▶ ‘Every guest is being treated like a V.I.P.’ at the hotels.
Ted Stimpson, a marketing executive, at Logan Airport in Boston; he says uncrowded airports are a pleasure.
By JANE L. LEVERE
This may actually be a good time to be a business traveler.
Industry experts and travelers say service has improved in many ways, prices are down, and the experience, in general, is often better than it has been in a long while.
“In a sense, it is easier and cheaper to be a business traveler these days,” said Henry H. Harteveldt, a travel analyst for Forrester Research. “There is an approximately 20 percent decline in the number of people traveling for business. Airlines are putting coach and premium-class service on domestic and international flights on sale. It’s easier to snag upgrades. And business travelers are generally able to get rooms at hotels they want at a decent price point.”
Bjorn Hanson, an associate professor at the Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University, agreed. “Every guest is being treated like a V.I.P.,” Mr. Hanson said, at both midprice and luxury hotels, because fewer people are traveling. Room assignments are being made in a “much more thoughtful” way, he said, and repeat guests are being offered free nights, airport transfers and free use of fitness equipment or the Internet.
Carla DeLuca, a marketing consultant in San Francisco, for instance, said she was able to take advantage of declining air fares. She bought a round-trip, three-day advance purchase ticket between San Francisco and New York from JetBlue for less than $300 in early February to see a prospective client. “I found out three days before that I had an opportunity to go to New York for a meeting,” Ms. DeLuca said. “The flights were so inexpensive, I could justify it.”
David Grayson, managing director of Auerbach Grayson & Company, a brokerage in New York, said that in January he called a hotel in London where he regularly stays and asked if it would reduce his normal room rate. The hotel cut the rate by around $145 and gave him an English breakfast.
Not surprisingly, Tim Winship, editor at large for SmarterTravel.com, said loyalty programs were being especially generous. This year, most hotel loyalty programs have been offering perks like double points for a stay or a free room night after two stays. Although most of these expired April 30, Mr. Winship said he expected the bonuses to be extended or similar ones offered.
In March, American Airlines said its frequent fliers could earn double elite status qualifying miles if they travel by June 15, an offer that was quickly matched by its competitors. A promotion like American’s is “typically an end of the year thing, when people tend to take stock of where they are so they can reach elite status,” Mr. Winship said. “This promotion is unusual in its timing and its widespread adoption.”
Still, the downturn in travel has its drawbacks as well as benefits for travelers. Ted Stimpson, president of Imagitas, a marketing services company in Waltham, Massachusetts, said that on the plus side “airports are a pleasure now, there’s nobody there.” And parking is easier. “There are shorter lines.”
But, he added, the fees for checked bags mean that once on the plane, “there’s a mad rush to get baggage into the space above the seats, and there is never enough.”
Some travelers said they have experienced more cancellations than before, because of capacity cuts.
Since January, Keith Bronitt, a consultant in Scarsdale, New York, said he had bought a ticket for an Air Canada flight and another for a US Airways flight, both out of La Guardia Airport in New York and departing at midday, that were canceled and combined with later flights. In the future, he said, he may book flights earlier in the day to try to avoid cancellations.
But, in general, the travel experience has improved, travelers said, as airlines and hotels vie for customer loyalty.
Jim Graham, a Singapore-based sales director for Avid Technology in Boston and a participant in United Airlines’ loyalty program, said that on a third of his flights in the last year, the lead attendant or the pilot has approached him to thank him for his business.
“That used to happen maybe once a year,” Mr. Graham said.
Some things, however, never seem to change. Gary E. Hayes, a consultant in New York who often visits London, said he found that it continued to be a gamble whether cab drivers at Heathrow Airport accept credit cards.
“It’s somewhat surprising in this climate,” Mr. Hayes said, “that a lot of travel-related businesses haven’t stepped up their level of service.”
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