Airborne between Paris and Hong Kong on a Global Airlines Boeing 2000ER, John and Jane Harbinger are lingering over lunch in the gourmet restaurant on the top deck (not much point in fast food on a 16-hour flight) figuring how they’re going to spend the rest of the afternoon. Jane decides on a soothing séance in the beauty parlor: John will make a few calls from the business center and polish his presentation. They’ll meet for drinks at six in the suite before dinner. ‘Would sushi hit the spot? I’ll book a table downstairs.’ John asks a passing ‘skycop’ for directions. ‘Head down the main corridor towards the tail and take the elevator down to the bottom deck.’ Click here
Columns
Saturday, February 6th, 2010
Are you sure you know who I am and why I’m here?
Know thyself – that is the advice inscribed on the temple of Apollo at Delphi. In travel terms, that means deciding what kind of traveler you are for a particular trip. We travel in different modes and in different frames of mind, with different needs depending on why we are going and where we are headed.
Business travelers are not as monolithic as airlines and hoteliers often assume.Neither are ‘high-end’ leisure travelers (denizens of premium cabins), who might well be business travelers going on holiday. Look out too for budget leisure travelers, who could be high-end business travelers in holiday mode with the family. Click here
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Return to the future for airline passengers
The latest return to the future comes in the form of the patented ‘Flex-Seat’ from Boston-based Jacob-Innovations – a ‘two-storey pod-like design for business-class seating which can be converted to an economy-class set-up on demand’ for airlines ‘that might want to alter a plane’s configuration depending on how many tickets of each class it has sold; and at the same time, ‘increasing the density of a conventional business class cabin by 50 per cent while providing full reclining’ – whatever that means.
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Friday, December 18th, 2009
It’s not what you say… It’s how you say it
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s counsel 150 years ago that ‘No man should travel until he has learned the language of the country he visits’ is reflected in the boom in language learning for business travelers. The key to success, we are told, is to do business in the other person’s language.
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Friday, December 18th, 2009
Executive Santa: an exclusive interview
‘Ho! Ho! Ho! Yes, I have to admit that my organization is outdated, especially for a big mail-order business. And we do have a problem in maintaining contact with our customers. But I think you’ll agree we still have a great deal of customer appeal! This is especially true among younger children coming into the market for the first time. Although we are losing business ‘off the top’ as it were as children reach the age of 10 or thereabouts. It’s the old 80-20 rule – you make 80 percent of sales among 20 percent of the population.
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