ACCOMMODATION SPECIAL REPORT
LATEROOMS TO ‘CHALLENGE’ CORPORATE TRAVEL SECTOR
ONLINE BEDBANK LATEROOMS IS TO LAUNCH a new online service that will “challenge traditional travel management solutions”, promising no booking or modification fees.
Laterooms.com for Business will be fully unveiled this autumn featuring a new automated tool to help clients claim VAT expenses from hotel stays. There will be a new account area allowing users to make online bookings, including access to corporate rates, and a summary section detailing all travel activity. Users can also set up a credit account that will be billed at the end of every month. Laterooms said that the full
corporate travel service will include data analysis tools for managing budgets and spending, as well as providing management information data and a new rewards system for clients.
TRAINS
Rail industry ‘failing’ to exploit online booking growth
RAIL BOOKINGS IN EUROPE’S KEY MARKETS hit Ð31 billion last year, around double the amount spent on low-cost airline tickets, a study into the future of European rail has found. The Rethink Rail report revealed despite the growing market for rail travel, the industry has “failed” to exploit online, user-friendly booking procedures. The study, commissioned by Silverrail
Technologies, predicted that online rail bookings in Europe will account for almost half of all transactions by 2020, but service fragmentation and complexities with data have “slowed the pace of rail’s integration” into online travel shopping channels. It added that the potential for disruption to operators and intermediaries is “very real”.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
Avianca Brasil joins Star BBT EDITOR PAUL REVEL REPORTS FROM SAO PAULO
AVIANCA BRASIL OFFICIALLY BECAME STAR ALLIANCE’S 28TH MEMBER on July 22, at a ceremony held at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport. The ceremony was hosted by Star Alliance CEO, Mark Schwab, with
Avianca Brasil CEO, Jose Efromovich, and attended by chief executives and senior directors from the other 27 member airlines. “Avianca Brasil will be a perfect fit to our team, and our network in Brazil,” said Schwab. “In other words, we are back again where we belong,” he added, referring to Brazilian carrier TAM’s departure from the alliance in 2014, to join merger partner LAN in Oneworld. He said Brazil is the “most important
Mark Schwab and Jose Efromovich
aviation market on the continent,” pointing out that 13 member airlines
now serve the country, with Avianca Brasil’s 15 new destinations bringing the total to 27. Schwab said Avianca Brasil joins “430,000 aviation professionals around the globe, striving to deliver top class service to over 600 million Star Alliance customers every year.” Aviation in Brazil is growing exponentially, from 33 million passengers flying in 2004, to 100 million last year. With a prediction of 200 million flights taken in 2024, “the future starts today,” said Efromovich. Schwab and Efromovich agreed joining Star would boost business travel for both the airline and the alliance. Schwab said: “From today Avianca will be participating in all Star Alliance fare products; it will become part of our round-the-world products and regional fares.” He said this represented a significant opportunity for engaging the “many Brazilian multinationals we see operating all round the world” with Star’s Corporate Plus product – the airline single contract designed to replace agreements with individual member carriers. Avianca Brasil will become an all-Airbus fleet in August, when the last of
its Fokker 100s leaves this year, bringing the average age of its 40-plus aircraft to under four years. It flies to 23 airports in Brazil, and operates 210 daily flights. Bogota in Columbia is currently its only international destination. Sister airline Avianca Columbia has been a Star Alliance member since
2009. The two airlines operate separately – and are bound to do so by market regulations – but are both part of the Synergy Group, which is owned by Jose Efromovich’s brother, German.
BBT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 19
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