I’m elite, you’re not
An elite-level frequent flier card used to be a passport to a better flying experience, offering access to special waiting areas, preferred seating and priority first-class upgrades. But lately, frequent flier status has come to represent something else to many business travelers: a de facto insurance policy against more declines in customer service.
The socket seekers
Just when travelers thought they had run out of things to complain about at the airport, their fading laptops and cellphones have signaled yet another problem: a shortage of power outlets.
Extended pampering included
The Fairmont Washington knows Andrew Breslow’s room preference, his fondness for foam pillows and his favorite cocktail: Jack Daniels with club soda. But that is not why Mr. Breslow, a tax lawyer from Southlake, Tex., likes to check into the hotel on his extended business trips to Washington.
A business hotel is a business hotel
It turns out a business travel hotel is a business travel hotel, after all. Some hotels that only a few years ago rebranded themselves as “family friendly” resorts have been quietly phasing out promotions and programs meant to attract families with children. One reason is that their rooms have been filling up with more of their core business customers.
How much for that room?
For years, hotels have increasingly saddled their customers with nonnegotiable surcharges for everything from the use of an in-room safe to a general resort fee that pays for amenities that were once part of the room rate.
The power of blogging
Like most other business travelers who publish blogs, Steve Broback discovered their power by accident.
Driving you crazy
The perpetually strained relationship between corporate travelers and tourists tends to get a lot of attention this time of year, with spring break just wrapping up and Memorial Day, the official start of the summer vacation season, only weeks away.
Get me a room
Room service, get me a room! It hasn’t quite come to that, but with record-high occupancy rates predicted for summer, vacationers need to get busy and book. The luxury hotels below are a good bet, but even they’re filling up.
Remember your first time?
Most first business trips go off without a hitch. But a minority hit snags that are destined to become part of business travel lore.
Working out on the road
As health care costs rise, companies are increasingly looking at ways to make their employees healthier, and business travelers are particularly at risk for medical problems. They are frequently stressed out and overworked, and often subsist on vending machine snacks and takeout food.
Worried sick
Few people are more preoccupied with their health than business travelers. They were a cautious lot even before bird flu began to spread, before talk of a possible influenza pandemic.
A taxing log
Of all the annoyances business travelers have to endure while on the road, not one comes close to keeping a mileage log. Airline and hotel troubles come and go, but tracking business miles is a constant. Most business trips are done by car, and the vehicles most often used are personal or company cars in which every mile must be painstakingly recorded for tax purposes.
Chafing at a new contract
It is not difficult to find a business traveler who is hopping mad at Hertz these days. Krishna Kumar, a program manager from Santa Clara, Calif., for instance, says he was taken aback by the car rental company’s decision to tighten its terms and conditions. “When I saw them,” he said, “I was very upset.”
Hotel rating sites stall
As Web sites that publish guest hotel reviews become more influential, some hotels — from bed-and-breakfasts to large resorts — are going to greater lengths to ensure that their properties are rated highly. Their efforts, analysts say, range from encouraging guests to write flattering reviews to, in extreme cases, submitting bogus recommendations to Web sites.
After the bed wars
The hotel “bed wars” are over. But are business travelers the winners? Most frequent travelers would probably say they are, citing the remarkable evolution of hotel beds from the no-nonsense affairs of the late 1990’s — just mattresses, sheets and bedspreads — to the superpremium sleep “experiences” of today.