-in for customers in both London and New York. London City's size means that it is a quick and easy airport to use and, with a maximum of 32 passengers onboard, getting on and off the aircraft should be a smooth process.

The A318 is a good aircraft for these flights. It is capable of operating at London City and is large enough to provide the number of business class seats required to make this a viable operation. However, it will require a fuel stop although BA has not drawn attention to this yet, nor where it will be. Flight time will be some 2 hours longer than its current Heathrow based flights.

The date of the first flight has not been disclosed nor the price of tickets.

Singapore opens new lounges at Changi

Singapore Airlines’ premium customers can now experience two new lounges at Changi airport’s recently opened Terminal 3.

1)  The Silver Kris lounge

This is available to premium passengers and PPS Club (Priority Passenger Service) members.
The lounge offers views of the airport with floor-to-ceiling windows set into marble walls. Facilities include wifi, 36 workstations with internet access, Italian-leather “slumberettes”, shower facilities, food counters, bars and TV, as well as a comprehensive choice of newspapers and magazines. There are separate facilities for business and first class customers.

First class customers have access to a separate first class check-in lane, complete with porters on hand to help with luggage. In a bid to smooth the hassle on arrival, the airline has set aside a dedicated first class immigration lane, allowing these passengers to bypass the main immigration channel.

All SIA business class passengers will have access to the business section of the lounge, as will PPS members travelling with SQ or Silk Air. Passengers who are PPS Solitaire members, or are travelling first class with either airline, will have access to the first class section.

2) The KrisFlyer Gold lounge

This offers KrisFlyer Gold and Star Alliance Gold members travelling in economy, access to a dedicated lounge for up to 154 customers. Wifi is available as well as food stations, television and internet workstations.

SAS raises London-Denmark frequency

SAS is to add an extra daily flight between Heathrow and Copenhagen during the summer.

The airline will operate seven flights a day to the Danish capital between March 30 and October 24.

The expansion of the Heathrow service compliments SAS's existing twice daily link from London City Airport to Copenhagen. It will bring the airline's services from London to Copenhagen to nearly 60 flights a week.

The addition of the new service now takes the number of SAS flights out of London airports to Copenhagen to 50% more than British Airways.

SAS operates a one-way fare structure allowing passengers to mix and match the airports they travel from. They can fly out from London City and return via Heathrow for example, as well as allowing surface connections (car rail ferry etc) while in Scandanavia, and a departure to the UK from a different city from that of their arrival, for no cost penalty.

BA expands to Brazil and Caribbean next winter

British Airways is to increase the number of flights from the UK to South America next winter.

Buenos Aires will be served daily from Heathrow while non-stop flights to Rio de Janeiro will operate from October 26. The airline is raising the number Heathrow-Buenos Aires flights from four a week to a daily frequency and will fly non-stop to Rio instead of via Sao Paulo, cutting more than two hours off the journey time.

Flights from Gatwick to St Lucia will increase from two to three a week and operate non-stop rather than flying via Antigua, saving two hours' flight time.

Services from Gatwick to Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago will operate via St Lucia rather than Barbados.

Caribbean Airways' code share with BA on the Port of Spain route will incorporate the new flights via St Lucia as well as four weekly Barbados flights.

Antigua and Barbados will continue with seven and nine flights respectively each week from Gatwick.

Rio is traditionally a leisure destination but business travel to the city, particularly in the energy sector, is rising. Non-stop flights mean more available seats on the route and faster flight times

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If you would like to know more about any of the above, or would like to make a booking, please contact us and we will be pleased to help.

M edway Travel has access to one of the largest portfolios of specially negotiated contract fares open to any travel agent in the country. This means we can - subject to availability at the time of booking - offer unusually low prices for many long-haul and certain European routes.

This month's examples are:

In the unfortunate situation that something goes badly wrong anywhere in the World (such as a terrorist attack or an earthquake), or in the case of an airline strike, don't dispair! Medway Travel has the ability, using latest technology, to access instantly all our live bookings by date of arrival, accommodation booked or dearture, so that we can identify any passengers likely to be affected, advise their companies and provide assistance in a hasty departure, or alternative routings and flights, if that is desired.
 
As a small local example, many readers will remember the recent problem at Heathrow, when one of the two runways was closed for a considerable period. Our consultants were able quickly to identify and contact the passengers who would be affected and warn of any imminent delays. In quite a number of cases, we rebooked travellers to alternative arrival and departure airports and they were able to reach their destinations on time to complete their business as planned.

It is when there is a disruption to the normal pattern of events that the support of a good travel management partner is perhaps most obvious, but there are many aspects to the services we provide that we believe justify the modest fees we charge!

In the survey of 98 travel managers and others, 75% said the much talked about mergers of US airlines are bound to lead to higher prices and worsening passenger service.

Delta Air Lines is considering a takeover of either Northwest Airlines or United Airlines, a unit of UAL. If those combinations do not work out, Continental Airlines is expected to consider seeking a merger partner.

If merger talks are successful, the US's six airlines could be reduced to four, with further consolidation in the future. Clearly, big customers are afraid of higher fares with fewer airlines. Nearly every airline chief has said the industry needs to raise fares, and even without mergers the cost of air travel is going up.

In the survey of the travel managers — including a dozen whose departments purchase more than $75 million in airline tickets each year — 74% said they would expect higher fares and greater difficulty in negotiating discounts, whilst 53% said they would worry about a decline in service, which many already rate as bad.

Mergers would certainly mean reducing the number of flights in some markets, and shrinking or eliminating smaller hubs.

Come what may, our consultants at Medway Travel will continue to search for best value in the trips they research for you!

 

Whilst our consultants are always pleased to make your car rental bookings, if your plans change at the last minute and you unexpectedly find you need a car at your destination, you may find this new service to be rather convenient.

Europcar has launched a 'unique' airside service providing fast-track vehicle rental for customers travelling from Gatwick and Edinburgh into many of the key UK airports.

"Now customers can check-in for their car rental before they board the aircraft, safe in the knowledge that the rental agreement will be pre-printed and the vehicle will be allocated before they even take off," said Europcar operations director, David Alexander. "When they arrive at their destination, they just sign the paperwork and drive away."

The system ensures that once a reservation has been made at the departure airport, the renting location will be contacted to confirm the customer's requirements and verify pre-qualification, making sure the service is smooth at the destination airport.

Customers who will have been given a pre-filled rental agreement at their departure airport, can then go straight to the Europcar location on arrival at the other end and collect their vehicle, making sure there are no delays to their journey.

Car-rental firm Hertz is offering customers in Dubai the chance to go on a meditation course in a bid to cut accidents on the emirate’s roads. Each month five customers will be offered a place on a three-day relaxation course, aimed at making drivers “calmer, more clear-minded, focused and patient”. The workshop is also said to help drivers sleep more soundly - although hopefully not while at the wheel!

(Perhaps the AA should do the same for those who regularly do battle on the M25! – editor)