Hilton has made known that it is due to expand the Doubletree brand within the UK and is set to open properties in Milton Keynes and Bristol by the end of 2009.

In Bristol Hilton is in the process of converting the Cadbury House Hotel and Country Club which is a four star rated hotel. It will be launched as the Doubletree by Hilton and will offer leisure and business travelers a selection of seventy two rooms, a meeting space, health club and spa amenities and a top restaurant and bar. This Bristol South hotel is located just thirteen miles southwest of Bristol and is close by to the village of Congresbury. For business travel it is a handy ten minutes drive to the Bristol International Airport.

At the same time Doubletree will open a newly built hotel within the MK Dons Football Club at Milton Keynes. It will be fully integrated into the professional sports complex which is situated at the front of the stadium at the west stand. It will boast 127 guest rooms with many having a prize view of the football pitch and access to the stadium seating.

Both hotels are part of franchise agreement and are due to open by the end of this year. Doubletree now has seven UK hotels open or under development and Hilton is also rolling out the brand across Europe.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Icelandair has launched a triangular service offering which aims to link Rejkjavik to both Glasgow and Manchester. The Glasgow route will be launched next month starting off with a twice-weekly service running on both Thursdays and Sundays. This will then increase to four times per week from 25th September 2009.

From 25th September 2009 there will be an increase in flights to Manchester and another two flights will be added to coincide with connecting flights to the airline’s North American destinations. These will include Halifax, Boston, New York JFK, Minneapolis, Toronto and Seattle.

Flights will run Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday departing from Reykjavik at 0800 and arriving at Manchester at 1135. The flight will then depart from Manchester at 1225 to arrive in Glasgow at 1330. The next flight from Glasgow will then be 1420 to arrive at Reykjavik at 1540.

Those travelling from Manchester to Reykjavik will have to travel via Glasgow but returning passengers can travel direct. The same applies to outbound business travel from Glasgow but the returning flight will be routed via Manchester.

There are also opportunities to connect to the US and Canadian destinations offered by Icelandair. These extra flight will be of great value to Manchester and Glasgow travelers although some may find the extra time on the triangular flight a drawback.

Popularity: 14% [?]

The airline’s first luxury lounge in Europe has been opened by Etihad Airways at Germany’s Frankfurt Airport. This lounge of 275 square metres can hold up to fifty passengers.

The lounge is situated in Transit Area E which is ideally located next to the gate used most often by Etihad. Business travelers on First class and business class flights have access to this facility up to three hours before they depart on their flight.

There is a wide selection of foods available at various dining facilities which will cater to most world tastes and a wooden paneled business centre caters for those who want to keep productive with workstations and telephone facilities available with free calls within the Frankfurt region.

There is also a prayer room, a plush seating area cover in luxurious Italian leather and shower amenities for passengers to use when they need to freshen up.

The chief commercial officer of the airline, Peter Baumgartner said:

“Our new facility offers a luxurious lounge area in a truly superb environment that will provide Etihad’s premium customers with a range of entertainment options if they want them, or plenty of other ways to simply sit back and enjoy some relaxation prior to boarding their flight.”

There will be another premium lounge opening at London Heathrow Airport at Terminal 4.

Popularity: 12% [?]

UK domestic and business travellers are throwing away on average £60 million worth of belongings confiscated at airport security points every year according to a report published recently. Unwitting passengers are being pulled up at check points and found carrying banned objects such as curling tongs, deodorant cans and manicure kits it was revealed.

The survey was carried out by G4S Aviation Services and also found that 110,000 of British travellers admitted to lying to security staff when asked if they had packed their own case, a criminal offence in the UK. Another 122,000 passengers had left their luggage unattended when visiting duty free shops, airport bars or going the toilet.

The managing director of G4S Aviation Services, Mr Gavin Windsor said:

“Each year we face a summer of security alerts and delays at airports as a result of irresponsible travellers leaving bags unattended and putting restricted items in their hand luggage.”

A fifth of British travellers had had items confiscated by airport security within the last five years and a tenth of passengers failed to check flying regulations before travelling. Along with sharp objects and liquids, a staggering 22,400 toy guns were confiscated last year and 17,000 poisons. For information before travelling by domestic or business flights check with your airline for regulations.

Popularity: 17% [?]

This September the airline Emirates will launch its luxurious 489 seater A380 to its Birmingham to Dubai route. This launch coincides with celebrations for the Birmingham based airport’s 70th anniversary and it will be the first time that the super jumbo has been used in a scheduled service at Midlands airport.

On 9th September First Class, Business Travel and Economy Class A380 will take over from the B777-300 aircraft on the 0805 flight from Dubai to Birmingham and the 1415 flight from Birmingham to Dubai. You can book flights for this day now at the Emirates website.

Passengers will be able to make use of the latest in flight amenities and accommodation which includes flat bed seats for business travellers.

This one-off chance to fly the A380 on 9th September is hoped to attract not only Brummies and Midland passengers but also passengers from surrounding areas such as Manchester, Bristol and northern Home Counties.

However there is a downside and the A380 is usually deployed on flights between Heathrow and Dubai. This means these popular flights will be operating using a smaller aircraft on that day.

To fly on the A380 from Birmingham that day will cost you anything from £361 on economy to £1965 on business class to £2867 on first class.

Popularity: 43% [?]

The high luxury Japanese hotel chain Okura Hotels and Resorts has started searching out properties in the business cities of Paris, London and New York targeting business travellers In Europe and the States.

Since the launch of the hotel’s flagship property based in Tokyo more than forty years ago, Okura Hotels and Resorts has amazingly opened just one more hotel in Europe. This was the Okura Amsterdam which was opened in 1971.

When questioned about the Okura Hotels and Resorts plans to expand their hotel chain across key business locations in Europe and the United States, the general manager, Marcel van Aelst, based at the Hotel Okura Amsterdam commented:

“When people ask if we want to expand into London, Paris and Manhattan, I say, if you ask a kid if they want an ice cream, how do they reply?”

He further went on to explain that the hotel chain was negotiating property deals in London and are imminently looking to sign and seal a management deal.

In their continuing expansion across Asia, the Wen Wan Okura Resort containing ninety two rooms and located at the Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan will open its doors this September. There are also new build projects underway in Macau which are due to open next year and also one underway in Taipai in Taiwan due to open in 2012.

Popularity: 20% [?]

The London Heathrow to Bangalore flight by Kingfisher Airlines is set to be scrapped from September onwards it has been announced. However there are plans to start new flights from London to Delhi.

The Indian airline announced “with a view to ensuring optimal and efficient utilization of its fleet and looking at loads and yields during the period September to November 2009”, that after only twelve months in operation it had decided to suspend the Heathrow-Bangalore route commencing on 15th September 2009.

The announcement comes as Kingfisher Airlines launches its new roadmap for international domestic and business travel. There are a further two flights to be launched from Mumbai to Singapore and Mumbai to Hong Kong in September. These flights will operate using the Airbus A330-200. There will be another six international flights from Mumbai and Delhi.

The flights of most interest to UK business travellers are the planned flights from London to Delhi. The Kingfisher Airlines spokespeople have said they are awaiting confirmation from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to begin flights on this route and the launch date will be announced when all the regulations and approvals have been met. Again this flight will use the new A330-200 aircraft.

Popularity: 13% [?]

SITA a provider of air transport IT solutions has recently published a survey that highlights that above one third of airlines still fail to provide mobile services to business travellers and a mere fifth of airlines surveyed offer a mobile check-in service.

The 2009 Airline IT Trends Survey revealed that the reason for this lack of mobile services is due to thirty eight percent of airlines believing there is no business need as yet. Only fifteen percent have updated their website to include mobile services.

However there was a glimmer of hope as seventy eight per cent of airlines do have plans to update their websites so that they can be viewed on mobile phones by 2012.

SITA is working at moment with Malaysia Airlines developing a mobile web application which will provide check-in and other information to mobile phones.

The chief technology officer of SITA, Jim Peters commented that:

“The Airline IT Trends Survey shows that only 15 per cent of airlines have optimised their websites for mobile phones. Our approach in SITA Labs is to develop a common platform to maximise the use of mobile phones as a travel tool. Our prototype interface works via the mobile device’s web browser, and we ‘mobilise’ rather than simply miniaturise the airline website for the convenience of the passenger eliminating unnecessary content.”

Popularity: 7% [?]

In January 2010, the Crowne Plaza hotel is set to open in Portugal. It will be the first in the country and will be located on the Vilamoura beach close by to the globally famous Vilamoura Casino. It is also situated just 30 metres from the main marina in the Algarve and for business travel is ideally situated just 20 kilometres from Faro airport.

It is conveniently located just a stone’s throw from Vilamoura’s five golf courses and just a drive of twenty minutes from other courses in the Algarve.

The impressive hotel will be built with 327 suites and rooms and for business travelers will be equipped with outstanding conference facilities and meeting room space of 1200 square feet including a 760 square metre room which can be divided into three, an impressive boardroom for up to 12 people and 22 guest rooms that can be quickly converted into meeting rooms if needed. To relax there will be an exquisite garden with shady palm trees which can also be used for entertaining clients outdoors.

The Crown Plaza will also house a wide choice of entertainment outlets and restaurants. This will include an outdoor swimming pool, an al fresco restaurant open nearly all year round, and a driving range.

Popularity: 4% [?]

BMI has launched a new pre-flight lounge for its business travel customers who use BMI to fly to Tel Aviv and Moscow starting this month. Customers on business flights can indulge in a three course meal in the new BMI swanky international lounge. This means business travelers can eat before they board and spend the flight sleeping or relaxing without being interrupted for meals mid flight. On board light meals or night caps from BMI’s Night Time Supper menu if they get peckish.

This follows BMI’s initiative to improve benefits and services fr their customer traveling in business class whether for pleasure or work. Last month BMI opened its international lounge at Number One Heathrow which aims to provide a quintessentially British atmosphere for passengers to relax, work, refresh and dine in.

Dining will be available in the lounge every day from 8.30pm and is a great benefit to those passengers flying to Moscow and Tel Aviv at night. Meals on the menu include hot soup prepared fresh on BMI’s AGA, macaroni cheese, a variety of salads and hot bagels with salt beef.

To round off the perfect meal choose from a selection of exclusive Mark Hix ice creams. The BMI also have their own pub, The Local, which is open to serve champagne, Pimms, rosé wine and a selections of whiskies and brandies.

Popularity: 7% [?]