Newsmaker: CWT Taps Amex's Winterton
06.22.2009 - Travel management company Carlson Wagonlit Travel this month announced the appointment of longtime American Express distribution and supplier relations executive Andrew Winterton to the newly created post of president of suppliers, products and technology.
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Justice Dept. Delays Air Antitrust Decision
06.22.2009 - When the U.S. Department of Transportation in early April tentatively granted antitrust immunity to Star Alliance members United Airlines, Lufthansa, Air Canada and incoming member Continental Airlines, the carriers expected DOT to meet its May 31 deadline for a final decision. Now, the Department of Justice, at the behest of several Senate Judiciary Committee members, is effectively postponing the final decision in asking DOT to await a joint review on transatlantic aviation competition by European Commission and U.S. authorities.
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More Hotel Vets Join Dolce, Accelerating Its Development
06.22.2009 - Dolce Hotels and Resorts last month continued its evolution from a pure conference center chain with the hirings of former Wyndham Hotels executive Peter Strebel as chief revenue officer, responsible for sales, marketing and North American development, and former Omni Hotels executive Richard Maxfield as chief operating officer. Business Travel News executive managing editor Chris Davis this month sat down with Strebel and Maxfield at an event celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Dolce Basking Ridge's $8 million renovation.
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New Prototypes Squeeze More Rooms Into Embassy, La Quinta
06.22.2009 - Two established hotel brands, Embassy Suites and La Quinta, last month launched new design prototypes that cater to business travelers and allow designers to fit more rooms into a single hotel property.
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BA To Pull Gatwick's Last NY Route, Push Premium Cabins
06.22.2009 - British Airways is pulling its Gatwick-New York route, the last remaining service from London's second airport to the Big Apple, because of disappointing premium traffic, yet corporate clients have reaffirmed their support for the forthcoming launch of New York service from London City Airport, head of U.K. and Ireland sales Richard Tams said.
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Travelex, MasterCard Launch Prepaid International Card
06.22.2009 - Foreign exchange and international payments supplier Travelex has launched a prepaid card product with MasterCard processing capabilities that it says will allow corporations to gain savings and enact controls around international travel and entertainment spending.
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Oneworld Alliance Ups European Small Business Sales
06.22.2009 - The Oneworld airline alliance enjoyed a significant increase in sales of its Businessflyer fares for small European businesses last year, but remains blocked from negotiating meaningful deals for larger corporations by lack of antitrust immunity.
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BTN's 2009 Business Travel Survey: David Meyer on CPN Radio
06.01.2009 - BTN editor-in-chief David Meyer stopped by Nielsen Business Media's Commercial Property News' CPN Radio to discuss the June 8 Business Travel Survey Issue with CPN editor-in-chief Sue Silverman. Listen to the audio clip here.
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BTN's 2009 Business Travel Survey: PDFs, Charts For BTNonline Subscribers
06.01.2009 - BTNonline subscribers may download the 2009 Business Travel Survey in its entirety as a PDF, including all charts, supplier rankings and analysis, by clicking here. Individual sections are available for download below.
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2009 Business Travel Survey: Year Of Change Ushers In Uncertainty
06.01.2009 - Last year, our assessment in this space was, "Dire circumstances have created an environment that demands change." We had no idea at that time of the extent of the changes that lay ahead.
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2009 Business Travel Survey: Agencies Face Transaction Drops
06.01.2009 - As the recession took hold in 2008, travel management companies found themselves on rocky footing, battling the effects of stark transaction and sales volume drops that accelerated throughout the year. Last year also saw agencies responding to vigorous account activity as corporations looked to optimize financial arrangements, speed TMC implementation times and receive more timely and accurate data and reporting.
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2009 Business Travel Survey: U.S. Airlines Swap Fuel Prices For Demand Crisis
06.01.2009 - U.S. airlines ended 2008 in a much smaller and less profitable industry than the one that they entered, dropping about 9 percent of capacity, watching seven smaller airlines liquidate, shedding nearly 28,000 full-time jobs and approaching $20 billion in net losses.
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TSA Eyes Secure Flight Clarity
06.22.2009 - The Transportation Security Administration this month clarified aspects of the Secure Flight program, noting that names on boarding passes do not have to exactly match those on government-issued photo IDs, in an attempt to overturn some misperceptions about the program.
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Inside Track: Rearden Offering Amtrak Content Via Wandrian
06.22.2009 - Rearden Commerce late last month on its Personal Assistant online booking platform began providing Amtrak content through an application programming interface connection via rail IT services provider Wandrian. Rearden claims to be the first online booking tool with such a connection to Amtrak, which can be booked online at its own Web site or through other self-booking tools via all global distribution systems.
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Extended Stay Tiers Push Growth As Corp. Demand Drops
06.22.2009 - Extended stay hotel companies, facing occupancy and rate declines less steep than those seen in the overall hotel industry, continue to pursue aggressive growth plans for both their established and newly introduced extended stay brands.
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Hotel CEOs: Softness Holds, Rebound Later
06.22.2009 - Chief executives from such major multibrand hotel companies as Accor, Choice and Starwood this month said corporate hotel rates recently negotiated downward are unlikely to increase anytime soon, and that they expect travel program cost-saving measures to remain long after the economy recovers, but they also expressed confidence that group and transient business travel ultimately would bounce back.
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Profiles In Travel Management: Green Efforts Prep Co. To Focus On Cutting Cost
06.22.2009 - Spurred by a companywide initiative to cut carbon emissions by 15 percent by 2012, software company Symantec reduced travel by 15 percent year-over-year after installing Hewlett-Packard Halo remote conferencing technology in September 2007.
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GetThere, Seeking Further Rail Content, To Add Eurostar
06.22.2009 - Corporate clients of the GetThere online booking tool next month will be able to make reservations on cross-channel rail service Eurostar. The launch follows a series of pilots with customers since March. Precise timing of the availability of Eurostar will vary, based on the global distribution system used by clients' appointed travel management company.
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Op-Ed: Now Is The Time To Get Serious About Mandates
06.22.2009 - In countless meetings over the past two decades plus, I've heard the same disappointing response to questions about travel policy enforcement. No matter how logical a best practice in travel management may seem, the refrain of "we don't mandate" or "we're not a mandate culture" basically means "we don't manage travel" or "we don't really manage travel."
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Op-Ed: Babbitt Can Help FAA To Push NextGen Forward
06.22.2009 - Airline passengers should be heartened that the U.S. Senate last month confirmed the appointment of Randy Babbitt to head the Federal Aviation Administration. Babbitt will bring much-needed leadership to the FAA as its role is critical in moving forward key projects that benefit travelers, particularly the Next Generation Air Transportation System air traffic control modernization initiative.
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