Business travel

An essential companion for the traveller, luggage nonetheless remains a burden when heading to a meeting or exploring the city between two...

Gone are the days of dad's old airport, with its drab halls and dingy shops. Today's airport hubs are competing with each other to become real places to live. With museums, green walls, Michelin-starred restaurants and luxury boutiques, today's airports are seducing the king of passengers.

AirBerlin will soon be serving Paris with four daily flights. These will now be operated not from Orly but from Roissy to Berlin Tegel.

The connected revolution is underway: on 15 December the SNCF is launching its new TGV Connect service, a free Internet connection on board its high-speed trains, long-awaited by business travellers.

Alfred Ong is Managing Director Europe of The Ascott Limited. He talks about the group's international ambitions, the special place occupied by Paris and the French market, and the launch of the new Lyf brand.

The directors of the Kerzner group were in Paris a few days ago. It was an opportunity for Jean-Gabriel Pérès, the new CEO of this luxury hotel specialist, to set out his ambitions for the group's various brands.

The free AccorHotels Club loyalty programme offers a host of advantages to business travellers and event organisers. Free nights, of course, but also privileges that make travelling easier and, why not, unforgettable moments.

The Lufthansa group is introducing a chatbot to help travellers find the best fare. It is now possible to chat via Messenger with Mildred - in English and German - to find out about the group's different options on a given route.

A new development in the Snowden affair directly concerns French business travellers. Air France is said to have been the target of an in-flight communications interception programme set up by the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ.

Air France celebrated the delivery of its first Boeing B787-9 Dreamliner aircraft to Paris-CDG last December.

It's official as of December 1: XL Airways and La Compagnie are joining forces to form a new entity that will capitalise on the complementary nature of the two carriers, particularly on the Paris-New York route. Laurent Magnin will head the new entity.

A new Choice Hotels address will open its doors next year in Athens. It will be the group's first hotel in the Greek capital.

Berlin, Amsterdam and Hamburg will soon welcome the descendants of the Sir Hotels group, launched three years ago. Another establishment is also planned for Ibiza.

Finding a technological solution to improve the customer experience in the event of flight disruptions: this is the spirit in which Air France launched its Priorité Client hackathon on 26 November, which was held for 48 hours at the Zalthabar in Levallois Perret.

A white paper published by International SOS points out the lack of guidance on the use of collaborative economy players in business travel.

In April 2017, Korean Air will launch a new direct flight to Barcelona: a first from North-East Asia. At the same time, the airline is expanding its services to several American airports.

SnapCar, the VTC service dedicated to business travellers, will officially launch in Lyon on 12 December. Other destinations in France and Europe are in the pipeline.

The NH group is continuing its efforts to enhance the Collection, a range of top-of-the-range hotels aimed particularly at business travellers. Two new addresses have just been officially inaugurated on the Spanish hotelier's domestic market, in Madrid and Barcelona.

Booking.com unveils "the 8 most anticipated trends in the world of travel in 2017", with business travel and, above all, bleisure coming in second place.

The decision has been taken. Singapore Airlines will be eliminating its low-cost Tigerair subsidiary, which it acquired in full in 2014, during 2017.