Europe
"Jordy Staelen, Chief Executive Officer, says: "There's nothing but good things...
How is the holding company project with Frequent Flyer Travel Paris progressing? Jordy Staelen - The merger is moving in the right direction, and we're going to meet our target of finalising our project by mid-December. Our management teams are holding discussions upstream to identify the synergies to be exploited, and there are many of them, both for us and...
Tenerife, MICE destination: workshop in Paris
With a hotel infrastructure boasting over 50,000 beds in 4- and 5-star establishments, and conference centres suitable for organising corporate events (5 centres with a total capacity of 4,000 people), the island of Tenerife is determined to attract a growing number of French visitors to the Canary archipelago. With this in mind...
Vueling on the way to twice-daily service between Paris-CDG and Barcelona
The new flights between the French and Catalan capitals will leave Paris-CDG airport at 9.55am and 7.25pm. On the return leg, business travellers will leave Barcelona at 7.30am and 5pm. The route will be operated by Airbus A319. Operations will begin on 30 March. [gallery exclude="33831"]
Rosewood arrives in London
The luxury hotel brand Rosewood is making its debut in the British capital, within a graceful Belle Époque mansion in High Holborn. The interiors of Rosewood London and its 262 rooms and 44 suites were designed by Tony Chi and Associates. The hotel, which opened in mid-October, also boasts eleven meeting rooms, including...
Marseille - La Joliette: a brand new old port
The future of Marseille is just a ten-minute walk from the Old Port. Its HQ: the Joliette docks, a long series of warehouses where bright offices have taken the place of containers. It's a radical change of destiny for a district that until now had symbolised the city's industrial and port history. The...
"A shared desire to shake things up": Carole...
Why set up a French branch of the GBTA? Carole Poillerat - On a global scale, the GBTA is ahead of the game on many issues, it knows how to spot new trends in the sector, and that's what the GBTA is going to bring to France. My job is to develop this purchasing maturity that we don't necessarily have in France.
Air Canada shows off its new Maple Leaf Lounge in Frankfurt
After Paris-CDG and the arrival and departure lounges at London-Heathrow airport, it is now Frankfurt airport's turn to see the Maple Leaf, the lounge concept already present in some twenty airports served by Air Canada. The new business lounge covers an area of 726m² in terminal 1 at...
Flex, Semi-Flex: new Lyria fares for business travel
The new Flex fare announced by Lyria on Tuesday 15 October offers "unlimited flexibility at a guaranteed price". In concrete terms, business travellers can board the train preceding or following the one indicated on their ticket. The ticket is also exchangeable and fully refundable up to the departure time of the Lyria TGV, then refunded...
Iberia unveils its new logo
The new logo presented by Iberia on Tuesday will appear on Spanish tarmacs from the end of November, on the five new Airbus A330s which will then be added to the airline's fleet. Unsurprisingly, the red and yellow of the Spanish flag remain at the heart of this new visual identity, which gives pride of place...
HRS and EPSA decipher the business hotel sector
The study published on 27 September by HRS and EPSA compares the feedback from 284 people in charge of travel budgets and 631 travellers and travel assistants. In particular, it highlights the fact that, apart from the large CAC 40 companies, which enjoy good visibility, 15% of those questioned did not know their...
"We focus on excellence", Eric Dodin, Europcar CEO...
You were appointed head of Europcar in France in January. What are your main objectives in this position? Eric Dodin - My main mission is to develop the company through profitable growth. Europcar is a very fine company with some excellent assets, but it probably has the capacity to produce a lot...
Semi-flex, baggage-free fares: business travel à la carte...
"Pay only for what you need": the logic highlighted with the development of ancillary charges within low-cost airlines, and then on a large scale with traditional airlines, still makes sense. Even with business customers. This is illustrated by the latest initiative from British Airways, which is extending its "Baggage...
UIA to operate daily on the Paris - St Petersburg route
Business travellers will be able to reach St Petersburg every weekday via the UIA network from 28 April 2014, via Kiev. Departure from Paris CDG will be at 13:25, with final arrival in St Petersburg at 22:40. There will be a two-hour stopover in Kiev. On the return journey, Ukraine International Airlines will leave St Petersburg...
Thalys on course for Lille-Amsterdam in 2014
The new Thalys link between Amsterdam will operate twice a day. The route will successively serve Lille, Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Schiphol and Amsterdam, for a total journey time of around 2 hours 40 minutes: all direct connections that previously required a change of train. "We know (...) the dynamism of the people of Lille and their high expectations...
IHG signs for London: a Crowne Plaza in 2015
A strategic location, a respected brand and top-of-the-range meeting facilities: the future Crowne Plaza London - Albert Embankment has everything it takes to establish itself as one of the new meeting points for business customers in London. On 25 September, the IHG Group announced that it had signed a contract with...
EasyJet strengthens its position at Basel-Mulhouse
Business travellers are seeing an increase in the number of options available from the EuroAirport. Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport will be linked to Krakow from the end of October, while the new easyJet flight to Seville will start on 18 December. The airline will be operating up to two flights a week between the EuroAirport and the Andalusian capital, and will be strengthening its...
New Turkish ambitions for St. Regis
The arrival of the St. Regis brand in Istanbul is part of a recent agreement between Starwood and the Demsa Group, which could well lead to other projects in Turkey. The American hotelier already has nine addresses on the Turkish market, including four in Istanbul. The St. Regis hotel will be added to the Istanbul portfolio as of next year, when it...
New Accor complex in Moscow: three business addresses in 2015
The result of a collaboration between Accor and Russian developer Patero, the new Moscow hotel complex is due to open its doors by the end of 2015, in the Kievskaya station district. It will include the Novotel Kievskaya (200 rooms), the ibis Kievskaya hotel (350 rooms) and the Adagio Kievskaya (150 flats): in all, Accor...
Ibis Business: the new loyalty programme for travellers...
The "ibis BUSINESS" card unveiled on 9 September is aimed, as its name suggests, at business travellers in the Accor group's economy range. Business travellers on the move will be able to purchase the new pass from 25 September, for an annual subscription fee of €59. This introductory offer will rise to €90 from...
SNCF launches Paris-Fribourg service
Since Monday, the TGV from Paris to Freiburg im Breisgau has served Dijon, Besançon-Franche-Comté TGV, Belfort-Montbéliard TGV and Mulhouse stations. It takes 3 hours 47 minutes to reach its German destination from Paris, 2 hours from Dijon and just over an hour from Belfort. The service operates six days a week, with fares starting at €30. [gallery...






































