Business travel

Recently opened in Madrid, the Santo Mauro, a hotel in Marriott's Luxury Collection, is a precursor to the development of around thirty luxury hotels worldwide by 2022 by the American group, across all its top-of-the-range brands.

The Spanish group Melià has unveiled a new brand, the Melià Collection, designed to house emblematic hotels, both resorts and urban establishments. The first members of the collection include two in Paris and one in London.

Air Canada has just relaunched the Montreal-Lyon route. The Canadian carrier is taking advantage of the opportunity to emphasise that it is the only carrier to link the Rhone metropolis to the North American continent...

Deutsche Bahn's official timetable for 2022 comes into force on 12 December. It includes a number of new features on the main lines, including faster ICEs.

Two luxury train projects will be launched in 2023: the first in France by the Puy du Fou leisure group, the second in Italy by Accor, which intends to promote its new Orient Express luxury hotel brand.

The airline is reviewing its flight schedule on the Paris Orly - Tel Aviv route. Faced with continuing constraints, the French carrier is finally heading for Libreville in Gabon.

The three airlines of the Lufthansa group and now Air France are temporarily withdrawing from Hong Kong, due to the movement restrictions raining down on the Chinese city. British Airways, however, resumed services on 18 December after a three-week suspension.

5G could potentially create interference with certain aircraft and helicopters, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has just revealed, advocating, among other things, a ban on low-altitude automatic landings for certain types of aircraft.

Flying Green, a new French carrier, wants to position itself as THE sustainable airline. It plans to open its first routes in 2023 from Orly.

With the Kempinski Floating Palace, the hotel group will be adding a new range of accommodation that is both unusual and luxurious to Dubai's catalogue. The floating palace is due to open its doors in 2023 off Jumeirah Beach.

With its first hotel in Brisbane, Australia, and further developments to come in Vienna and the Algarve, the Vignette Collection, IHG's new luxury brand, is taking off.

In Cologne in the early 1990s, Andrée Putman transformed a huge water tower into a luxury hotel with industrial chic. The Wasserturm has just regained all its prestige by being rebranded as the Curio Collection by Hilton.

In November, aviation analysis consultant Cirium launched a "Global Aircraft Emissions" report. The first report is encouraging: aviation has reduced its emissions by 40% since the beginning of the year.

W Hotels is establishing its lifestyle brand in the Italian capital with a 152-room and suite hotel just a stone's throw from the Spanish Steps.

The specialist hotel research firm STR has noted a gradual improvement in results since the start of the academic year in major French and European cities, with an increase in occupancy and average prices at 2019 levels.

Iberia resumed services to Cali in Colombia on 2 December. In the spring, the carrier plans to open new routes to Dallas and Washington DC and to resume flights to San Francisco. The Spanish carrier also plans to increase its frequencies to Bogota, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, New York and Puerto Rico.

A return to business travel, the group's activities in both hotels and travel agencies, development: Raùl Gonzàlez, CEO of Barcelo Hotel Group, presents the latest news from one of Spain's leading hoteliers.

Despite a decline in 2020 after years of expansion, hotel chains in Poland are preparing to resume their expansion in 2022 and 2023, by speeding up their development in Warsaw but also on the Baltic Coast. These are the findings of a recent report by hotel consultants Horwath HTL, which analysed the Polish hotel market.

The very strict quarantine imposed on all travellers arriving in Hong Kong is also affecting staff at Cathay Pacific. A spate of pilot resignations is jeopardising the continuation of the Chinese airline's regular flight schedule.

Taking its place within the walls of the iconic Old War Office, whose offices were frequented by Winston Churchill in his day, the future Raffles London at The OWO will open its doors at the end of next year.