NEWS & NOTES

September 2003

airline news

  • Northwest Airlines this month will start putting its new Airbus A330s onto transatlantic routes. Northwest has 24 of the twin-aisle jets on order. Business class will have fully-flat seat-beds; economy cabins will offer individual video systems
  • Delta is testing new radio frequency ID tags for passenger baggage on Jacksonville-Atlanta flights. The technology is expected to speed up the baggage-handling process, reduce the number of lost bags, and make it much easier to find those that do go astray
  • JetBlue is increasing legroom in the rear two-thirds of its aircraft cabins this fall, boosting pitch from 32 inches to 34
  • Continental customers can now use self-service check-in machines to buy coupons redeemable for in-flight alcoholic beverages and headsets.

    fewer fliers
    A survey of 280 corporations found that 40 percent have cut travel budgets this year and 34 percent "barely maintained budgetary status quo year to year." The study by Runzheimer International and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives found that 64 percent of the companies' travelers are taking fewer domestic trips than in 2002, 59 percent cited fewer overseas trips, and 56 percent are using more tele- or web-conferencing. The cutbacks are mainly made for financial reasons, not fear of terrorism, war or disease, the study found. Even if the world returns to normal and companies become more profitable, "many travel professionals agree that (business) travel will never return to previous levels," a Runzheimer spokesman said.

    opening doors

  • October 1 is the opening date for the Four Seasons Miami on Brickell Avenue
  • Also in Florida, the former Sheraton West Palm Beach is now a Marriott, and the new Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes and an adjacent JW Marriott have opened
  • The former Le Meridien New Orleans, more recently the New Orleans Grande, is now a JW Marriott
  • The former Renaissance Hotel in Beverly Hills is now the Loews Beverly Hills
  • The Inter-Continental Hotel and Conference Center Cleveland has opened on the Cleveland Clinic campus
  • The Westin Casuarina Hotel is due to open in Las Vegas September 15
  • In Europe, there's a new Westin in Warsaw, and the Four Seasons in Prague has reopened
  • And in Latin America, a Ritz-Carlton has opened in Santiago and a W has debuted in Mexico City.

    lodging update

  • Why should a business trip force you to miss a big game back home? LodgeNet Entertainment, supplier of TV programming via digital satellite to 310,000 guestrooms, is offering a new option: Hotel SportsNET. Hotels that sign on can offer guests access to "an unprecedented array of professional and college sports programming" on a pay-per-view basis. The company is also rolling out a high-definition TV option for hotels with the right kind of sets
  • Homewood Suites by Hilton will expand high-speed guest room Internet access to all its hotels by April 2004
  • Kimpton Hotels now provides free wireless Web access at its Monaco properties in Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, San Francisco, New Orleans and Washington, D.C.

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