Business travel

To be welcomed in the heart of Madrid, Barcelona or New York as if you were a friend: this is the credo of the Room Mate Hotels group, whose establishments each bear a name - Mario, Oscar, Laura, Emma - to make this promise a reality.

Gone is the Lys Card: Thalys is revamping its subscription offers with ThePass, available in two business versions. Starting with ThePass Business, which is unique in that it can be used on the entire network, and not just on the France-Belgium routes. Sold at €1,000 per year and €650 for 6 months, passengers benefit from a discount of 50 % on the full fare in Comfort 1 or Comfort 2 for early bookings and 30 % for last-minute purchases.

In the space of a decade, Budapest has become one of the largest airports in Central Europe, with annual traffic of almost 8.5 million passengers. The hub has an expansion programme to reach 15 million passengers by 2012.

Even if the gap tends to narrow with its rival Qatar Airways, Dubai's national airline Emirates remains the...

More space and more services on board for all its passengers in Europe: that's what Lufthansa is offering from this year. The airline will install some 32,000 seats on its 180 aircraft flying on European routes, an operation which will be completed in early 2012 and will cost 170 million euros.

Mythical places, trendy decor, fabulous cocktails, famous clients... Through their lounges and bars, the great Parisian hotels are vying with each other to become the capital's must-visit meeting places. The aim is not only to attract guests staying at the hotel, but also Parisians.

Originally designed to offer First and Business Class passengers the comfort of an exclusive space, lounges are increasingly becoming the calling cards of airlines, which are constantly reinventing these convivial spaces.

What is LOT's territory today? In Europe, we serve practically all countries, sometimes with two entry points like in...

On 1 January, the Crowne Plaza Geneva banner will no longer exist, and will be replaced by the Starling Geneva Hotel & Conference Center. With its 4,000 m2 of meeting space and 496 rooms, Switzerland's largest hotel has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the InterContinental Hotels Group, without going under the banner of another group.

The rationalisation of air transport through mergers should have consequences for the frequent flyer programmes set up by airlines. A strategic tool in a competitive market. Are passengers sure they will always be winners?

With 8 million passengers a year, Lyon Saint Exupéry is France's third busiest airport. Opened in 1975, the hub has been modernised to become one of the most efficient in the country: a European hub for Air France-KLM, Lyon is also a major base for the low-cost airline Easyjet. Target: 15 million passengers by 2020.

French hotel chains? Accor inevitably springs to mind. With its fifteen or so brands, including Sofitel, Pullman, Ibis and Formule 1, the group is leading the way in the development of French brands on every continent. But others are also in the running, including Le Méridien, Campanile, Kyriad and the latest addition, B&B.

Faced with the ups and downs of the economy, France's airports are happily cultivating a certain dynamism: new infrastructure and network development are on the agenda for the country's main hubs.

While the American chains offer their compatriots a product identical to what they find at home, Sofitel and Le Meridien want to appeal to a more international clientele by playing on French charm.