Business Travel News - April 6, 2009 - (Page 4)

NEWS GetThere Eyes Demand Curbs BY JAY BOEHMER CARRIERS AWAIT APPROVAL FOR JOINT VENTURES Online booking tool GetThere is bundling together a suite of applications that aims to help companies curb traveler demand, and in the process the booking tool provider—long reliant on transaction revenue—is modifying some pricing elements. The Demand Management suite includes trip requests, travel validation, dynamic messaging, cost center validation, booking notification and pre-trip approval, as well as expense tool integration. Since the suite is geared to help companies cut booking transactions, GetThere intends to charge an annual fee for every profile in the GetThere system on top of transaction fees for bookings. GetThere would not disclose the per-profile cost of the suite. GetThere said clients can choose which components they enable, but pricing is “all in” for clients to use any or all of the technologies, vice president of corporate market strategy and solutions Suzanne Neufang said. Continued on page 9 Sabre Switches Virtually There Users BY SETH HARRIS Continental Airlines hopes to gain regulatory approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation in May for the carrier’s application to form a transatlantic joint venture with United Airlines, Lufthansa and Air Canada, said president Jeff Smisek during the J.P. Morgan Aviation and Transportation Conference in March. Smisek said he doesn’t expect the regulatory process to “pose any insurmountable hurdle to us.” Continental also sees an opportunity for similar joint venture arrangements with Star Alliance carriers for the Pacific markets and Latin American markets, depending on the success of the transatlantic arrangement. Continental expects to officially leave SkyTeam and join the Star Alliance on Oct. 24, after which it hopes to commence its joint venture with United, Lufthansa and Air Canada. Meanwhile, American Airlines CFO Tom Horton noted the “evolving duopoly of SkyTeam and Star”as he discussed American’s bid with British Airways and Iberia to gain immunity through their own joint business agreement. “There are never guarantees,” Horton said, “but we expect approval of our application in the second half of 2009.” INSIDE TRACK MEETINGS REPORT FORECASTS EUROPEAN PRICE FALLS Meetings pricing across Europe will experience widespread decreases throughout 2009 as demand losses at the end of 2008 will accelerate through this year, according to the Grass Roots HBI Meetings Industry Report released in late March. Grass Roots HBI international conference director Robert Bottomley forecasts a year-round pricing reduction of up to 30 percent against the rack rate, which follows a 20 percent decrease in the last two quarters of 2008. The U.K. company’s data showed rates up by less than 2 percent to £161.16, exclusive of valueadded tax, last year compared with 2007. With training and management centers, which saw an average rate jump of 22 percent, removed from the mix, meeting r ates declined more than 3 percent. Average daily delegate rates for 19 major European cities increased from 2007. Grass Roots HBI is forecasting all those cities, except Paris, to see rate decreases this year, including double-digit percentage-point drops in Berlin, Copenhagen, Milan, Rome, Stockholm and Zurich. downloadable mobile application Sabre Travel Network in late Sabre is missing the opportunity “to March switched 30,000 agency sub- add more services like locationscribers to its new Web-based Vir- based services, which is a natural tually There travel information and for an itinerary. itinerary management platform. “Anytime you are going to try and While all of the core functions of do a browser-based service, like linkthe current Virtually There will car- ing over to BA, depends upon the ry over, the new system eliminates speed of the network. Every time the need for users to know their you want to use an application you reservation codes for access, pro- have to refresh a screen,” said Rose. vides segmented views into the itin- “It’s not really the best development erary and uses a Sabre-hosted mo- practice at this point.” bile browser that mirrors the user In the new version, travelers have interface of the desktop site. more control over their profiles and Sabre also has partnered to ac- such preferences as language, flight cess British Airways’ online checkin notification and modes of commusystem through the For the latest breaking news, nication through a sinVirtually There deskgle screen. Travelers see btnonline.com/bn top version. The comnow can access airpany is in discussions with U.S. car- port security wait times through a riers as part of a later online checkin direct data feed from the Transrollout phase, according to product portation Security Administration. marketing manager Bobby Thoms. Other enhancements include Mobile capabilities are not yet MyTrip, a central entry point for available for the BA offering, but travelers to manage their current Thoms said, “It’s a natural extension and past trip itineraries. MyTrip also that, with mobile capabilities, we houses e-invoices for 90 days and ewould check in via the barcode. Dis- ticket information for 13 months afcussions now include the online as- ter trip completion. pect and also extend to mobile.” The Virtually There site receives While the new browser-based mo- about 30 million page views monthbile version is a far cry from the pre- ly. It is available in 17 languages. vious text-based fall 2007 release, The current version has been in use Travel Tech Consulting president since 1999. Norm Rose said that without a ■ sharris@btnonline.com ■ EUROPE HOTELIERS EXPECT LONG DECLINE, BANKRUPTCIES European hospitality executives are bracing for lower levels of business travel, widespread risk of chain bank ruptcies and no near-t erm end to the financial downturn, according to DLA Piper’s 2009 Europe Hospitality Outlook Survey released in March. The survey, based on responses of 261 top executives in the European hospitality industry, showed nearly 70 percent of respondents reporting a significant reduction of business travel amid the downturn, and just over half of those surveyed expect no rebound until 2011. Only 6.5 percent of respondents expect no hotel chain bankruptcies within the nex t year. JUDGE APPROVES SOUTHWEST’S LAGUARDIA SLOT BUY An Indiana bankruptcy court judge overseeing the restructuring of defunct ATA Airlines approved the sale of assets to Southwest Airlines, paving the way for the carrier to launch service out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Southwest in December 2008 agreed to purchase its former codeshare partner’s 14 slots at the airport, which can accommodate seven daily roundtrips. The transaction, which is valued at $7.5 million, was sparked by ATA’s bankruptcy filing last spring (BTNonline, April 3, 2008). 4 Monday, April 6, 2009 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News http://www.btnonline.com/bn http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - April 6, 2009

Business Travel News - April 6, 2009
Contents
Inside Track: Carriers Await Joint Venture Approval
Profiles In Travel Mgmt.: Booz Allen Restructures
Forum: Iwamoto, Whitesage on Recession’s Impact
Aviation: TMCs Deploy FlightStats’ Travel Alerts
Lodging: Global Rates Drop; Lane CEO DeForrest
Travel Mgmt.: Cos. Advance Brazilian Tech

Business Travel News - April 6, 2009