travel, hotel and booking Information

Airlines ride rising fuel costs

Hotel Booking While soaring fuel costs continue to put pressure on air ticket prices, competition between air carriers to maintain and acquire business is keeping price increases to a moderate level according to the recent BTI Canada Benchmarking Study.

To book a flight from a low cost airline you can select on the web page of ebookers a flight shown by the logo or the words %ßow Cost% After you enter the relevant personal information on our website, we will pass these to the low cost airline. The booking will be made directly between you and the low cost airline. After completing the booking you will receive two booking confirmations by email, one from the airline and one from ebookers. The reference received from the airline is required for check in.

Travel Agency In efforts to recoup expanding operational costs, air carriers are increasing existing fuel surcharges, but, increases were minimal. We do, however, expect to see further increases in the second half of 2005, says Michele Ferrari, Senior Vice President, Client Management, BTI Canada. Meanwhile, Corporate Canadas air travel activity is strong. The total number of airline tickets sold for the current review period, January to June 2005, rose significantly by 24 per cent.

} The bulk of our flying is done with Thomas Cook Airlines who are at the leading edge of fuel economy with a specific fuel consumption of only 2.9 litres per 100 passenger kilometres. art aircraft, a comparatively high seating density and a high utilization rate. The airline carries more people, further, for less fuel than most other airlines. In addition, Thomas Cook Airlines have signed up to the Sustainable Aviation Initiative which covers the environmental, social and economic impacts of aviation in the context of the UK. It lists 8 goals and 34 commitments designed to continue progress towards these objectives.

Cheap Hotel Unique to the Canadian market, the BTI Canada Benchmarking Study is a semi-annual report that measures corporate travel activity booked by BTI Canada. The study identifies and analyzes key Canadian business travel industry trends.

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Flight Booking Continued fuel price hikes are expected to put further pressure on airline tickets in 2005-2006. From January to June 2005, the average airline ticket rose slightly to $973, a $20 increase from the previous period. Specifically, Domestic tickets saw an increase of five per cent, International prices inflated by two per cent, while in contrast, Transborder average ticket prices dropped marginally.

It is your responsibility to ensure that all details of the booking are correct before proceeding. For any changes or cancellations, please contact the airline directly, quoting your reference. Our booking fee for low cost flights will be debited from you at the time of booking. We shall dispatch a confirmatory invoice to you which shall confirm your booking with the airline and the airline will debit payment from you for the fare and taxes. Most low cost airlines charge a payment handling fee of up to â5.00 per person or â5.99 per booking whichever is the higher. This will be notified to you in the airline's booking confirmation. This charge may be in another currency (e.g. CHF, Euro, SKK). flight food and drink.

Travel Agent The increase in domestic ticket prices is also attributed to the closure of Jetsgo as it allowed Air Canada and Westjet to adjust their ticket prices that were previously depressed due to a series of fare wars incited by the airline. The increases, however, were minimal as the airlines compete head-to-head on many routes and are still feeling price pressures from Canjet in selective markets.

In addition to concerns about rising fuel costs, 48 percent of small travel and tourism businesses surveyed said finding new customers was their biggest challenge. season (23 percent) came in as the second biggest challenge, followed by competing with online travel sites (18 percent), and getting repeat business from current customers (11 percent).

Hotel Chicago Despite record fuel prices and continued financial challenges faced by most American carriers, significant competition from low cost carriers helped to push the Intra US average ticket price for BTI Canadas clients down by nine per cent, or $56. In February 2005, Delta Air Lines made headlines when it announced an aggressive new fare strategy that would reduce airfares by as much as 50 per cent for Intra-US travel. Other players in the competitive US domestic market quickly responded with their own pricing reform. Faced with the harsh reality of expanding operational costs, the same carriers that participated in the price reform would successfully rally for industry-wide fare hikes of $10 to $20 over seven times in the past six months and we expect further fare and/or fuel surcharge increases.

Online Booking In order to control air spend, it is important now more than ever to negotiate and support corporate deals with preferred carriers, Ferrari explains. BTI Canada encourages companies to work closely with their travel management company to assess their travel booking needs and patterns and ensure they have a carefully planned travel policy that reflects their business requirements and objectives. This in turn will result in maximum return on their overall travel expenditure.

Travel Health Insurance Companies focus on cost control and policy compliance
As a result of a more stable economy in 2005, airline ticket purchases increased by 24 per cent. Although more tickets were purchased, BTI Canadas data indicates that travellers chose the lowest fare option less often. The 18 per cent decrease in travellers selecting the lowest fare can be attributed to airlines strategically advertising low fares that are often available in very limited quantities. As a result, the lowest fares were sold out before travellers could purchase them.

Hotel Reservation Corporate clients have become increasingly aware of the inherent costs associated with selecting a non-preferred carrier. They risk diluting the business channelled to the preferred supplier and, as a result, may fail to meet the market share and net flown revenue targets required to attain desired discounts.

London Hotel Booking In the past, travellers have been encouraged to accept the lowest fare option regardless of the carrier; however, with many carriers scaling back and becoming more stringent on the application of corporate discounts, corporate clients need to monitor their market shares closely to ensure they maximize the use of non-preferred low-cost carriers while not jeopardizing the value of their agreements with their preferred carriers, says Ferrari. BTI Canada works with our corporate clients regularly to assess their air travel patterns in order to maximize the value of their airline programs and to identify areas of opportunity.

Discount Travel Booking on Self Service Reservations (SSR) results in obtaining lower fares
Consistent with the 24 per cent overall increase in tickets issued, Self Service Reservations (SSR) increased by 27 per cent and remained consistent at 11 percent of all airline tickets issued by BTI Canada. Further, the number of SSR tickets for each market segment increased proportionally. In addition to transaction costs, clients typically save on the ticket prices when booking via an SSR tool as travellers often choose the lowest fare. On average, travellers saved $167 (25%) on Domestic tickets, $160 (18%) on Transborder and $30 (5%) on Intra-US tickets.

Orlando Hotel Determining why the average ticket price is lower when using a SSR tool instead of a traditional travel counsellor is difficult since the same fares are available through both booking methods. One main factor, however, is that fares are easily viewed through the SSR tool and travellers often feel obligated to purchase the lowest fare. This is known as the guilt factor.

Booking Agency Hotel price increases are not as substantial as predicted
BTI Canadas clients did not experience the four to five per cent increase forecasted by industry sources; instead, the average hotel rate increased by approximately two percent in the period. BTI Canadas support of clients preferred hotel programs and the BTI Canada Global Hotel Program a way for companies to book hotel rooms at discounted rates without having to commit to a specific activity level continue to help corporations control hotel expenditures. With hotel rates expecting to increase another six per cent in 2006, programs like this are critical.

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