Week in Review

It’s a new year and the Week in Review is back to keep you up to date on the latest happenings in business travel each Friday.

Concerns are buzzing around Real ID, but it’s not true that Phase 4 – stopping a person with a non-compliant ID from boarding an airplane – is just days away. Rather, in the five states (Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, and Washington) that are not in compliance and have not been granted a waiver, the most that will happen is people will need another form of ID to get into federal buildings. Check out this Yahoo! News report for the latest details, and remember that if the Department of Homeland Security moves ahead with the plan to deny non-compliant state driver’s licenses for boarding an airplane, then they must give instructions on what will be acceptable and give at least 120 days’ notice.

Switching gears to another government agency, USA Today reports that the IRS now has the power to revoke your passport. In the new highway funding bill passed by Congress in December, it added a new section that allows the State Department to revoke, deny or limit passports for U.S. citizens with more than $50,000 in tax debt.

Let’s talk hotels. According to The New York Times, hotel reservations are becoming more complicated and more costly to cancel. Tnooz is also talking hotel cancellations, reporting on a new study showing one in five hotels that are booked online are cancelled before the guest arrives at the hotel. You may see some new concepts when traveling this year as USA Today tell us how hotels are reimagining the lobby in 2016. Skift reports on some hotels moving away from having a traditional desk in each hotel room and the backlash that created.

Looking to the friendly skies, CNN gives us the lowdown on the world’s safest airlines for 2016. The International Business Times reports on the big U.S. carriers hiking prices in the first industry-wide increase since June. Bloomberg is talking mergers and asks if Spirit’s new CEO’s experience with airline mergers is a sign of a possible deal between Spirit and Frontier. BTN reported that United Airlines president and CEO Oscar Munoz is recovering from a heart transplant as part of his treatment after suffering a heart attack in October. He is expected to return to work by the beginning of the second quarter.

In GBTA news, the call for nominations and applications is officially open for the Project ICARUS 2016 North American Sustainability Outstanding Achievement Awards. Skift also reported on a recent GBTA study comparing the wish lists of corporate travel managers and business travelers.

To kick off the New Year, I will leave you with three lists instead of the usual one:

• The Top 10 Travel Trends for Savvy Asian Travelers – The Financial Express
• 10 Radical Travel Trends to Watch for in 2016 – USA Today
• The Top 10 Worst Habits of ‘Plane Strangers’ – Business Traveller