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  • News: Concur to share vision for a brand new era of corporate travel

    Concur, the worldwide leader in integrated travel and expense management, today announced details around its premier client event, Fusion, a good way to come about April 16-19, 2013 on the Venetian® | The Palazzo® in Las Vegas. The keynotes on Wednesday, April 17 and Thursday, April 18 could be webcast and streamed during the Concur Facebook page.

    For 2013 Fusion brings together Concur clients, partners and staff to attach, collaborate and learn. Over the process the four-day event, Concur will unveil exciting new innovations to inspire the way forward for business travel and enable each member of the company travel ecosystem to take part and reach that future all alone timetable.

    Educate. Inspire. Innovate.

    In addition to networking with other Concur clients, attendees can perform quite a lot of educational sessions, interactive product training and demos, outstanding keynotes and one-on-one consulting sessions with Concur solutions experts, including:
    ·      Special opening day keynote from Steve Singh, chairman and CEO of Concur and Rajeev Singh, president and COO of Concur, which occurs on Wednesday, April 17 from 8:30 to ten:00 am PDT. The keynote will cope with the business travel revolution impacting the complete industry. As portion of the keynote, Concur may also unveil a big new initiative that builds upon its platform.

    ·      An innovation keynote from Michael Hilton, EVP of product management and strategy at Concur, John Love, Concur chief technology officer and Barry Padgett, EVP of traveler services, which occurs on Thursday, April 18 from 9:00 to ten:00 am PDT. The keynote will unveil one of the vital most fun new innovations coming from Concur.

    ·      For the primary time at Fusion, Concur will debut a Partner Expo showcase where greater than 65 T&E companies will give attendees a primary-hand examine what Concur partners need to offer.

    ·      Motivational keynote speaker Billy Beane, general manager of Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics, will close the conference by sharing his insights on how success in today’s world results when companies take big risks, push for innovation and leverage their available data.

    Those that can’t attend Fusion in person can experience the conference from anywhere by visiting the Concur Facebook page a good way to stream general session keynotes and interviews with key executives.
    The event’s Platinum sponsors include American Express, Salesforce.com, TravelText and World Travel, Inc. Gold sponsors include BMO Financial Group, Egencia, SignUp4, Travel and Transport, Inc., Travel Incorporated, Turkish Airlines, Ultramar Travel Management, and World Travel Service, Inc.

  • News: Cruise into culture with Swan Hellenic

    Join Swan Hellenic on a cultural cruise to the Baltic to master your painting skills, methods to take the ideal picture and experience a global class ballet performance.

    Art and photography masterclasses might be hung on board mv Minerva’s Baltic Splendour cruise for those desirous to harness their creative flair, whilst ballet fans would be treated to a classical recital on the renowned Mariinsky Theatre as element of a two night stay in St. Petersburg.

    Passengers may additionally explore the Winter Palace of Catherine the comprehensive produced from over 150 kilos of gold and revel in a visit to the historic port town of Elisnore, home to Kronberg castle – the setting of 1 of Shakespeare’s most renowned plays, Hamlet.

  • Premier Inn launches new iPhone/iPad app

    Premier Inn has relaunched its award-winning application for iPhone and its first application for iPad.

    Responsible for over 100,000 room bookings in 2012 alone, the award-winning application was downloaded over 2,000,000 times since its launch in January 2011 and has become one of many hotel brand’s most significant channels.

    In collaboration with mobile partner Grapple, Europe’s leading mobile innovation agency, Premier Inn are again setting the quality with a beautifully redesigned application that places convenience and user experience on the heart.

    Featuring a highly intuitive navigation that anticipates the desires of shoppers, the app provides a continuing and intelligent booking flow, with Trip Advisor ratings, the power to feature extras along with breakfast, and a chance to simply book repeat stays. Geared toward both leisure and business customers, the appliance makes it easy for guests to cope their bookings at the move and gives rich personalisation through ‘My Premier Inn’.

    Average daily sales conversions from the relaunched iPhone application which took number 1 spot within the Apple App Store travel category at launch*; have increased from 3% to as high as 5.9%.

    Mark Fells, Digital Director, Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants comments:
    “As the UK’s largest hotel brand, mobile is a vital strategic business tool for both servicing our customers and driving commercial growth.

    The Premier Inn mobile app has exceeded all expectations over the last two years.

    Relaunching the appliance for iPhone and the recent iPad version are important steps in making our guests’ lives easier throughout their stick with Premier Inn and driving customer loyalty.”

    Adam Levene, Chief Strategy Officer, Grapple comments:
    “This was an exhilarating opportunity to revisit one of many travel industry’s most successful mobile applications, and lift the usual another time with a beautifully designed interface and increased functionality that gives a good richer and more seamless mobile experience.

    We’re longing for working in partnership with Premier Inn to construct at the success brought to date with a better wave of enhancements of their mobile strategy.

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  • FIFA secretary general promises ‘cheapest ever’ World Cup

    FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has promised the “cheapest ever” World Cup in Brazil next year in an apparent sop to demonstrators unhappy on the cost of the tournament. 

    As the Confederations Cup came to a detailed earlier, Valcke said some 70 per cent of tickets would cost below at previous events.

    Prices are expected to be announced on July 19th.

    The Confederations Cup was marked by thousands of protestors taking to the streets to illustrate against the perceived waste of public money involved with staging the FIFA World Cup. 

    The event was widely seen as a test event for the area Cup, that’s scheduled to show up next summer.

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  • News: Passengers oppose in-flight Wi-Fi charges

    The latest survey from Holiday Extras confirms that airline passengers aren’t prepared to cough up any extra for a Wi-Fi service during their flight. a powerful 84% of the over four thousand travellers surveyed stated that they’d rather go without than shell out more. 25% of those felt strongly that payment was inappropriate because internet access is fast becoming a human right.

    Cost aside, 62% of these surveyed didn’t feel that Wi-Fi access would spoil their flight, with 27% of fellows and 23% of girls feeling that they can make more productive use of flight time if Wi-Fi access came as standard.

    Many were ambivalent in regards to the effect of internet access at the plane, declaring that they’d opt to ignore incoming emails while they tuck into their airline meal or enjoy an inflight movie. While 10% admitted that they might never manage to relax knowing that their inbox was only a click away.

    Worries that individuals working throughout would shatter the vacation atmosphere were shared by 28% of these surveyed.

    James Lewis, Head of Partnerships for Holiday Extras commented: ”There is undoubtedly an appetite for internet connectivity on planes but price would be the stumbling block.”

    “As with all things, if the service is actually good then there’ll always be enthusiastic takers. So the service must be as speedy, or faster than everyone is used to at home.

    “Of course, airlines should be sure that the price of providing Wi-Fi on board could be justified; there’s definitely that it’s a need for business travellers, but most holidaymakers want to utilise the time before the flight and the flight itself to get into the vacation mood – cashing in on their valuable leisure time.”