TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

Spaces, a subsidiary of International Workplace Group (IWG) and parent company of the world's leading business centre operator Regus, is continuing to expand in France.

Global business centre leader Regus is to open six new business locations in the first quarter of 2019 on the African continent.

Ahead of the Business Travel Show, Traveldoo surveyed Travel Managers to find out their priorities for the coming months. If the results of the survey are to be believed, 2019 will be dominated by the safety and well-being of business travellers.

Airbnb has just acquired Gaest, a platform specialising in the rental of meeting and team-building spaces, confirming its growing popularity with business customers and its diversification from individual business travel to corporate groups.

Business travellers now have access to a new dedicated programme within Premier Suites hotel residences.

Rennies Travel, a South African agency specialising in business travel and MICE, has just joined BCD Travel's international network.

Enterprise is to acquire Deem during the first quarter. A partner of the car rental company since 2011, this San Francisco-based player has distinguished itself in the field of business travel reservation technologies.

The record influx of tourists to Chicago last year was largely due to the meetings and events sector: international conventions were packed, as were business hotels.

The "Egencia Awards" 2018 have been "awarded" by the business travel agency, which has identified the 100 hotels preferred by business customers worldwide. And it has to be said that the Parisian hotel industry came out on top.

For the second year running, Japan remains at the top of the rankings drawn up by Henley&Partners and IATA (International Air Transport Association). According to the Global Henley Passport Index, the Japanese passport gives business travellers visa-free access to 190 countries in 2019.

La Poste has entrusted the marketing of its meeting spaces to the Bird Office platform. This meeting and coworking offer, called Nomade, is available in particular at Roissy and Orly.

British Airways has just unveiled its 25 fastest-growing business destinations for British SMEs. And there are a few surprises in store...

In its Air Monitor 2019 report, American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) expects "relatively stable air fares" for the year ahead.

Agathe Fabron, Vice President Business Travel and Mice in the Global Sales division of Accor-Hotels, describes the approach to loyalty in hotel programmes.

Founder and Chairman of HCorpo, Stéphane de Laforcade highlights the importance of payment methods in optimising hotel bookings.

Paul-Edouard Le Bret, Director of Global Business Travel Sales for the Louvre Hotels group, describes his group's corporate travel offering.

Senior Director of Hosting at Egencia, Kevin Mauffrey describes the importance of user-friendly tools for travellers' user experience.

For Jean-Marie Login, Director of Hotel Sales EMEA at American Express Global Business Travel, the key to adopting hotel reservation solutions is the customer experience.

For John Baird Smith, Managing Director France at HRS, blockchain technology has a definite future in the world of hotel reservations.

Although all the players involved are united in their desire to automate the booking of meeting rooms, the complexity of the subject means that this is still a long way off. But that doesn't mean that progress hasn't been made.