Corporate Travel e-Newsletter - Summer 2008

Following the success of our Travel Market at The Marriott Tudor Park in May, Medway Travel has launched the Medway Leisure Travel Clinics, and (if your company is located within within reasonable travelling time from Medway Travel) we would like your agreement to bring it to your offices.

If you have a free meeting room, staff room or reception area (or any suitable space!), the Leisure Travel Team would be pleased to visit your offices and spend a couple of hours, ideally over a lunch period meeting with your staff there and discussing their individual holiday plans.

Equipped with brochures, and more importantly, many years' expertise and experience, we are confident our Specialist Consultants can provide the optimum solution for everybody – whether they are looking for a city break, a package holiday or a once in a lifetime experience. For people not sure where to go and looking for inspiration and ideas, this is the perfect opportunity to let Medway Leisure Travel take the hard work out of their choosing their next holiday.

With thousands of ideas and hundreds of holiday solutions under our belts, we can help tailor-make the ideal holiday to match everybody's unique specific requirements.

Experience has shown that staff welcome the opportunity to meet experienced travel consultants like this, avoiding the queues so often encountered in the High Street travel shops.

Angela will be delighted to hear from you if you are interested in having our team visit your offices to meet any of your staff who might wish to take advantage of such an opportunity.

Also, please don't forget that the staff of our corporate clients have complementary preferential membership of our Horizons Travel Club.

Congratulations to Leonard Karens of London E1, who won our eNews subscribers' prize in our 2008 2nd Quarter draw. Every quarter we draw a winning name. The odds are much better than winning the lottery, so anyone who has not subscribed to our free eNews, now is the time to be in with a chance of winning the subscribers' prize draw for the 3rd Quarter 2008

The voucher certificate will have a value of £100, redeemable against any form of holiday (combination of travel and accommodation) booking made through us to the value of £500 or more, and will be valid for a period of 18 months from the date of issue. It will be transferable, providing the winner advises Medway Travel of the name of the eventual recipient.

From a City break to a Cruise, from an all-inclusive package to a tailored holiday, the choice is yours. We have a massive range of outstanding holidays to offer and a team of consultants highly qualified to research and advise on all aspects of your trip. The chances of your being the lucky winner in the next 12 months are better than 1 in 500, so the very best of luck!

Medway Leisure Travel, Holiday Photography Competition

 

Medway Leisure Travel is calling all budding photographers to take part in our exciting travel photography competition which is set to run throughout the summer! The winner will receive an enlarged framed copy of their picture to treasure forever.

Once again we would like to thank all those kind clients who have taken the trouble to respond to our June quality survey. By doing so, you have given us valuable feed-back and guidance on where we should next concentrate our efforts in further improving our overall service.

Before giving you a summary of the results, we would like to congratulate the winner of the responders prize draw. This was for a £100 voucher to be used on any holiday (travel and accommodation) bought through Medway Leisure Travel.

The winner was Diane Robinson from W K Webster, and we hope she enjoys the holiday we look forward to arranging for her.

The results, which asked some 250 bookers and travellers amongst some 100 corporate clients chosen at random, to complete the survey on our website, were again most heartening.

Taking all respondents and averaging all 14 aspects of our service for which they were asked to mark our performance out of 10, the average score was 9.19.

Considering that the guidance given in marking our performance, is a score of 1=unacceptable, 5=good and 10=excellent, it will be challenging to achieve a higher figure next time, but we will certainly be trying to!

Out of the 14, the only elements of service scoring below an average of 9.0 were:

1. Our quotes are competitive/good value for money                8.91
2. We respond effectively to any reported problem                   8.90
3. Our foreign currency service is efficient and good value       8.75

Regarding:
(1) whilst we always try to be competitive, it is perhaps not surprising that some clients are not prepared to give us a top score for this one.
(2) on handling reported problems, we must try harder to get the travel vendors to respond more promptly and constructively, but we are very much in their hands, unless it is a problem for which we are fully responsible – see “Client Concern Reporting” below.
(3) we have recently ceased to provide a forex service, mainly due to the complex and expensive money laundering regulations, making it uneconomic in relation to the very small demand we had for this service.

Over the last several years, the overall score has remained at between 8.9 and 9.3, so our 9.19 this year reinforces both the credibility of the result and reassures us we are on the right track in terms of achieving a consistently high quality of service.

Client Concern Reporting

As an essential part of our ISO 9001/2000 programme, we have a tough client concern reporting procedure, whereby any concern we hear of is the subject of an action report. This is held live and used internally to track the progress of the necessary corrective actions and communications, until finally signed off by department managers and then the MD.

Over the last 6 months, out of nearly 5000 travel bookings transacted, 2.7 per thousand were the subject of a client concern regarding some aspect of Medway Travel’s work, and 4.3 per thousand related to the service provided by a travel vendor. This compares with 3.8 and 4.8 for the 2nd half of 2007, respectively.

Paul Julius (our MD) explained the analysis to the whole team, at a recent staff meeting, and said that our next target must be to achieve better (less) than 2.5 per thousand down to Medway Travel fault, but this will not lessen our keenness to learn about any problems our clients may encounter! It is only by learning of them, that we are able to address them and learn to do even better.

Directly connected to Heathrow’s new Terminal 5, the 605-bedroom Sofitel London Heathrow opened recently and will be one of the largest luxury airport hotels and meetings and events venues in Europe.
 
Each of the hotel’s four room categories (Classic, Superior, Luxury and Suites) offers bespoke MyBed concept, a Smart desk housing “plug-ins” for the latest technology, satellite television and movie choices, Wi-Fi connection, direct dial telephone and safes. All bathrooms have separate bath and walk-in shower units.
 
Guests will enjoy moving through the hotel from area to area, from the warm and inviting comfort of the Lobby Lounge with its own floating fireplace leading then on to Sphere, the Lobby Bar, through large elegant pivot doors.
 
Opposite Sphere is Vivre, the hotel’s main restaurant, a buzzy dining experience, with clear views onto each vibrant kitchen as staff serve at the Wok Station, Pizzeria and Rotisserie. Brasserie Roux, in consultation with French master chef Albert Roux, will offer a stylish French dining experience.
 
Tea 5, the Tea Salon, will be a treat for those who fancy things beautiful and exquisite – a feast of sweets beautifully displayed in delicately designed feature forms and a variety of exotic teas from around the world.
 
The Library Bar is the cosy corner of the ground floor. A contemporary cutting edge funky Bar with its Folly Bar feature and a raised area tucked away with very comfy ‘clubby’ seating throughout.
 
The Meetings and Events facility boasts 45 meeting rooms, the largest accommodating 1700 theatre style or 1000 in dinner dance; purpose-built tiered theatre for 117 delegates and three state-of-the-art Executive boardrooms with private dining facilities.
 
Sofitel London Heathrow also offers 400 car parking spaces underground, an internal Avenue with retail shops and luxury state-of-the-art spa facilities including six treatment rooms and gym and thermal suite including a vitality pool.
 
For all your hotel bookings, contact us. Remember we do not levy a transaction fee if your booking is made at the same time as you book the related airfare. This new Sofitel could be ideal for your outward journey if you have an early morning start and want to avoid the unpredictable congestion of the M25

Small and medium sized UK businesses are paying scant attention to budgets when booking hotels for their staff and it seems many don’t bother to negotiate preferential rates.

These are the findings of a recent survey which discovered surprisingly outdated procurement practices amongst the country’s smaller companies.

It also discovered that many companies feel that duty of care towards their employees while travelling, is not high on their priority list, despite tough new corporate manslaughter laws recently placed on the statute book. These require companies to look after staff on business trips. Foe example, one in six has no way of finding an employee on business should an emergency arise.

The survey found that one in three companies does not actively negotiate terms and rates, one in two does not set a specific budget and stick to it, one in three says a robust purchasing process is not important and one in ten says employee duty of care is irrelevant to them.

More than half of the companies surveyed also had “no idea” how much they spent each year on hotels.

The survey showed staff found the booking process tedious and time consuming. More than a third described the booking process as frustrating. One in five said they thought making and managing a booking could take between 30 minutes and two hours, with a third saying they make ten bookings a month.

With company margins tightening, SMEs are facing even greater budgetary and resource pressures. The research shows that, due to limited understanding, insufficient time or misconceptions, a large number of SMEs are not following best practice procurement when buying and booking overnight accommodation, meetings and events, a fact that is likely to be causing them to waste significant time and money.

If on the other hand, you booked your hotels through Medway Travel, we would almost certainly save you time, get better rates, help to enforce corporate policy, know where your travellers are and be able to provide MI. And all this is without any transaction fee, if your hotel bookings are made with a flight booking for the same trip. So please discuss your accommodation requirements with our consultants.

If you are not familiar with the complex layout of Heathrow's facilities, it may be worth orientating yourself, before you get into the rush and bustle of the place itself.

All you need to know about facilities at Heathrow is here, from cafés and currency exchanges to prayer rooms and porters.
 
Check-in is on the first floor in Terminals 1 and 4, the ground floor in Terminals 2 and 3, and the top floor of Terminal 5.

For Terminals 1 - 4, find the check-in zone using the information screens near the entrance. Check-in zones are clearly marked by illuminated yellow cubes.

Terminal 5 passengers can use any of the 96 self-service check-in kiosks or staffed check-in desks.

If you or your colleagues have plans to visit any overseas trade fair in the future, please contact us as soon as possible about your arrangements for travel and accommodation, as the earlier we can make the bookings for you, the lower the cost of the airfares will be, and the greater the selection of hotel accommodation available.

We would also suggest you take a look at our website Trade Fairs page  from time to time, to help with your forward planning, and then look to our APTT service to ensure you get the best accommodation rates and locations.

September 2008

1st – 2nd  India Oil & Gas Review Symposium &  International Exhibition      Mumbai, INDIA

Focuses on new products and technology
not yet introduced in the Petroleum industry.

3rd – 5th  World of Food China                    Shanghai, China

International Exhibition & Conference for
the Food & Beverage Industry

3rd – 7th   Beijing International Book Fair             Beijing, CHINA

Pre-eminent event for the business of books
in all formats, and the products, services and
education that supports the buyers and sellers
of books.

5th – 8th     Pret A Porter                      Paris, FRANCE

A comprehensive fashion event covering a
wide range of lifestyle fashion products.

7th – 9th  World Dairy Expo              Heilongjiang, CHINA

World Dairy Expo & Summit is regarded as
one of the most important platforms for
exchanges, cooperation & trading by domestic
and international dairy professionals.

17th – 19th  HOPSPIMedica ASIA              Suntec, SINGAPORE

International Exhibition on Hospital,
Pharmaceutical, Medical & Rehabilitation
Equipment & Supplies

28th – 1st Oct   InterCool                        Düsseldorf, GERMANY

International Trade Fair Frozen Food,
Ice Cream, Technology

October 2008

2nd – 4th   Book Fair  Azerbaijan                Baku, AZERBAIJAN

A full range of products and services,
educational programs, and networking
opportunities make this a must-attend event
for book industry professionals.

4th – 19th     Paris Motor Show               Paris, FRANCE

With all the big names in passenger cars,
commercial vehicles, heavy duty and garage
equipment, spares and automobile accessories
being present, offering you a perfect chance
to show case your products.

6th – 9th   Ausplas                 Melbourne, Australia

Largest & longest-running trade event for
the plastics industry in the Southern
Hemisphere.

15th – 17th    International Foodtec India              New Dehli, INDIA

India’s No 1 Trade Fair for Food Processing
& Packaging, Ingredients, Beverages, Cooling
and Refrigeration

21st – 25th  Glasstec                  Düsseldorf, GERMANY

International Trade Fair with Glass
Technology Live – Special – Show & Symposium

November 2008

6th – 9th       Transpotech             Cairo, Egypt

The only commercial vehicle show bringing
together buyers and sellers from around the
World.

11th – 13th       China International Citrus Exposition             Hunan, CHINA

Foreground analysis on international citrus
industry, the present situation and developing
trends of china citrus industry, new deep
processing technologies of citrus products,
new marketing thoughts on citrus products.

19th – 21st    INTERauto 2008              Cologne, GERMANY

A niche event catering for the international
automotive interiors design industry.

19th – 22nd        MEDICA          Düsseldorf, GERMANY

International Trade Fair with Congress
World Forum for Medicine

December 2008

3rd – 6th   Vehicle Manufacturing & Automotive             Jakarta, INDONESIA

Technology Indonesia
Dedicated international showcase exhibition
& conference for vehicle dynamics technologies
& components.

5th – 7th       GlassTech India                     New Delhi, INDIA

International Glass Products, Glass
Manufacturing, Processing & Materials Exhibition

January 2009

11th – 14th        Arabplast                       DUBAI

International Plastic & Rubber Industry
Trade Show

February 2009

4th – 6th      Fruit Logistica            Berlin, GERMANY

Provides an opportunity for industries
involved in fruit trading to present their range
of services from growing to selling

March 2009

3rd – 6th   Embedded in Munich               Munich, GERMANY

The best place to exhibit everything from
software, hardware and components to
systems integration and development platforms.

 

PLEASE NOTE:

We have just started to secure client reservations for the Fruit Logistica event in Berlin although it is not until February 2009, but it is best to book well in advance to get best rates and most convenient hotels.
If you are interesting in attending this event, please contact us now in order that we can secure the best accommodation availability and prices for you.

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Also, don't forget, if there are a number of you travelling together, there are major savings possible for groups of 9 or more, when we negotiate group rates with the airlines. Click here  to see more about our Group travel

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) is making another attempt to overturn a US Supreme Court ruling which allows US Customs officials the authority to inspect travellers’ computers (and other electronic devices), examine and copy any data, and even seize the unit.

This follows its first attempt in June 2007 - after two of its members had laptops seized, one of which was confiscated for a year – but it believes Congress has taken an interest in the issue and hopes its second attempt will receive a better reception.

The ACTE  position is straightforward. Computers and other electronic devices are an extension of an individual’s thoughts and expressions. They should not be regarded as luggage or briefcases.
Concerns about how confiscated data is stored by the US government, how long it is kept for, and who has access to it, have also been repeatedly expressed. 

There are serious implications here for travellers who are carrying trade secrets, reporters with sources listed in their computers, and individuals who may lose access to critical data for which there may be no copies. There is also a question of economics. Some companies would be compelled to change business plans if they thought their strategies had been compromised by a laptop seizure. The age of electronic data is creating new circumstances for which greater consideration must be made.

One immediate solution to this problem and that of having copies of important documents (commercial or travel papers) always available, is provided by a company with whom Medway Travel has recently established a commercial agreement – see article on Securing Accessible Data, in this issue.

A stark warning of further US airline collapses has been given as high oil prices increased their yearly costs by some $30 billion.

A recent study estimates that carriers will only be able to generate $4 billion in fare increases and incremental fees while fuel prices are record highs of $130 a barrel. Without a swift reduction in the price of fuel, the industry is heading for a massive failure that will result in more bankruptcies, including liquidations, the report concludes.

It seems that if oil prices stay anywhere near $130 a barrel, all major legacy airlines will be in default on various debt covenants by the end of 2008 or early 2009.

The report added that as airlines are the primary source of inter-city transportation, critical to US national and local economic development, the flow of human capital, movement of “just-in-time” parts for manufacturing, perishable food and other goods critical to the US economy, the well-being of the whole US economy is at stake.

The top ten US carriers will spend almost $25 billion in higher fuel costs this year over 2007, according to the study. Fuel hedging will offset only $5-$6 billion of the increased fuel costs, so these airlines could lose as much as $9 billion over the next 12 months if the current range of oil prices hold.

Fares will have to rise by 20% across the board just to cover the dramatic hike in fuel costs – but this is not possible given the level of uneconomic seat capacity in the system, the report suggests. Airlines will therefore have to trim capacity by as much at 20% but there is no guarantee that a transition to a smaller, higher fare industry would be successful or sustainable.

Unless there is direct governmental intervention, the likelihood is several airlines will fail, with serious repercussions. The report called on Washington to make the ailing industry a “national policy priority”.

Carriers such as American Airlines, Continental and United have already announced major cuts in an effort to counter the high cost of fuel, but these can only be seen as a tentative start to what is still to come.

All air travel sold by Medway Travel is covered by Airline Failure Insurance, in order to safeguard clients' interests should they be left holding unused or partflown tickets when their carrier ceases to operate.

It is reasonable to assume that a similar study of the European scene would come to similar conclusions about the challenges facing our airlines, but fortunately,  our economies are not yet quite so dependant on air transport as is that of the USA. 

Eurostar travellers will have half hourly services between London and Paris during peak travel times following the operator’s decision to increase daily services.

An 18th service will be added in each direction on the London to Paris route on Mondays to Thursdays from September. Weekend services were also boosted earlier this month, with up to 20 train services available on Fridays from London to Paris and 19 trains coming the other way.

The operator reports increased traffic from areas north of London, thanks to improved through fares introduced earlier this year. It says the travelling public’s keenness to see the newly revamped St Pancras has also helped numbers.

A Eurostar spokesman said they were delighted at the growing numbers of travellers from the regions and they will soon be rolling out more “through fares” in co-operation with other UK train operators. 

The increase in services means there are 24,000 seats available between London and Paris on Mondays to Thursdays, and 30,000 seats on Fridays.

 

In the light of soaring costs, airline cutbacks present a new challenge for frequent flyer programme members.

In the past, one of the chief complaints from readers has centred on the lack of award-seat availability when they needed to travel, but new challenges are emerging. How can members be sure that the airline or route they wish to take will even be operating? If airlines carry fewer fare-paying passengers will they then allocate more award seats to FFP members? On top of all this, there is concern about the rising cost of so-called “free” award tickets.

Go back a few weeks, and who could have predicted that Delta would be axing its Gatwick-New York service (a link for which Delta paid United millions of dollars for the route-rights before “Open Skies” was announced), that American Airlines would ditch Stansted-New York (even though it spent a small fortune on a business class lounge at the Essex airport) or that United would decide to scrap Heathrow-Denver, a route launched amid much publicity only three months ago?

In the current environment, it’s essential to redeem FFP miles on a regular basis. If you don’t, you may well end up with your miles being devalued. One of our clients told us they are saving up for a trip to New York in two years time, but who knows what the award levels will be at that time, let alone the carriers who will be plying the route?

Other challenges for FFP members include the need to take a carrier’s financial viability into account. The issue surrounding Italy’s loss-making flag-carrier Alitalia is a case in point. Alitalia relaunched its FFP on January 1. It’s one of the most generous but it comes at a risk of the airline “going under.”

When an airline fails completely, FFP members lose all their miles and points. On the other hand, if that carrier gets taken over by another, your FFP awards may well be protected but the award-status may change. So the best-case scenario for Alitalia FFP members would be if Air France were to merge with Italy’s national carrier,  both airlines’ schemes would be amalgamated. But if private Italian carrier Air One were to take over Alitalia, it’s not clear what would happen, because the former doesn’t have its own FFP. (Air One is purely a partner in Lufthansa’s Miles and More scheme.)

Another reader-concern focuses on the rising cost of extras, which airlines are imposing on their so-called “free” award tickets. Not content with levying the standard taxes and charges, most airlines are applying oil surcharges. It means British Airways’ extras for a return business class London-Sydney award ticket, now exceed £450.

We believe we have identified a valuable service for travellers needing to access confidential papers whilst travelling. It takes into account such issues as:

1. What if all your papers are lost, when you are travelling?
2. What if Immigration seizes your laptop and retains it for weeks, when all the data you need for your trip is in it? See US Laptop Rules under attack, in this newsletter.
3. Pressures on companies to demonstrate Duty of Care to their employees, to embrace corporate social responsibility, including the Corporate Manslaughter Act
4. Identity theft. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office for years has steadfastly proclaimed that when you travel you should always take photocopies of key documents (passports, tickets, credit card details etc). But this meant people would thereby double the possibility of identity theft. The FCO now suggests that you should store information in a safe digital store.
5. What if your mobile phone is stolen with all your contacts’ ‘phone numbers and other details?
6. What if (as happens in government circles all too often!) you inadvertently leave your laptop containing highly confidential information required for sensitive negotiations, in a cab, or it is confiscated for detailed inspection at immigration?
7. Your expensive equipment makes you a target for mugger-robbers, so not only is all your data stolen, but you are injured and miss all your meetings?

All are nightmare scenarios, you will agree.

For this reason, Medway Travel is now able to offer you access to a provider of a service aimed at obviating all the above – and providing positive benefits too!

So what exactly is this service and why should people use it, how could it help? It is supported by an ultra-safe computer system (used for years also by banks) accessed through a secure user-friendly website, designed for people to store and organise electronic copies of important personal or business documents such as passports, tickets, medical information, insurance papers, contracts, financial information, the list is endless - so that whenever and wherever copies are needed, by you or by another user to whom you have given access, they are easily available. 

Basically you need no longer carry everything with you – put it in your secure remote data base and access it anywhere in the world from a PC, laptop etc, deal with it and then close it again. If your laptop packs up or is stolen, it doesn’t matter because the information is actually in your remote data base.

It is also much greener than carrying papers and giving other people photocopies of your key details. On a big scale, that’s the equivalent of not chopping down a lot of trees! 

Finally, the system is independent of your employer so people can change jobs without having to start all over again. Your account is in an individual’s name and nobody can look at its contents except the owner of the account - you.
 
What can I put in my remote data base? Any document – word documents, pictures, photos, PDFs, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and of course copies of key personal items, passports, insurance policies, contracts, Wills etc. It is your personal secure library.
 
Who in particular should use the service? It is particularly helpful for business people who travel, to retain:

1. personal items but also for, say, their travel itineraries,
2. the presentation they are about to make,
3. the highly sensitive business information supporting your negotiations

But anybody concerned with looking after their ‘stuff’ – maybe to have it all in one place safe from prying eyes, the burglar, fire or theft.
 
How safe is the data base? Very. Safety depends upon three aspects - physical, digital and human. The service uses The Bunker and it is right there at the top of security in all of them – it’s a state of the art facility in an ex-MOD nuclear bunker 50 feet underground, with at least four different electricity supplies and run under extremely tight control procedures. The people running it include some of the world’s foremost computer security experts, and their client list is very impressive.
 
If you are interested, please contact Paul@medwaytravel.co.uk and ask for more details

Users of the London Underground will be relieved to hear that at long last, London Underground (LU) is committing to having the first of its air-conditioned trains running by 2010.

Long-suffering passengers enduring overcrowding, have complained that the summer months are stifling deep under the UK capital’s streets, but ambitious plans unveiled by LU could see the introduction of cooler trains in time for the Olympics. 

Recently-elected London Mayor, Boris Johnson, said: “It always perplexed me that boffins could produce mobile phones the size of a credit card, yet passengers would emerge dripping with sweat from Tube trains that lacked air-conditioning. That is why I am chuffed to bits that plans are afoot finally to put these systems on  the Circle, District, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan Line trains. Cooling the Tube does though, remain a major challenge, especially on deeper lines such as the Northern and Piccadilly, where we will continue to strive for a solution to the problem.”

The London Underground is the world’s oldest metro system and was built before air conditioning came into use. Additionally, tunnels were only built with enough space for trains, which means little room for air-conditioning units on the cars and nowhere to release the heat.

As an interim measure this summer, LU will install around 40 portable industrial fans at key stations to improve air-flow. The Victoria line will also see upgrading work start on ventilation shafts to double capacity, while it will continue to use its ground water cooling scheme at Victoria Tube station.

In the meantime, a large number of ventilation shafts and fans, which had previously been allowed to fall into disrepair (why? One cannot help wondering!) are being brought back into service. The LU has recently reported having renewed 50 such fans so far.

Medway 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:

Economy Fares 

“Super-budget” hotel operator Easyhotel has announced a £60 million agreement with Eclipse Hotels to develop ten new properties over the next four years.

Eclipse already operates the Easyhotel Luton under a franchise agreement, along with the forthcoming Easyhotel Heathrow which is due for an October opening.

Sameer Damji, managing director of Eclipse Hotels Group, said: “We are delighted to be playing a major role in Easyhotel’s future development plans and are particularly excited about our next opening at Heathrow in October as well as future plans for our third site, which we hope to open in Liverpool in early 2009.”

Aside from the Eclipse franchise, Easyhotel has three hotels already open in London  as well as an agreement with Nakheel Hotels to rollout the Easyhotel brand across the Middle East and Africa.

Whatever your hotel preferences, our consultants will be pleased to research the most convenient properties for your requirements, within the price range you have in mind.