Business Travel News - October 13, 2008 - (Page 1)

OCTOBER 13, 2008 INSIDE Mtg. Buyers See Flat Budgets, Air Hikes . . . 3 Rearden Diversifies With Limo Res Buy. . . . 4 Advito Sees Travel Costs Rise 13% In ’09 . . 6 BTN Research: Expense Manager Survey . . 10 Experts Formulate Airfare Futures Index . . . 14 6 12 16 CVS FILLS M&A SEE YOU LATER, CONSOLIDATING PRESCRIPTION SPECULATORS LIMO SERVICES Perron helps lead seamless melding with Caremark. Prism’s Whitesage Reader’s Digest’s calls for end of Siciliano reduces ‘dark’ oil trading. from 100 to three. BTNonline.com ONE-ON-ONE STARWOOD CEO FRITS VAN PAASSCHEN CEO Talks Demand, Growth, Negotiating Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide CEO Frits van Paasschen, who last month marked his first full year at the helm of the multibrand hotel company, recently sat down with Business Travel News editor-inchief David Meyer and hotel editor Michael B. Baker to discuss demand outlook, the latest round of corporate negotiations and growth goals amid the financial free-fall. BTN: How will the current financial crisis affect hotel demand? Frits van Paasschen: We’re seeing a slow descent and probably a slow emergence on the other side, so we’re planning for a difficult 2009 and hoping that, in the back half of 2009, we’ll see an emergence and an improvement in market conditions. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the capacity that has been added has Continued on page 8 Fare Surcharges Arbitrary BY JAY BOEHMER Airline fuel surcharge structures have no clear and consistent methodology, no direct correlation with the cost of fuel and little consistency in their application—even within a single airline on the same flight, according to examinations of fare data and discussions with airfare analysts. Corporate travel buyers and industry organizations are bemoaning the surcharges’ placement in fare filings that leave the fees out of the realm of corporate discounts, and in some cases nonrefundable. Fuel surcharges on international and many domestic routes are assessed on top of the base fare, leaving surcharges—a growing part of the overall cost of carriage—largely left out of corporate discounting. Advito vice president Bob Brindley said fuel surcharges fall “on the more irrational side of the whole airContinued on page 24 Merrill Lynch Moves To Follow The Sun From Asia BY AMON COHEN & SETH HARRIS Incentive Buyers Tighten Budgets Postmaster: Newspaper Handling/Periodicals Postaage BY ELISSA HUNTER Incentive travel buyers are trying ways to keep budgets in check, including bringing fewer attendees and being more open to alternate destinations, and increasingly are looking at external and internal return-oninvestment measurements to determine the most cost-effective trip, industry consultants and executives said. Unclear at this point is the impact recent financial turmoil will have on incentive travel. Some consultants are planning for or have had discussions with Continued on page 24 Merrill Lynch this month began migrating the Asia/Pacific part of its travel program onto a followthe-sun platform, with after-hours Hong Kong calls being routed through the United Kingdom. By year-end, vice president of global travel services Karen Hutchings expects some after-hours U.S. calls to be processed through a service center in Asia/Pacific, most likely Australia, pending the arrival of new telephony in the United States, which is planned for Dec. 1. So far, the company has consolidated 29 out of Continued on page 20 KAREN HUTCHINGS Deploys multi-GDS solution For a Better View of Travel, Visit Online ® ERIC WONG http://www.BTNonline.com http://www.travelocitybusiness.com/btnview

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - October 13, 2008

Business Travel News - October 13, 2008
Contents
Inside Track
Profiles In Travel Management
BTN Research
Forum
Aviation
Ground Transportation
Destinations
Asia/Pacific
Washington Wire

Business Travel News - October 13, 2008