DESERET NEWS | AUG 25, 2015
Delta to offer nonstop flights from Salt Lake City to London
Month: August 2015
BUSINESS TRAVEL NEWS | AUG 24, 2015
Christopherson Thinks It Has Solved The Hotel Attachment Problem
HOSPITALITYNET | AUG 19, 2015
Leading TMCs Choose Checkmate to Deliver Mobile Hotel Check-in And Communication
With summer winding down, now’s the time to plan those last minute getaways. In fact, I’m planning a wonderful road trip to Telluride, Colorado for a friend’s wedding this month. So in honor of the great summer road trip, I thought I’d share a few apps to help others on their way and enjoy their trip even more. Many of these suggestions also work offline, which is helpful when you hit a stretch of road without mobile phone service. Happy Travels!
Maps.me provides detailed, offline maps for mobile devices. It’s great for when you are in a dead spot.
Avenza is another handy offline app with scanned maps of national parks, hiking trails, transit routes, and odd ball sites.
Download your destination guide ahead of time from Triposo and you will have a slick offline travel guide to top attractions, places to eat and sleep, and local time and weather.
Need entertainment for the hours of driving ahead? Overdrive allows you to borrow eBooks, audiobooks, music, and video titles from your local library. Audible is a membership program offering monthly audiobooks from a selection of more than 180,000 titles.
Pocket is an app that lets you grab stories, articles, videos, “or pretty much anything” you want to come back to read/view later. It also integrates with more than 1,500 other apps, including Flipboard, Pulse, and Twitter.
This American Life is a weekly public radio show and is also available as a free weekly podcast–often the most popular podcast in the country, with around one million people downloading each week–and like audiobooks, podcasts are great for road trips.
Earlier this summer, we learned that United Airlines is putting an end to their operations at New York City’s John F. Kennedy airport later this year. This change will take place October 25, as United seeks to capitalize on the traffic of one of their largest hubs in Newark.
The proposed plan to double down at its Newark hub is pending regulatory approval for United to acquire Delta’s slots at Newark in place of United’s slots at JFK.
In addition to this shift in operations, United is also planning to reveal its Premium Service to the regularly scheduled flights running from Newark to Los Angeles and San Francisco. They’ve already upgraded their BusinessFirst class cabins with flatbed seats and other amenities, typically associated with international routes, in hopes to win over the lucrative business travelers.
To further attract travelers, a multi-million dollar renovation is already underway in the lobby of Terminal C and bringing with it new lounge designs to all United Clubs in the airport.
If you would like to read more on these updates, click here.
A recent news report from Salt Lake City’s NBC affiliate, KSL, explained that many rogue websites are popping up lately, misleading consumers to book hotel rooms through their site, which are, sadly, invalid vendors. Therefore, travelers think they are booking (and sometimes paying for) a hotel, but in reality, they aren’t.
“Here’s the problem … These websites have the same look and feel you’ve seen from hotel chains you know and trust,” KSL reported.
To ensure that you are making legitimate hotel reservations, always book through a trusted site or source such as a Travel Management Company or online booking tool. Additionally, official hotel websites will always be secure with an “https” prefix in the URL address.
For tips on what to look for to avoid these scams, visit KSL.com to view the report.
With many companies expanding their travel programs domestically, multi-nationally, or globally, business travel continues to become more and more complex, especially when it comes to risk and safety. Christopherson Business Travel understands the stress of fulfilling those duty of care requirements and provides valuable technology to help to reduce business travel risk.
Christopherson’s duty of care tool SecurityLogic®, allows travel managers to locate travelers quickly and push alerts to communicate instructions or information to travelers via text or email in emergency situations. Unlike other disaster recovery products, SecurityLogic continuously pulls data from the Global Distribution System (GDS), thereby providing real-time accuracy.
SecurityLogic also provides access to multiple global map overlays and because all travel information is geocoded to street level accuracy, travel managers can easily zoom in on any country, city, or street to find their business travelers anywhere in the world.
As an extra level of safety and communication, SecurityLogic has a two-way check-in feature called Safety Check, which allows travel managers to send travelers a check-in message to verify their safety. Upon receipt, the traveler simply responds to the message one of two ways: “I’m safe.” or “I need assistance” (with an additional field to explain their need). SecurityLogic then geocodes the traveler’s location using the GPS coordinates provided by the traveler’s cell phone.
SecurityLogic delivers the following key benefits:
- Quickly locate travelers by name, travel date, and/or location
- Request verification of safety and location from travelers through the check-in feature
- Get real-time info on weather, airport delays, security, and disaster alerts
- Push alerts directly to travelers via text and email
- Use map overlays to view weather, traffic, and travelers anywhere in the world
- Quickly zoom from global to street-level view
Travel managers can also find confidence in Christopherson’s service which is available 24/7/365. This means your business travelers can call us at any time to make changes to itineraries and get travel assistance in the event of an emergency or unexpected delay.
Travel managers and TMCs have always struggled with low hotel attachment rates, which the industry estimates to be less than 50%. This is problematic because the results of low hotel attachment rates are incomplete travel itineraries, weakened vendor negotiations, and compromised duty of care.
Christopherson Business Travel introduced a holistic solution to the problem at the 2015 GBTA Convention in Orlando, Florida–Hotel Attachment.
Hotel Attachment, a hotel compliance system, meets the needs of the travelers who want an acceptable hotel included in every itinerary. It also meets the needs of travel managers who want savings, knowledge of where travelers are in order to fulfill duty of care responsibilities, and the ability to satisfy the company’s commitments with contracted hotel vendors.
Hotel Attachment identifies itineraries with missing hotel bookings and provides the traveler with four options to close that gap:
1. Make a hotel reservation
- For agent bookings – traveler is presented with a form that connects to their booking agent
- For online bookings – refers the traveler back to their online booking tool
2. Request another reminder for a later date
- Presents a calendar to select date of next reminder
3. Attach a hotel reservation made outside the system to the itinerary
- Pre-populates dates in a template based upon air reservation
- Presents a map to zoom in a locate their hotel
- Connects to Christopherson’s proprietary database to ensure correct hotel and GPS location coordinates
4. Waive the need for a hotel reservation
- Requires an explanation as to how they’re meeting their housing needs
With Hotel Attachment’s digital reminders, companies can ensure trip plans are complete and hotel compliant prior to travel.
COLORADOBIZ | AUG 10, 2015
Best practices in business travel
According to the Top 100 Phobia List, 25 million Americans share a fear of flying. So, it comes as no surprise that the company SOAR Inc., founded by Captain Tom Bunn, airline captain and licensed therapist, has developed a free app to address this very issue.
The goal of this App is to provide a sense of relief to those suffering from this very real phobia. It is advertised as a source for gaining better control over things like flight anxiety, claustrophobia, and panic–all symptoms related to the fear of flying.
The app contains in-app purchases options, ranging from $19.99-$59.99, such as videos that walk the user through things like understanding turbulence, anxiety management tools, and what’s going on in the cockpit.
SOAR is currently rated five out of five stars on iTunes, and has been reviewed as an “excellent program” and a “great companion” by its users.
If you happen to be one of those 25 million Americans who fear flying, download SOAR on iTunes or Google Play and give it a try.
Categories
Getting Through Airport Security
In order to test TSA airport security systems, undercover agents will try to get through undetected with hidden threats. When it was revealed that 95% of the time TSA security screeners and/or devices failed to detect the agents’ hidden threats, Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security, began considering additional measures to increase safety.
But what does that mean for you as a traveler? More than likely, it potentially means longer lines at security check points. To avoid this, especially if you are a frequent traveler, we recommend you sign up for Global Entry or TSA Pre?™. There is no time like the present.
For more information on these programs visit CBP.gov or TSA.gov. For additional information on which airlines and airports offer TSA Pre?™ click here.
Related Posts
With Delta’s recent changes to the SkyMiles program, it seems our miles won’t be worth as much as they used to be beginning next year. Though some smaller carriers have implemented similar programs, according to Fox News, Delta is the “first of the big three U.S. carriers to adopt a ‘supply and demand’ program over its current fixed miles system.”
As a frequent business and leisure traveler, I find this disappointing. My SkyMiles are usually used for my husband’s annual fishing trip to Alaska and I hope this routing will not be affected by the change. Because the major carriers seem to follow trends, if you have plans to redeem SkyMiles, or any miles earned on other airlines, you may want to do so soon.
At a recent Association of Corporate Travel Executives’ (ACTE) Education Day, Detective Kevin Coffey outlined a number of best practices for business travel safety.
Most business travelers know the basics of hotel safety, but situations may arise where this isn’t the case. For example, maybe you’re staying in an unfamiliar hotel or forgot to check whether or not there were in-room safes. Here are 10 things you can do to be safer.
Top 10 safety tips for staying in a hotel
- Arriving at the Hotel – If you arrive at the hotel by bus or cab, stay with your luggage until it is brought into the hotel lobby. Keep a close eye on your luggage, purse, etc. when checking in. Thieves often use the distractions of a busy lobby to lift others’ belongings.
- Checking In – Ask the front desk personnel not to announce your name or room number. In recent years, hotels have become accustomed to writing the room number on the room key sleeve (rather than saying it aloud), but they often continue to call patrons by name. While this is friendly customer service, it unfortunately allows those around you to learn your name, and a stranger could easily call the hotel later to reach you. Also, be mindful to not leave your credit card on the check-in counter and always make sure the clerk has given back your credit card.
- Hotel Address – Get the hotel address and keep it accessible, whether that’s with a business card, matchbook, or digital notation in your phone. Trying to get back to your hotel when you don’t know where it’s located can be frustrating, particularly if you are staying at a chain brand with multiple hotels, or in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language.
- Room Selection – Avoid the ground floor. If you have no choice, choose one facing a courtyard or interior of the hotel. When possible, avoid rooms above the sixth floor, as this is generally the maximum height that fire department ladders, especially overseas, can reach.
- Elevator Safety – Observe all passengers in elevators. Board last and select floor buttons last. If someone suspicious boards an elevator, exit as soon as possible.
- Entering the Hotel Room – Check all closets, bathrooms, showers, etc., to make sure there isn’t anyone there. Examine all locks to make sure they are working properly.
- Inside Your Room – Keep the deadbolt or latch locked at all times. You may even want to travel with a doorstop–they’re small and can be packed easily–to wedge the door shut from the inside. Become familiar with the nearest exits and stairwells in case of an emergency. Keep your key in the same place, preferably next to the bed.
- Visitors at Your Door – If someone comes to the door unexpectedly, do not open it, even if they say they’re hotel staff, housekeeping, or maintenance. Ask who they are, what they need, and then call the front desk to verify.
- Valuables – The safest place for valuables is usually in the front desk safe. Get a receipt of items left and remember to ask if the hotel will cover any losses. When using your in-room safe, know that some safes can be opened with a master key or code. If no safe is available, lock your items in your luggage using a Milockie lock, or purchase a portable locking travel safe.
- Leaving Your Room – Leave the television on and place the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the doorknob. If you would like maid service while you’re out, call housekeeping and ask them to keep the sign on the door. Take minimal cash and carry bait money for potential thieves. Wear minimum jewelry, especially women. Always keep these four things “on” you: 1. your ID (passport if traveling internationally, copies when you are out), 2. a credit card, 3. a cell phone, and 4. essential prescription medications. That way, if you lose everything else, at least you have the things that cannot be replaced quickly and easily.
Read our previous blog Part 1: Corporate Travel Safety On-Board an Aircraft