Business travel can be wearing after a while. What with delays at the airport and last minute cancellations, samey hotel rooms and bland convention rooms it can soon become tedious. It can also be difficult to fit in activities outside of the business agenda when travelling with colleagues. However if you are travelling alone you can make the business trip more enjoyable. To make your time more pleasurable take time to indulge yourself in something special like a gourmet meal or a trip to a spa or even engage yourself in a hobby.

By factoring in some downtime you can ensure that it’s not all work and waiting in airport lounges. If you enjoy sightseeing take time to arrange a walking tour. If you love music seek out the local concerts that are performing during your stay. If you enjoy golf you are bound to find a decent course in the vicinity of the hotel.

You can make your meal a highlight rather than a drab evening. Seek out a high dining restaurant and indulge in a gourmet meal. You can enjoy dinner without distraction and if you feel a little conspicuous take a book to read while you eat.

Take some time to relax outside a café or wandering through a park or even catch a film. Just make sure you schedule some time to unwind.

Popularity: 26% [?]

If you travel regularly with work then it can take a huge toll on your Pilates routine. Business travel can seriously impede any fitness regime you have and the combination of business meals and snatching food on the move between airports can start to have an impact on your waist line. Pilates is a great way of staying trim and also correcting those bad posture habits that you may pick up on long haul flights but how do you keep it going when you are travelling across the globe?

The easiest way is to learn some Pilates routines that you can do on the move. You can find Pilates exercises on the internet and simply follow the exercises on your laptop or if you have your own preferred routine write them down. You could also take a DVD with you as most hotels geared up for business travellers have a DVD player in the room.

However finding a class in the city of your stay is the most enjoyable way of keeping up with your Pilates regime. You’ll find Pilates classes in most business cities across the world and with a little persistence you should be able to find a class. In fact many hotels offer classes as part of their leisure facilities. Visiting different classes will breathe new life into your understanding of Pilates and give you a welcome break from the treadmill of business travel.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Despite the recession, a great many people are still making regular business trips both in the UK and internationally. However not everyone is making the most of their business travel by saving Air Miles, and earning free flights and other benefits.

Air Miles can be earned with every flight, and then exchanged for free flights to destinations around the world. You can also earn Air Miles when you stay at hotels by using your credit card, when you fill your car up with petrol and when you buy your shopping each week.

As the recession is eating into everyone’s profits, it becomes even more necessary to save money wherever possible, and by collecting Air Miles you’re able to do that. If you are a regular business traveller and you’re not earning Air Miles, you’re missing out on potentially hundreds of pounds worth of free business flights each year.

Can you or your business afford to do that?

Popularity: 32% [?]

When you’re working away from home on business you probably need access to your emails 24/7, but what are the best options for making sure that’s possible?

Sure, you’ll have a laptop with you, and you’ve probably got one that’s Wi-Fi enabled, but unless you have a Wi-Fi signal near you that’s not much use to you. Most hotels offer Wi-Fi at a premium, and of course some trains (such as Virgin) offer it as well. Yet, what are the chances that when you really need it it’s not available?

Pretty good usually. Other options for Internet on the move include buying a dongle and using it with a mobile network such as Vodafone. Dongles have limited bandwidth, usually around 15GB per month, but are more than suitable for when you’re on the move. They’re fairly cheap too, starting at around £20 per month.

Another, more portable option of course is with an Internet enabled phone, such as a Blackberry, iPhone or HTC mobile. With one of these you can send and receive your emails wherever you are so long as you have a mobile phone signal. They’re cheaper than using a dongle or paying for a premium Wi-Fi connection too.

Popularity: 44% [?]

It may seem unlikely, but according to Barclaycard many people aren’t claiming back their business travel expenses. The credit company believes that business travellers in the UK could be losing out on as much as half a billion pounds each year.

That amounts to roughly £373 for every business traveller in the UK.

The figures were revealed in a survey by Barclaycard that showed 32% of business men and women who were questioned said they didn’t claim back all of their travel expenses.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the survey also revealed that men were (more…)

Popularity: 50% [?]

Virgin Trains has now opened a First Class lounge in Liverpool’s Lime Street. The new lounge cost the rail company £3.4 million and offers seating for fifty passengers. The luxury lounge also comes equipped with top of the range facilities such as free Wi-Fi access and drinks and food.

Keith Millard, the station manager for Virgin, added:

Since last December we have had a high quality train service, using state-of-the-art tilting Pendolino trains from Liverpool to London, and now we have a high quality station facility to complement the trains.

We are confident that the improved facilities at the station will encourage more environmentally-conscious motorists to ditch the car and take the train.

First Class customers using the Liverpool to London route are also able to take advantage of a completely refurbished lounge at Euston station, which opened at the end of April.

Virgin’s new first class lounge in Liverpool adds to their compliment of luxury lounges for business travellers which already exist in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and Stoke-on-Trent.

Popularity: 28% [?]

According to a survey by the National Business Travel Association (NBTA), Europeans aren’t particularly phased by the global recession and are generally planning on maintaining their level of business travel in the next 12 months.

52% of businessmen and women said they’d make the same number of trips in the next 12 months and 22% believe they’ll make more journeys in the next year.

26% of those polled said they expected to cut back on their travel in the next 12 months.

Kevin Maguire of the NBTA stated:

While the majority of business travellers understand the need to be prudent around costs, the most important issue for them when booking travel is convenience.

That’s why it is so vital that travel managers work with their communications colleagues to inform employees how travel changes are designed to meet both goals – cutting costs while offering convenience.

Popularity: 62% [?]

American Express has taken the difficult decision to close down its call centres for business travel, costing around 4,000 jobs throughout the globe. This amounts to 6% of Amex’s workforce worldwide but should help the company achieve its target savings of $800 million.

American Express is hoping to save $175 million through cutting employment figures and saving $500 million on marketing.

Kenneth Chenault is the CEO of Amex, he added:

While we have remained solidly profitable at a time when some parts of the card industry were incurring substantial losses, we continue to be very cautious about the economic outlook and are therefore moving forward with additional reengineering efforts to help further reduce our operating costs. We believe these efforts will put us in a better position to remain profitable and free up some additional resources that will be reinvested in the business to make sure we can take competitive advantage of opportunities as the economy begins to rebound.

Popularity: 96% [?]

Virgin Trains has finally introduced wireless Internet access for passengers on its West Coast main line trains. The service was supposed to have been introduced years ago, but suffered great delays.

The Wi-Fi is being provided by T-Mobile and will afford passengers uninterrupted wireless Internet access, even when the trains are going through tunnels. A spokeswoman for Virgin Trains stated:

Wireless internet is now live across our Pendolino fleet and the service is forecast to be up and running in our Super Voyager trains by this summer.

The wireless net installation commenced last year, and receivers for the Internet have been installed gradually on each train. The installation has now been completed.

First class passengers can use the wireless net access free of charge while they are on the trains, plus they can use it in the business lounge at train stations.

Popularity: 52% [?]

The Business Travel Show is scheduled to be held in London, at Earl’s Court next year. However, the even was intended to be a three day show, but due to the recession it has been scaled back to just two days.

The Business Travel Show begins in Earl’s Court in February 9th 2010.

David Chapple is the director of the event. He stated:

Over the last two months we have listened carefully to what buyers and suppliers are experiencing, what they think, and what they want from their trade show.

It’s become clear that their overriding need at this stage is for (more…)

Popularity: 37% [?]