Business Travel Services

Business Travel Services
We deliver solutions for all of your business travel needs, featuring localized and personalized service supported by the industries most advanced travel technology.


Williamsburg Travel Management-American Express business travel offers solutions for 100% of your company's corporate travel needs. As an affiliate of American Express Business Travel we can provide advice and service to improve the management of your business travel program.


Online Service: Rearden Personal Assistant helps businesses save money by expanding visibility, control and transparency well beyond the traditional travel categories of air, car and hotel. It identifies the best value from more than 160,000 travel suppliers.


See our Business Solutions section to learn more about our business travel management services for your company

Swedish Travel Buyers Look To EMDs For Total Air Trip Costs

by Amon Cohen
December 06, 2010  -  A group of Swedish travel buyers last week told The Transnational that it hopes to use emerging electronic miscellaneous document technology not only to capture ancillary airline fee data for negotiating purposes but also to provide a data platform for breaking down and tracking all cost elements of an air trip. Consisting of large multinational members of the Swedish Business Travel Association, SBTA Global Network has drawn up a list of 24 air travel elements it would like to consolidate in a single management information system.

Network administrator Cathrine Lundberg said top priorities are fuel charges, lounge access, fast-track security, airline rebooking fees, seat reservations, inflight Internet access, ticket refunds and taxes and levies. Fast-track security and lounge access are not necessarily charged by the airline, either within the base fare or through ancillary fees, but might be imposed by airports and other third parties. SBTA Global Network considers the development of EMDs and other ancillary charging mechanisms to be an opportunity to obtain a total trip cost by integrating fees for those services with what corporate customers pay airlines.

"Ancillary charges are a big issue for us, but we are trying to see what opportunities there are to include other things in the negotiated price for large buyers," said Lundberg. "There is an opportunity to package other features independent of who owns them, such as fast-track airport access. If we are going to load all these different services on to the ticket, we have to figure out how to collect them electronically so they can all be shown on our card data."

In the six months it has been working on the project, SBTA Global Network has spoken with airlines and a card company and also wants to talk to airport operators. It also has engaged in dialogue with Amadeus, which is the dominant global distribution system operator in the Nordic region. Amadeus since June has been piloting with Finnair its EMD solution on the airline side of its business, and Lundberg welcomed the last week's announcement that Amadeus will pilot EMD access for travel agents in Finland from the first quarter of 2011. Amadeus claimed the Finnish rollout will make it the first GDS to make the EMD--the equivalent of an e-ticket for additional airline charges--available to travel agents.

Amadeus Scandinavia marketing director Jesper Söderström said he understands the aims of SBTA Global Network. "They fear that more of their expenses are not being included in the cost of a flight and therefore the actual price is not the same as travelers think it is," he said. "They want to get the facts and then gain control. From a corporate point of view, they want to know if they can follow the data and if they can make agreements based on the information. It is like negotiating free Internet access at a hotel. They may tell the airline they want free speedy boarding and half-price for sandwiches. It would give a huge amount of flexibility. Our job as a technology provider is to make this process feasible."

However, before SBTA Global Network's principles become practice, there are several significant hurdles to overcome. Not the least of these is that while Amadeus and other GDSs are starting to make the technology available for corporate clients to book and track ancillary charges through their travel management companies, the airlines need to buy into the process. Even in Finland, the Amadeus EMD laboratory, airline cooperation remains uncertain.

"We haven't receive a lot of information about what airlines will sell through the EMD," said Samuli Sakari, development manager for Area Travel Agency in Helsinki. "Finnair hasn't released any information yet. We are piloting the functionality, not the service itself. The functionality is already there, but what is missing is the services the airlines will put in the system. This is going to be a great opportunity for the airlines, but someone needs to start it."

Amadeus' Söderström acknowledged the problem to The Transnational, adding that some airlines, as has been indicated in the United States, may choose to sell some or all their ancillary services only through direct channels. "The product is there; we need to have the airlines able and wanting to do this," he said. "However, if the GDSs are responsible for 60 percent of their sales, then not making ancillary services available through them is not a good choice."

from - http://www.thetransnational.travel/news.php?cid=travel-buyers-EMDs-EMD-total-air-trip-costs.Dec-10.08

Germany: Vegetarian Food

Germany: Vegetarian Food
There is at least one vegetarian restaurant or partially vegetarian restaurant in most of the German cities I have visited over the past few years (Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Mannheim). However, despite its high profile political Green movement, and public concern for 'organic' food, Germany is not blessed with a wealth of vegetarian restaurants. Neither have I noticed much German supermarket food being labelled as suitable for vegetarians. However, health food shops, and shops selling organic food, are, in my experience, not hard to locate, making vegetarian picnic food relatively easy to obtain. Open markets, such as are found all over Italy, are not apparently where German people buy fruit and vegetables.



The bad news is that much traditional German food is heavily based on slaughtered animals and on animal products. As in Britain, many people in Germany appear to find it strange to want to avoid eating dead animals. Unlike in Italy (where olive oil is used), the fat in which German food is cooked may well originate from rendered animal flesh. This latter point is significant, for in Berlin I experienced difficulty in a non-vegetarian restaurant because the chef, although willing to prepare something meat-free, could not guarantee that the oil used for frying was suitable for vegetarians.
In many hotels, a buffet breakfast consists of slices of processed dairy cheese, slices of pig, slices of squashed animals, and chickens' eggs in one form or another. There might also be breakfast cereal served with cow's milk, dairy yoghurt and kwark.

from - http://www.btinternet.com/~p.g.h/germany_vegetarian.htm

Business Travel Management germany

Effective business travel management is a complex affair which requires companies to fully understand the rapidly changing dynamics of the business travel industry and its trends. Companies realize that in an increasingly globalize world, no matter how drastic the economic scenario, they can not afford to entirely do away with face to face meetings that are conducted via business travel. This becomes paramount if their business competitors are continuing to carry out these types of meetings. Additionally these interactions assume a greater importance when they involve supervision or training of employees and/or customers who are based in other states and countries While daily communications between the company headquarters and its regional or global branches can be effectively managed via modern day technologies, such as video conferencing, relationship building which is often believed to be the cornerstone of business success can only be achieved by face to face interaction.

In such a scenario the onus of effective business travel management lies entirely with the in-house travel department of the company, the business traveler themselves or an untrained administrative assistant. These travel departments or individuals now have to streamline their processes so that they are able to procure the best deals for each and every business trip. In addition they have to do their utmost to ensure that these business travelers continue to travel in the manner that they are accustomed.

This calls for a partnership with Fare Buzz Business Travel Services, a preferred business travel management company. Fare Buzz can help to effectively control travel costs and maintain the highest standards of quality for the business traveler. We negotiate the best travel deals for a business which is looking to maximize returns while decreasing expenses from its investment in business travel.

Fare Buzz constantly has a finger on the pulse of the business travel industry. We can easily offer ‘best buy’ strategies for our clients due to the exclusive relationship that it shares with over 60 domestic and international airlines and more than 100,000 worldwide hotel properties. Satisfied clients have achieved savings of nearly 30% to 40% a year in their travel budgets while using the comprehensive and efficient business travel services provided by Fare Buzz.

While travel websites might offer quotes for specific routes they are not really able to give their clients the complete range of options that are available to travel management companies like Fare Buzz Business Travel.  At Fare Buzz, unlike these online travel suppliers, you are assigned a dedicated account manager with years of experience in the business travel industry. Fare Buzz Business Travel Desk is available seven days a week to help you find the best airline business class fares, hotel and car rental deals for any destination in the world.

The Internet is littered with a plethora of travel websites who all claim to have the ‘best’ fares available. However, when business travel involves long haul international flights, intricate itineraries or multiple flight destinations the companies in-house travel departments and individuals have a better chance of securing the best business class fares with Fare Buzz Business Travel Services. This will be achieved when working in tandem with a supplier of discounted business class fares like the New York City based, business travel management company, Fare Buzz

Germany Food & Drink Report

Report Description

The Germany Food & Drink Report has been researched at source, and features latest-available data covering food, drink consumption, expenditure, sales, imports and exports; 5-year industry forecasts through end-2015; company rankings and competitive landscapes covering leading multinational and national food companies; and analysis of latest industry news, trends and regulatory developments in Germany.
Business Monitor International’s Germany Food & Drink Report provides industry professionals and strategists, sector analysts, business investors, trade associations and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the food and drink industry, and the mass grocery retail market in Germany.

Key Benefits of Report

• Benchmark BMI’s Independent 5-year Food and Drink Industry Forecasts on Germany to test other views – a key input for successful budgeting and strategic business planning in the German Food and Drink market.
• Target Business Opportunities & Risks in Germany through our reviews of latest industry trends, regulatory changes, and major deals, projects and investments.
• Exploit Latest Competitive Intelligence & Company SWOTs on your competitors and peers through company rankings by sales, market share and ownership structure – includes multi-national and national companies.

Coverage

Executive Summary

At-a-glance overview of BMI’s latest industry forecasts, and a summary of headline news events from the last quarter.

Business Environment Rankings

Cross-border analysis of the region’s key markets, ranking them in order of competitiveness from an investor angle. Taking into account, economic risk, political risk, mass grocery retail sales growth, market entry potential, possible barriers to entry and per-capita consumption, BMI provides a unique study on the region’s business environments for the retail and food & drink industries.

5-Year Retail Forecast

Divided up into six sections, BMI’s retail chapter provides insights into each market’s mass grocery retail industry, culminating in a 5-year forecast for the sector. The chapter includes the following elements:

• Regional Overview - complete with data, an overview of the size of the region’s market
• Market Overview - an outlook of the structure of the market, introducing the key players and discussing underlying trends
• Industry Developments - analysis and explanation of industry trends and how these could encourage or prevent further investment
• Company Developments - a summary of corporate developments, including news on M&As, FDI, expansions, closures and financial results
• Industry Forecast Scenario - Historic data series and 5-year forecasts to end-2015 for growth or decline of grocery retail formats, such as supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores and co-operatives
• Macroeconomic Outlook - 5-year forecasts for headline macroeconomic indicators, including real GDP growth, inflation, fiscal balance, trade balance, current account and external debt

5-Year Food and Drink Forecast

Comprising five sections, BMI’s Food & Drink Report chapter provides analysis of each market’s Food & Drink Report industry, culminating in a 5-year forecast for the sector. The chapter includes the following elements: Regional Overview, Market Overview, Industry Developments, Company Developments and a 5-Year Forecast. This section contains a historic data series and forecasts to end-2015 for key indicators including food consumption (US$mn), food expenditure (% household spending), canned food sales (‘000 tonnes); canned food sales, value (US$mn); confectionery sales (‘000 tonnes); confectionery sales, value (US$mn); coffee sales (US$mn); tea sales (US$mn); alcoholic drinks sales (US$mn); and soft drinks sales (US$mn).

SWOT Analysis

At-a-glance perspective on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing each market’s Food & Drink Report industry. BMI also provides similar economic and business environment studies.

Competitive Landscape & Profiles

Illustration of the industry via rankings tables comparing revenues, number of outlets, number of employees and registration dates. BMI analyses each company’s performance, market position, strategy and investment potential

from - http://www.businessmonitor.com/food/germany.html

What’s Hot in Business Travel Management germaney

When the ITB Berlin Business Travel Days 2009 took place in March, the global crisis had left its first clearly visible footprints. Business travel, so far seen as a rock in even turmoil waters, had dropped sharply.


Many corporations had introduced a down-scaling of mobility; even a de facto stop of all travel was observed in some cases. As the “VDR Business Travel Report Germany 2009” states, some 86,000 German companies reported that the recession had by then impacted their travel management. Of those enterprises that have implemented restrictive business travel measures as a reaction to economic developments, two out of three had reduced travel volume. One in three companies was reacting by cutting down on events