Business Travel News - October 12, 2009 - (Page Cover1)

OCTOBER 12, 2009 INSIDE Industry Tries To Define Business Travel ROI. . . 3 Airlines’ Cash Gain Allays Bankruptcy Fear . . 4 TMCs Enhance Hotel Rate Auditing Tech . . . . 8 Regional Jets Adding Premium Classes . . . 14 Buyers Globalize Expense Reporting . . . . . . 18 8 18 PICTURE OF CONCUR BUILDS CONSOLIDATION ON GROWTH Kodak’s Bill Lasky Barry Padgett heads further develops glo- Concur’s new EMEA bal travel program. management team. BTNonline.com Airlines See Passenger Right To Tarmac-Delay Time Limits BY JAY BOEHMER 2010 Budget: Air Up, Hotel Down BY MICHAEL B. BAKER, JAY BOEHMER & SETH HARRIS Debated for a decade, an airline passenger bill of rights recently inched closer to reality as U.S. Senate legislation progressed, several once-opposed travel industry groups now favor a bill, and even the legislation’s most ardent opponents, the airlines, now appear to SEN. BARBARA BOXER be softening stances on tarmac time limits. “When you’re on the one-yard line, you just have to get it over, and that’s where we are: We’re on the one-yard line,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said of the pending legislation she authored with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Continued on page 22 Buyers should expect 2010 airfares to increase by single-digit percentages and Expected U.S. price change vs. 2009 hotel rates to continue to fall, especially in the early part of next year, according to reDomestic economy airfare 2% to 7% cent industry forecasts and analysts, who Int’l business class airfare 3% to 8% project total business trip costs to creep up in the second half of 2010 as economic Upper-tier hotel rates -6% to -3% activity and, in turn, business travel begins Midprice hotel rates -4% to -1% to increase. Source: American Express Business Travel American Express Business Travel ex2010 Global Business Travel Forecast pects the average cost of a North American domestic business trip, which includes air, ground BUYERS USING AUCTIONS, ALTERNATIVE NEGOTIATIONS transportation and hotel accommodations, to remain Continued on page 6 2010 U.S. TRAVEL COSTS LIKELY VARIABLE Pliant Hotels OK Novel Deals BY MICHAEL B. BAKER ONE-ON-ONE Postmaster: Newspaper Handling/Periodicals Postaage STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS CEO FRITS VAN PAASSCHEN Starwood CEO Sees Upturn Ahead Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide CEO Frits van Paasschen on Sept. 30 spoke with Business Travel News editors David Meyer and Michael B. Baker to assess the business travel outlook and detail Starwood’s increasingly global slant. BTN: Is business travel due for a rebound? Frits van Paasschen: What’s very encouraging is watching the deal environment today: the number of IPOs being Continued on page 24 With hoteliers more flexible in negotiations during a buyer’s market, travel buyers are finding success with alternatives to the standard negotiation strategy, including reverse auctions, block space programs, capped dynamic pricing and consortia negotiations. Reverse auctions for hotel programs all but disappeared in the most recent seller’s market, but Bob Brindley, vice president of BCD Travel consulting arm Advito, said he’s beginning to see them return. “In a buyer’s market, psychologically, they can be beneficial,” he said. Paul Lang, Bayer corporate and business services manager of travel services, already implemented reverse auctions for a portion of his hotel program, as he detailed during an Continued on page 13 http://www.BTNonline.com http://www.choicepriveleges.com http://www.choicepriveleges.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - October 12, 2009

Business Travel News - October 12, 2009
Contents
Inside Track
Profiles in Travel Mgmt.
Forum
Aviation
Lodging
Payment & Expense
Travel Management

Business Travel News - October 12, 2009