Week in Review

Happy New Year! The Week in Review is back in action to inform you of the latest news and trends in business travel.

Travelers were in for quite the ride this week, as winter storms and unfavorable weather conditions wreaked havoc on travel worldwide.

On Wednesday morning, Storm Eleanor’s high gusts and rain disrupted travel throughout the United Kingdom, Buying Business Travel reports.

In the United States, airlines canceled 4,000 flights on Thursday due to the winter “bomb cyclone” spanning across the East Coast, according to USA TODAY.

Delhi’s international airport started off the new year with hundreds of flight delays, diversions and cancellations, as a dense fog enveloped the city, Business Traveller reports.

In more uplifting news, United Press International shares findings from a new report suggesting 2017 was the safest year for commercial airline travel. The report claims there were 111 total accidents with only two resulting in fatalities.

Leading up to our 50th Annual Convention in San Diego, we’ll be featuring weekly Throwback Thursday (#TBT) posts and sharing pieces of history from Convention, the travel management industry and general travel industry. This week, we took a look at the early years, when GBTA was originally founded as the National Passenger Traffic Association in 1968.

USA TODAY claims Hilton is changing its “Do Not Disturb” sign policy. The brand is advising team members to alert security if a sign has been on a guest’s door for over 24 hours.Buying Business Travel notes Concur rebranded as SAP Concur as the two brands continue to combine. SAP completed its acquisition of Concur over three years ago in December 2014.

Heathrow reduced its airport fees for domestic flights by £15, Business Traveller reports.

The TSA will begin enforcing REAL ID requirements at U.S. airports this month, but for now, there’s no need to worry. Skift notes the passenger deadline has been extended for driver’s license requirements on domestic flights.

According to Skift, IAG plans to acquire Austria’s Niki Air in a $24 million deal. The same source notes expense reporting software Chrome River raised $35 million in funding.

As we go into the new year, TheStreet notes airfare prices and hotel prices are expected to rise 3.5% and 3.7%, respectively.

Your list for this week comes from Tnooz:

The Top Six Technology Priorities for Airports in 2018