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Airlines complete move to bar-coded boarding passes.

The IATA announced a historic milestone in passenger travel with the 100% worldwide implementation of 2D bar coded boarding passes (BCBP). BCBP replaces the previous generation of more expensive and less efficient magnetic stripe boarding passes.

“The magnetic stripe boarding passes are on their way to a history museum next to the paper ticket. After electronic ticketing in 2008, the conversion to BCBP is the next important step to provide passengers with more convenience and choice. Completing many tasks during the journey will now take seconds with the swipe of a bar code,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

 

 

 

The completion of the industry project gives passengers greater choice in checking-in at home, at a kiosk, on a mobile device or at an airport check-in counter. BCBP also allows airlines to issue a single, printed boarding pass for multiple flights, simplifying the journey for passengers with flight connections or those traveling on different airlines. Moreover, BCBP opens the door for automated access to premium services. For example, with a scan of a BCBP, eligible passengers can access fast-track security lanes or lounges.

“Airlines issue over 2 billion boarding passes every year.  The conversion to printed 2D BCBP has been a five-year project and will save the industry up to $1.5 billion every year. With more and more airlines offering the possibility to receive the bar code via a mobile device, we are well on the way to truly paperless travel,” said Bisignani.

History of the Transition
Magnetic stripe boarding passes, which have been used since 1983, have several limitations for airlines and passengers that the bar code overcomes. Magnetic stripe boarding passes require expensive printers located in the airport, at a check-in desk or inside a kiosk, limiting where passengers can get their boarding passes.  The magnetic stripe boarding passes also require expensive and unique paper stock.

In the 1990s, some carriers transitioned to one-dimensional (1D) bar codes, which have a series of parallel vertical lines and look similar to UPC codes used to identify store products. These 1D codes were first used in the rail industry in the 1960s and are only able to carry a limited amount of data.

The IATA industry standard established in 2005 for airlines is a two dimensional (2D) code known as PDF417. This holds more information by using patterns of squares, dots and other geometric patterns.  This code allows flexibility in the size, readability of codes and is supported by many different types of scanners and printers.  The printed 2D code also allows for many security and encryption features. 

The industry in 2008 agreed on a bar code standard for paperless, mobile passes.  The data in the printed and mobile boarding passes are the same but the look of the code on mobile devices is slightly different. Mobile 2D passes can use the Aztec, Datamatrix or QR codes.  Nearly 30 airlines now offer mobile BCBP and use is expected to grow significantly in the short-term.

Reaching the 100% BCBP goal was a joint effort of airlines, airports, service providers and IATA. Getting over 2,000 airports on board and coordinating implementation was done through the StB Matchmaker.  A secure web portal,

StB Matchmaker allows airlines and airports to exchange, prioritize and coordinate implementation requests in order to efficiently plan the rollout of the global standard.  The tool provides information on 3,000 airport terminals and over 200 airlines, creating a worldwide database of over 10,000 records. The StB Matchmaker system will be expanded next year to facilitate the IATA e-services and Fast Travel projects.

Management salaries at London hotels surpass 2008 levels

The 2010 London Hotel Salary and Benefits Report published by HVS Executive Search presents salary and benefits information for Executive Committee (including General Manager) and Department Head positions.

The 2010 London Hotel Salary and Benefits Report published by HVS Executive Search presents salary and benefits information for Executive Committee (including General Manager) and Department Head positions. The seventh edition of the report includes data from 62 First Class and Luxury London hotels.

Following are key trends noted in the report:

The average increase in median management salary from 2009 to 2010 was 6%.

Chris Mumford, Managing Director of HVS Executive Search, commented, “The impact of the global financial crisis in the autumn of 2008 and the ensuing tough trading conditions for London hotels clearly had a negative impact on management salaries in 2009. This year has been stronger with solid improvements in occupancy and rate being mirrored by healthy gains in base salary levels which have risen at twice the rate of inflation.”

The highest gains in individual remuneration figures were recorded by Directors of Sales, Revenue Management and Reservations which reported salary increases of 20%, 17% and 14% respectively.

This is a clear indication of hotels responding to the pressures of room night generation and effective yield management by increasing their resources in these critical areas. 

Non-revenue generating operational support functions such as Human Resources, Housekeeping, Security and Front Office saw salaries drop slightly over the past two years. Similarly Engineering and Food and Beverage have posted below inflation gains.

Salary increases were slightly higher at First Class Hotels (7%) than at Luxury Hotels (6%).

Looking ahead, HVS expects to see a cautious increase in salaries for most managers at the rate of inflation as the recovery continues and fears of a double dip in the economy dissipate.

Such is the competition for talent in Sales and Revenue Management that we expect the trend for above average salary increases in those disciplines to continue.

The 2010 London Hotel Salary & Benefits Report by HVS Executive Search presents data on:

• 34 key Executive Committee and Department Head positions
• Annual base salary
• Bonus – target bonus and last paid annual bonus
• Benefits – transportation, medical, pension

Surveyed by HCE Data ServicesTM, the hotel industry's most comprehensive guide to compensation and benefits, this report will provide hotel owners and operators current and credible information concerning salary and bonus trends at London hotels.

Your guide to 2010's biggest local gaffes, goofs and headscratchers

 

Boner Awards 2010 -- Source:: Nashville Scene

Uh-oh, Nashville.

Here we come, once again, to pee in your eggnog, trample your fruitcake, and leave our lumps of coal (or something) in your stockings. It's the 21st annual running of the Boner Awards, our yearly time capsule of the events we'd most like to forget (if not always forgive) from the previous 12 months.

The bad news? It seemed like the forces of bigotry, intolerance and just plain incivility cut loose this year with spittle-flecked abandon. The good news, though, was that in this year of natural and unnatural disasters, the vast majority of Nashvillians responded with fellowship and fortitude — along with a healthy and growing inability to suffer fools gladly.

And on that note, Nashville, our Boners stand ready for inspection.

AND BONERS FOR ALL

Think racist stereotypes and resentment of gays are things of the past? Boners, put on your "I Heart Lady Gay-Gay" T-shirt, stand up and be counted.

There goes the "intelligent design" argument.

In one of the year's early scandals, Walt Baker, CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association, sent a "joke" email comparing first lady Michelle Obama to Tarzan's chimp Cheetah. Introducing the message by saying, "Quoting Larry the Cable Guy ... I don't care who you are, this is funny" — a statement that should make all of us think twice before citing the wisdom of Larry the Cable Guy — Baker forwarded the racist email to 12 prominent Nashvillians, including members of the media. It turned out to be no laughing matter for Baker, who was fired. He apologized but never seemed to get it, calling his email "political humor" and expressing confusion over why anyone would find it offensive.

What was that about monkeys and typewriters?

Mark Cook, columnist for various Gannett-owned newspapers in Williamson County, had a great story: Ward Baker — well-known Republican kingmaker, sought-after campaign consultant, adviser to Williamson County's own Rep. Marsha Blackburn — was caught sending an email to various movers-and-shakers depicting the first lady as an ape. It would have been a bombshell, but for one minor detail: The sender of the notorious email was actually Walt Baker — as had been established dozens of times over in the week before the column ran.

Is it too late to return the Uncle Ben costume?

We thought Smith County Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver had earned her Boner Lifetime Achievement when she voted the wrong way on a key procedural vote, setting off a chain of events that ended with Kent Williams' usurpation of the House Speaker's gavel. But in her push to become the Meryl Streep of the Boners, she gave her most valiant effort yet. After Halloween, she posted a photo on Facebook in which she posed with her preacher, who was in costume as Aunt Jemima — yes, blackface included. Just to be clear, the representative captioned the photo, "Aunt Jemima, you is so sweet." Once the picture started making the rounds, Weaver took it down, but she managed to issue this forehead-smacker of a defense on WSMV: "I'm the least racist of anyone. Some of my greatest friends are black." And some of her favorite preachers pretend to be. 

 

 

Give these dopes some Soap on a Rope.

Congressional candidates Ron Kirkland and Randy Smith beat their chests like cavemen and engaged in a little gay-bashing in their debate in the 8th District primary race. Kirkland, a Vietnam veteran, said of his time in the military: "I can tell you if there were any homosexuals in that group, they were taken care of in ways I can't describe to you." Not to be outmanned in manly manliness, Smith, who served in the first Iraqi war, added: "I definitely wouldn't want to share a shower with a homosexual. We took care of that kind of stuff, just like [Kirkland] said." Their opponent, Stephen Fincher, took care of them both at the polls without needing any shower tribunals.

The words "No room at the inn" come to mind.

For summa cum laude honors in Boner cultivation, look no further than Belmont University's spectacular public humiliation over the apparent ouster of Lisa Howe — the women's soccer coach who either was forced out once university officials discovered her same-sex partner was pregnant (as her players told the media) or voluntarily resigned (as the university hastily claimed). Issuing contradictory media statements in a matter of hours, then mouthing empty platitudes about diversity and acceptance that didn't exactly square with booting an expecting family into the cold at Christmastime — an irony lost on no one — Belmont has given a master class in mishandling a PR disaster from the first whisper.

Plenty of Dickens, no great expectations.

That goes double for Marty Dickens, the chairman of Metro's Convention Center Authority as well as Belmont's board of trustees, who told The Tennessean that Belmont holds its faculty, board members and administrators to "high moral and ethical standards within a Christian context" — implying, without coming out and saying it, that gays and lesbians automatically fail to meet that standard. (Commenters on various online threads suggested that some members of Dickens' peer group wouldn't pass that sniff test either.) Dickens' remarks should be a big help as the city tries to lure conventioneers to pay for that $600 million big box downtown in coming years. (Everybody knows gay people don't travel.) Not only did his remarks infuriate Belmont students, faculty and alums, who were incensed to see the university destroying years of PR goodwill and advancement, they brought a resounding (and widely cheered) public counterpunch from one of Belmont's biggest benefactors, music-biz heavyweight Mike Curb, who asked whether the school wanted to be a progressive university or a church.

Police join group to tackle holiday rental fraud

A group has been set up to develop an industry standard to reduce the risk of fraud in the holiday home rental sector.

The group consists of the travel industry’s fraud watchdog Prevention of Fraud in Travel (PROFiT), the City of London Police and a number of the UK’s holiday home rental companies.

The companies involved include Direct Holiday Villas, Holiday Lettings, Holiday Home Rentals, Home Away Holiday-Rentals, Owners Direct, Perfect Getaways, Spain Holidays, Villa Plus, Villarenters.com, and Viva Stay.

The group will focus on fraud prevention work, fraud intelligence, enforcement work, and education.

Barry Gooch, chairman of PROFiT, said: “Working in conjunction with partners within the industry our aim is to dispel the myths surrounding this sector and instill confidence in how it operates.

“There is a lot of very good work being carried out across the industry, but it is not widely known about.”

The vast majority of consumers enjoy a safe and happy holiday home rental at competitive prices from the industry the pity is that a few get caught out. We are now working with the reputable companies from this sector to minimise the problems for the future.”

Source:: Travelmole
By Bev Fearis

UK-based Alternative Hotel Group re-branded as De Vere Group

Alternative Hotel Group (AHG), a UK independent hotel and hospitality group has been re-branded as De Vere Group with immediate effect. According to a report in www.hotelnewsresource.com, the move follows a brand review which recognised the strength of AHG’s leading De Vere brands. The principal operating brands will be De Vere Hotels, De Vere Venues and De Vere Village. The brands of Greens, the 15 strong leisure club business and G&J Greenall, the gin and vodka distiller, will be unaffected.

Richard Balfour Lynn, Chief Executive Officer, De Vere Group said, “The re-branding recognises the strength of the De Vere brand which reflects excellence, high quality customer experience and value for money. We believe that the parent company name should reflect its principal brands and be recognisable as the owner of the UK’s leading independent hotel and hospitality businesses. The emphasis of the De Vere name across these successful operating businesses will have significant resonance with our large and growing customer base.”

The De Vere Group, which is jointly owned by management and Lloyds Banking Group, employs approximately 10,000 people across the UK. The Group recently founded the De Vere Academy of Hospitality (the Academy), a major training and education initiative, in partnership with the National Apprenticeship Service. The first academy was launched in Manchester at De Vere Venues Cheadle in January 2010, followed by the second at De Vere Venues Wychwood Park, near Crewe, in September 2010 and a third at De Vere Venues Harben House, near Milton Keynes, in November 2010. The Academy benefits from local and central government funding and provides young people with work-based learning in the hospitality industry and the opportunity to achieve nationally recognised vocational qualifications. The aim is to roll-out the Academy nationally to train 10,000 young people over the next three years.

Source:: HospitalityBizIndia

Thousands stranded at UK airports and around the world

 

 

Snow update: Sunday 11.15am

Thousands of travellers remain stranded at London's two biggest airports today.

Heathrow will not be accepting any inbound flights for the rest of the day and there will only be a handful of departures.

Flights expected to depart include the following British Airways services:

BA207 - Miami
BA279 - Los Angeles
BA117 - New York

 
BA982 - Berlin
BA740 - Geneva
BA962 - Hamburg
BA346 - Nice

All other long and shorthaul British Airways flights from  Heathrow before 18:00 are cancelled.

Bmi has cancelled all flights from Heathrow until 1000 Monday.

A statement on the Heathrow website reads: "No flights will operate from Terminals 1 or 4 and a limited number of departures will leave from Terminals 3 and 5.

"We are extremely sorry for the disruption this will cause to passengers and airlines and we stress that passengers must check with their airlines before travelling to the airport.

"This morning, we listened carefully to the advice of our airside operations team and reluctantly judged that while Heathrow's northern runway remains clear, the change in temperature overnight led to a significant build up of ice on parking stands around the planes and this requires the airfield to remain closed until it is safe to move planes around."

Gatwick's runway is open, but the airport said the impact of the snow across Europe would lead to delays and cancellations.

Stansted. London City and Luton airports appear to be open and they are not expecting any more snow today, but Ryanair has cancelled all flights from Stansted, Gatwick and Luton before 1000. Passengers are urged to check with their airline before travelling to these airports.

 Aberdeen Airport closed at 1030 for essentia de-icing of the runway. It was not expecting to reopen until 12noon, at the earliest.

Do you have a snow story to tell? Let us know by clicking 'Add a comment' below.

Original Source:: Travelmole

By Linsey McNeill

40 Year Old Virgin “Stabbing” Actor Shelley Malil, Gets Life Sentence

Actor Shelley Malil, an actor who appeared with a small role on the movie “The 40 Year Old Virgin”, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in California after he stabbed his former girlfriend, Kendra Beebe, several times.

The brutal stabbing took place in 2008 and the trial of the actor started on September, this year. Malil, 45, attacked Beebe in her backyard after she found her drinking wine with another man identified as David Maldonado. He approached her and stabbed her a total of 23 times. In the end she survived the attack and was able to testify on court.

During the trial she said: “I felt a primal, instinctual, animal fear,” adding “He said, ‘Kendra, Kendra, Kendra.’ … I saw a flash of silver, and he goes bang, bang, bang,”

The “40 Year Old Virgin” Actor will be eligible for parole in 9 years. In September he pleaded innocent to the charges, but before his sentencing he admitted that he deserved what was coming:

“I want to do whatever I need to do to make sure I make right from the wrong that I did,” Malil said.

Source:: TPI News

Gatwick runway closed and BA cancels flights

Snow update: Saturday 18th December 12.30pm

Gatwick Airport has closed its runway at least until 1500 due to heavy snowfall and British Airways has cancelled all flights from Gatwick and London Heathrow until 1700 even though the latter airport remains open.

British Airways will make an announcement by 1400 on the status of flights due to depart after 1700. It is urging passengers not to travel to Heathrow or Gatwick if their flights were due to depart before 1700.

Both British Airways and easyJet are offering passengers the option of re-booking on later flights or claiming a full refund. BA passengers due to fly from Heathrow or Gatwick on Sunday may also cancel or delay their travel plans without incurring additional fees.

Other airports to have closed runways include Belfast City (until 1200), Birmingham, Bournemouth (until 1400) and Southampton (until 1400).

Manchester Airport closed between 1100 and 1145 for snow clearing, but it is now re-open. The duty manager said some flights have been cancelled and some others have been delayed, but the airport is expecting to remain open for the rest of the day.

London Stansted remains open but the airport is warning of some delays and cancellations. London City is also open but the airport said passengers should check their flight status with the airline or check the airport website.

Some airports that were closed yesterday have re-opened, including Belfast International, but severe weather across Europe is disrupting flights to many destinations including France, Italy, Germany, Denmark and Amsterdam.

All air  passengers are advised to check the status of their flight before travelling to the airport and leave extra time for their journeys due to difficult driving conditons.

Additional snow ploughs have arrived at Gatwick and the airport said earlier thismorning that it aimed to have them operational later this afternoon.

Easyjet, which cancelled all Gatwick flights until 1000 and is advising of possible further cancellations and delays to other flights throughout today.

Original source:: Travelmole

By: Linsey McNeill and Bev Fearis

Silvio Berlusconi wins Italy vote of confidence

He won by a margin of three votes, following a tense session of the house and amid large protests in the capital.

Mr Berlusconi also won an earlier vote in the Senate. He had urged MPs not to jeopardise the country's stability by ousting him.

His critics argue he is too mired in personal scandal and corruption allegations to remain in office.

Mr Berlusconi, 74, is halfway through a five-year term but his position has been weakened by a series of scandals largely involving his relationships with women.

He has also lost the support of his closest political ally, Gianfranco Fini, along with dozens of his supporters, depriving him of his automatic majority in the lower house.

But in the final vote, two opposition deputies switched sides and he won the vote by 314 votes to 311.

The BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Rome says although Mr Berlusconi's lobbying has paid off for now he will still face considerable opposition to his leadership.

Thousands of people have gathered in Rome and Italy's other major cities to demand a change in government.

Police have fired tear gas on the protesters and several explosions - thought to be fireworks - have been heard.

Are you in Italy? What impact will the result of this vote have on Italian politics and government? What does the future hold for Berlusconi? Send us your comments using the form below.

Source::  BBC News

By:: Duncan Kennedy

Whitbread set for strong annual profit grow as Premier Inn shines

Premier Inn hotels proved the star of the show for hospitality group Whitbread, as today it said it was set for strong annual profit growth.

The hotel chain - advertised by comedian Lenny Henry - saw sales grow 9.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis in the 39 weeks to December 2, while occupancy rates for the current financial year are expected to be 77 per cent, up from 70 per cent last year.

Whitbread, which also owns coffee chain Costa and restaurants including Brewers Fayre, is rolling out aggressive expansion plans across the group and said it remained on target to increase the number of its Premier Inn hotels rooms by around a third, from 43,000 to 55,000 by the end of 2014.

Chief executive Andy Harrison said: ‘The positive momentum in our business gives us confidence that despite an uncertain outlook for consumer spending the outturn for the full year will be in line with market expectations for strong profit growth.’

Premier Inn, which generates around a third of Whitbread's profits, saw revenues per available room - a key measure in the hotel industry - increase 9.2 per cent on like-for-like basis in the year to date to £43.70.

The chain has hotels across the UK and Ireland and opened 26 new sites in the year to date. Costa saw same-store sales surge, up 11 per cent in the third quarter, and is on track to have at least 3,000 stores worldwide by the end of 2014/2015.

More than 300 new outlets will have opened by the end of the financial year, bringing the total to around 1,200 in the UK and 650 internationally. Whitbread's restaurants, which also include the Beefeater chain, reported a slowdown in like-for-like sales growth to 1.5 per cent, with the heavy snowfall at the end of the period offsetting the impact of value meal deals on demand.

 Hugh-Guy Lorriman, a retail analyst at Seymour Pierce stockbrokers, said Whitbread remained on course to meet his forecast for profits of £281 million in the current financial year. However he added that recent harsh weather and the approaching VAT rise in January would make for a challenging final quarter of the financial year.

Source:: Mail Online