Welcome to the April 2007 issue of Travology™ Today

This month’s issue features topics of interest on a range of subjects, from the effects of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative on passport production to the projections on how an Open Skies agreement between the US and the European Union will impact airlines flying internationally.

We are always striving to provide our readers with information that is relevant and useful. If there is a topic that you would like to see addressed, please feel free to pass your comments along to newsletter@dt.com.

Trade Show Update: Pat Fragale, president of Directravel, has been invited to host a panel on benchmarking at the upcoming Corporate Travel World show in New York City, May 21-22. If you will be attending the show, please be sure to say hello.

The Department of State has committed additional resources and personnel to meet Americans' unprecedented demand for passports. Passport production has hit record highs as the Department works diligently to honor its mission and ensure that every citizen gets a passport in time for planned travel.

• Record Production of Passports: In the week ending March 29, the Department issued a record 412,000 passports. The weekly tally surpassed the record set the previous week, when 379,000 passports were issued.
• Regional Agencies Working through the Weekend: Employees at the 17 Passport Agencies nationwide continue to work overtime daily and throughout the weekend to process applications to meet Americans' spring travel plans.
• Expanded Call Center for Information and Appointments: The National Passport Information Center (1-877-487-2778) remains open for limited weekend hours to make emergency arrangements for travelers departing in seven days or less. NPIC has expanded its business hours and is now staffed Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. until midnight, Eastern Time.
• Volunteers on the Phones: On top of their regular duties, State Department employees are volunteering on task forces to answer questions and help Americans get their passports. The Department has installed high-capacity telephone lines to increase the volume of telephone calls it can receive.
• Volunteers at the Desks: Qualified State Department employees are also volunteering to help process passport applications. These volunteers, who approved 10,000 applications last week, supplement the Department's corps of passport specialists, which has increased by 250 new hires since 2005.
• Establishing the Newest Passport Center: Test runs at the new Arkansas Passport Center in Hot Springs indicate that this center will begin operations in April, as planned. At full capacity, this Center will produce as many as 10 million passports a year.

Important Points for Travelers

Travelers can check the status of their pending passport applications online at http://travel.state.gov. Information is normally available online approximately four weeks after the application is submitted.

Those who have applied and are leaving within two weeks can visit here to send an email inquiry to check the status or call the National Passport Information Center at 1-877-487-2778. We ask that other travelers leave the phone lines open for those with immediate travel needs.

Travelers who have not applied for passports to date should plan ten weeks for standard passport processing and two weeks for expedited processing. Information on how to apply for a passport, including how to expedite processing, is available at http://travel.state.gov. Applicants requesting expedited service must write "EXPEDITE" on the outside of the envelope containing their application.

The Belgian government is sending two ranking officials to the Association of Corporate Travel Executives' Global Education Conference in Miami (May 6-8, 2007) for the express purpose of answering questions and clarifying the Limosa program, which went into effect on April 1, 2007. According to an announcement made by ACTE's Executive Director Susan Gurley, Limosa Advisor General Karel Deridder and Sarah Scaillet, a representative of the policy department of the Social Affairs Minister, are being sent in response to an official inquiry filed by the association in early April.

Limosa is a program designed to reduce illegal employment in Belgium. It requires corporations to declare the nature of an individual's business in the country, the origin of the business, and certain other financial disclosures for all nonresident employees in the country for more than five consecutive days per month. It asks for sensitive information, such as a home address and a social security number. A potential fine of $8,000 (USD) for each infraction of failing to file could represent a substantial financial blow to companies with offices and plants in Belgium. An additional penalty of imprisonment of up to two years for the foreign employer could also accompany each violation.

The Limosa process spans the jurisdiction of the offices of Labor Law Inspection Department, the Social Security Administration, International Employment, and Work Permit Authorization in Belgium. ACTE contacted several of these ministries, contending there were many unanswered questions about the program and that inadequate advance information had been provided to the business travel industry.

For more information on the Limosa program, click here.

To read the latest industry response to this program, click here.

European Union transportation officials last month unanimously approved an Open Skies agreement that sets the course to liberalize transatlantic air travel. Aviation experts expect U.S. approval of the agreement to send ripples through the industry for years, prodding European airline consolidation, lowering transatlantic fares, expanding antitrust immunity among airline alliances and opening more routes and frequencies between Europe and the United States.

The agreement, to be signed later this month and go into effect in March 2008, gives carriers greater access to foreign money and markets, and promises to increase competition. However, the treaty could crumble yet as some of the most contentious issues between the United States and the European Union remain up in the air until later-stage negotiations.

“This Open Skies agreement paves the way for much-desired increased service between the United States and Europe,” said Air Transportation Association’s President and CEO James C. May.

Analysts at the National Business Travel Association’s Financial Forum in New York recently said benefits to corporate travel buyers likely won’t come into play until at least next year when the deal is implemented, but lower fares and increased transatlantic air services are in the pipeline.

For more information, click here.

Imagine having the power to turn your guest room into your own personal digital command center for work and relaxation. At Marriott Hotels & Resorts, it will be as easy as check-in and plug-in to a whole new level of guest room technology, with 32-inch LCD high-definition televisions and the industry’s only digital plug-in panel.

The LCD high-definition television and plug-in panel will enable guests, who frequently travel with a host of digital devices, to:

• connect their laptop to the monitor so they can work, surf the web, play DVDs and video games in high-definition;
• split the screen to watch TV and work on their laptop simultaneously;
• fill their room with their own music play lists from MP3 players and other digital music players through the system’s 25-watt speakers; and
• play back videos from camcorders and view pictures from digital cameras.

The company expects to have up to 25 percent of its connectivity panels installed at Marriott Hotels & Resorts guest rooms in the U.S. and Canada by the end of this year and installed in all guest rooms in those countries by the end of 2009.

The guest room technology platform is also being installed at the JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts and Renaissance Hotels & Resorts brands in the U.S. and Canada. Full deployment for those brands is also expected by the end of 2009.

For a current list of hotels that offer the new guest room technology, click here.

Conde Nast Traveler recently announced its 2007 Hot List of Hotels, Restaurants, Night Spots and Spas from around the world.

The following hotels received the three flame “hottest” rating:

• Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, Las Vegas, NV
• Gramercy Park Hotel, New York, NY
• Clos Apalta Winery and Exclusive Guest House, Valle do Colchagua, Chile
• Coral Lodge, San Blas Islands, Panama
• Lodge at Doonbeg Golf Course, County Clare, Ireland
• Hotel Esplendido, Mallorca, Spain
• Les Trois Rois, Basel, Switzerland
• The Omnia, Zermatt, Switzerland
• Amanyara, Turks and Caicos
• Knai Bang Chatt, Kep, Cambodia
• Raffles Beijing Hotel, Beijing, China
• Bulgari Resort, Ubud, Indonesia
• Hyatt Regency Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
• Rania Experience, Faafu Atoll, Maldives
• Naladhu, South Male Atoll, Maldives
• Four Seasons Resort, Kohn Samiu, Thailand
• Phuket Pavilions, Phuket, Thailand
• The Name Hai, Hoi An, Vietnam
• Les Ottomans, Istanbul, Turkey
• Maia Resort and Spa, Mahe, Seychelles
• Singita Grumeti Reserves, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Ninety-five restaurants globally made the list of Hot Tables, as well as 25 Hot Night destinations and 75 Hot Spas, 24 of which are located in the United States.

To see the complete list, click here.

Continental Airlines announced that with the implementation of interline eTicket with Air Europa, it has completed interline eTicket capability with all of its alliance partners, including all current and planned members of SkyTeam and planned SkyTeam associates, as well as all other codeshare and frequent flyer partners…Delta Air Lines emerged from Chapter 11 on April 30, positioned to compete aggressively around the globe with a best-in-class cost structure and balance sheet, a diversified global network, a renewed focus on the customer experience, and a workforce with a substantial financial stake in the company’s future…Effective June 1, travelers on Midwest Airlines will benefit from equipment upgrades and added frequency on a number of Midwest Connect routes. Larger aircraft will soon fly all flights between Milwaukee and Flint and Hartford, as well as most flights between Milwaukee and Green Bay and Wausau/Stevens Point. Travelers to Hartford will also benefit from added frequency… United Airlines announced April 11 that it is adding a $10 surcharge for all passengers originating out of Los Angeles International Airport to offset a $10 million rent increase imposed by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). The surcharge is effective immediately…US Airways announced a series of customer service initiatives designed to improve reliability and meet its customers' needs. The initiatives include a major increase in airport staffing, improved re-accommodation capabilities, state-of-the-art kiosk technology and other product enhancements.

in February '07 decreased to 67.3%, down 7 points vs. the running 12 month average of 74.3% and down 5.8 points from January’s 73.1%. To view the USDOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics' (BTS) Air Travel Consumer Report, click here.

The United States Government has posted recent travel advisories and warnings for Afghanistan, Algeria, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Kenya, Liberia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan.