Author: admin

  • IHG expands presence in Frankfurt

    IHG has announced the signing of the vacation Inn Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, among the first Holiday Inns in Germany to add the brand’s new ‘Open Lobby’ concept.

    The 249-room property is because of open in early 2015 and should operate under a managed contract in partnership with UBM.  Union Investment acquired the project development for its open-ended real estate fund ‘UniImmo: Deutschland’.

    The hotel is ideally located for business and leisure travellers, who will find themselves walking distance from the city’s business district and historic town centre, 1.5km from the trade fair market and only 500m from the Frankfurt central railway station,

    IHG’s Vice chairman Development Germany, Martin Bowen said: “Frankfurt is Germany’s major trade fair city and this hotel might help meet the demands of the city’s many business and trade fair guests. The hot ‘Open Lobby’ concept is designed specifically with busy travellers like them in mind – research shows that our guests like to be comfortable, relaxed and cared for at the road, and all in a well-known environment that looks after their everyday needs. The Open Lobby is greater than a hotel bar, restaurant or lounge – it combines all of the existing public spaces into one open, cohesive space. It gives guests options whether they’re seeking to eat, relax, work, or rejoice.

    “We have 57* Holiday Inn brand family hotels (Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express) in Germany, and the emblem is a crucial growth driver for us here. With over 3,400 hotels* worldwide, the emblem is probably the most widely recognised lodging brand on the earth. Each year 100 million people stay at a vacation Inn brand family hotel all over – they know they’re able to expect a consistent, refreshed experience wherever they’re.”

    The ‘Open Lobby’ concept combines front desk, lobby, business centre, restaurant and bar right into a cohesive, open design with a residential feel. The dining area will include a brand new food and beverage offer, a bar with peninsulas where guests can enjoy breakfast or eat during the day and a chef station. Food may be available 24/7 and guests can have the good thing about free Wi-Fi.

    IHG has 69 hotels in Germany, of which 57 belong to the vacation Inn brand family. The corporate has 19 hotels within the pipeline in Germany.  UBM have partnered with IHG on numerous occasions, and currently have management contracts for the InterContinental Warsaw, Crowne Plaza Amsterdam and Crowne Plaza St Petersburg Airport.

    Holiday Inn hotels take part in IHG’s guest loyalty programme, Priority Club Rewards, the industry’s first and biggest guest loyalty program with 71 million members.

    Recommended

  • News: InfoTrust Group adds mobile solutions for line maintenance and flight operations

    InfoTrust Group, a number one provider of XML-based technical information management solutions and services for the aerospace, high-tech, defense, and semi-conductor industries, announced today the supply of its TechSight/X Mobile IETP for Line Maintenance and its native TechSight/X iPad® Application for Flight Operations. Both tablet solutions further demonstrate InfoTrust Group’s mission to assist airlines deliver the ideal information, on the right time, to the appropriate people. By giving line mechanics and flight crews access to the most up-tp-date maintenance and flight information on mobile devices on the point of performance, airlines can improve aircraft utilisation, help ensure real-time regulatory compliance, and decrease operational costs.

    InfoTrust Group’s tablet solutions are designed specifically to be used by aircraft mechanics and pilots. The TechSight/X Mobile IETP (Interactive Electronic Technical Publication) for Line Maintenance gives mechanics access to all in their Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, and Embraer maintenance and engineering manuals on both iOS® and Android™ devices. Search and navigation are optimized for touch screens to reduce clicks and eliminate the necessity for complex searches. Mechanics can navigate complex wiring diagrams, view and order from illustrated parts catalogs (when integrated to MRO or ERP solutions), and access fault reporting and bother-shooting manuals while at their aircraft that will perform maintenance faster and return aircraft to service more quickly than ever before.

    The TechSight/X iPad Application for Flight Operations automatically delivers up-to-the-minute flight manuals and related company documentation to thousands of pilots dispersed across geographies. Pilots can acknowledge updates, and the applying automatically tracks and audits pilot acknowledgement to facilitate regulatory compliance. To make finding the suitable information easier, pilots can add notes, highlights, and bookmarks which can be stored as portion of their user profiles and which are persistent from one revision to the subsequent, even across multiple tablet devices. Effectivity filtering also helps pilots find specific information concerning the fleets and models of the aircraft they fly faster than when using paper-based manuals.

    “Tablets represent a brand new paradigm for technical information delivery,” said Olivier Joufflineau, vice chairman of InfoTrust Group’s ATA Flight Operations Solutions and Services, “and InfoTrust Group is proud to be on the vanguard of the airline industry’s adoption of tablet-enabled technical information solutions.”
    Both TechSight/X modules are available in to existing customers as upgrades to their current TechSight/X solutions. The TechSight/X iPad Application for Flight Operations can also be purchased as a stand-alone solution.

    Recommended

  • GTMC welcomes third new member this month

    The GTMC has welcomed its second Uniglobe member and the third new member this month – Uniglobe Preferred Travel.

    Preferred Travel was incorporated in November 1992 and is one among Uniglobe’s largest affiliates sharing global accounts with its network partners across five continents.  The corporate has its headquarters in Brighton, Sussex and likewise has an office in Westminster, London, they employ over 30 members of staff.

    Uniglobe Preferred Travel’s managing director, John Burroughes said: “We are delighted to join the GTMC and watch for sharing best practice with the fitting within the business.  We’re desirous to make a good contribution to the recognised voice of our industry.”

    GTMC chief executive Paul Wait said:  “We warmly welcome Uniglobe Preferred Travel to the GTMC.  Inside the history of the GTMC it’s unprecedented to have three new members in a single month and we’re now at a record collection of members with the count being thirty-nine. The GTMC membership truly represents the voice of commercial travel and travellers within the UK. The industry faces its next phase of change and challenge and the GTMC is definitely placed with its increasing membership to shape the long run and certainly contribute toward UK PLC.”

    Recommended

  • News: Research from Avis suggests business travel will boom in 2013

    Avis Rent a Car today released the findings from its annual business traveller research, Corporate Connections. Surveying 2,500 business personnel from across Europe, it revealed an optimistic outlook for the field and despite a challenging 2012, predicts UK business travel will see a 27% increase through the coming year – up from a 20% growth between 2011-2012.

    The research revealed just how integral a job travel plays in modern business, with 50% of respondents already travelling for work (not commuting) at least one time a month during the last twelve months, 15% travelling weekly and seven% every day.

    Significantly, the findings revealed a growing demand from business travellers to maximize business opportunities in emerging markets, reminiscent of Asia and Latin America, with travel from the united kingdom to those new destinations rocketing 21% between 2011 and 2013.

    Kaye Ceille, Managing Director at Avis UK, said of the findings: “Understanding the purposes of our customers and evolving our service in accordance with their requirements is what drives our business. Business travel isn’t limited to only one location – in today’s turbulent environment, businesses should be flexible enough to follow new opportunities in emerging markets.  At Avis, we’re equipped to deal with this need, internationally and locally, with our network of over 5,200 locations operating in 165 countries.”

    Service over price
    The research also discovered that despite businesses tightening their purse strings, service, not price, was the key factor for business travellers when determining a travel provider, with 20% choosing quality and 17% speed of service with the rest of respondents choosing:

    ·      Online booking solutions (14%)
    ·      Loyalty offers (5%)
    ·      Exclusive incentives (4%)

    The strong affinity with service helps to give an explanation for the high levels of loyalty amongst business travellers to a specific travel provider, with 88% saying that they are going to often or always use an analogous brand, 12% higher than the ecu average, placing business travellers inside the UK amongst essentially the most loyal.

    Kaye Ceille added: “Despite economic pressures, it’s reassuring that British businesses still value quality over cost. We recognise that for our business travellers, speed and customer support is a concern and as such we provide innovative products inclusive of online check-in and Avis Preferred, the fastest and most convenient technique to rent cars.”

    Convenience is key
    Car travel remains the preferred approach to transport amongst business travellers with 64% of responses stating they travel by car, when compared with 24% for public transport and 11% for air travel. The incentive for selecting car travels is convenience in response to 81% of respondents, significantly sooner than cost, which was only ranked because the most significant factor by 32% of travellers.

    The importance of convenience was further demonstrated when respondents were asked to think about the head three factors which might influence their collection of business vehicle. 27% of respondents believed vehicle delivery and collection was important, followed by road side assistance (25%) and GPS (19%).

    Recommended

  • New London Hotel Xenia welcomes general manager

    New South Kensington boutique hotel Xenia is delighted to announce the appointment of Mario Ovsenjak as General Manager.

    Mario brings his breadth of expertise to this exciting new hotel: with a hospitality career that started in London with Thistle Hotels at both Thistle Piccadilly and The Royal Trafalgar as Food & Beverage Manager, Mario has also worked as Operations Manager at InterContinental Hotels Group and at Corus Hyde Park where he re-focused the hotel’s food and beverage offering, maximised HOD team efficiency and demonstrated his passion for customer support.

    A step into boutique hotels and the posh sector followed when Mario joined the Eton Collection on the Colonnade and, keen to continue to develop smaller properties, is now to go up the hotel team on the independently-owned Xenia. Mario says:
    ‘I am awaiting working with our growing dynamic team to launch Xenia in an effort to be a thrilling addition to both the neighbourhood and the London hotel scene. With increasingly new hotel rooms within the city it’s as important as ever that we stand-out from the contest and that i will enjoy working with the team in order for our offering at Xenia becomes a destination of choice for both locals and visitors to the Capital.’

    Recommended