Week in Review

Business travelers spend a lot of time in the air. According to CNN’s Business Traveller, climate change might make your flights even longer. In other topical news, Nancy Trejos of USA Today shares the latest on what travelers need to know about the Zika virus.

The FAA bill made a lot of news this week as the initial proposal from the House would transfer the nation’s air-traffic control to a non-profit company. Politico reported yesterday, however, that the House Republican leadership is shelving plans to pass an overhaul of the FAA, and will instead revert to a short-term extension of the FAA’s authority, which must be renewed by the end of March.

GBTA research made news this week as both Skift and Travel Daily News reported on a new study showing business travellers in the UK, France and Germany use a variety of traditional and alternative channels to book their trips. Skift also launched a new corporate travel newsletter this week, which highlighted another GBTA research study showing travel buyers have much more success negotiating valued add-ons and amenities into their hotel and ground transportation contracts than their airline ones.

In hotel news, The Malaysian Insider shared that Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore are the top three cities with the most expensive business hotels in the Asia Pacific region. In the United States, Business Traveler reported there are about 5 million hotel rooms in more than 52,000 properties across the country with another half million rooms under contract, according to the January 2016 STR Pipeline Report. Hotel Marketing shares a report on how to use hotel data to make predictions on heads in beds, to develop strategies to fill in during low periods and to build customer personas, among other uses.

As a business traveler, chances are you are signed up for at least one or two rewards programs. USA Today’s Road Warrior blog talks about the new rules of travel rewards programs and how to play the game in this new era.

Ben Mutzabaugh of USA Today reports that Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport wants TSA to do a better job of handling the crowds passing through security and has told TSA to shape up or ship out.

Your list for this week comes from CNN: Five cool technology leaps about to change aviation for good.