Awarding Business Travel Excellence

By Mavian Arocha-Rowe on Sep, 25 2011

Part of traveling involves comparing who is better at what, especially when the words business and travel are ergonomically fused together.

After much research, questionnaires and mad travel schedules, STRATEGY unveils their Business Travel Awards.

The economy is still on the verge of moving up or down, again, and companies are still being forced to squeeze every bit of “Charmin” for every business trip, not to mention actual bathroom supplies. But, are the employees also known as business travel junkies being squeezed, too? The answer can rest on the recipients of STRATEGY’s Travel Awards, who despite the industry’s falling numbers and more noise by vigorous complainers, have been able to balance the game of service versus value.

Best Website for Travel Deals: Airfare Watchdog

Although they make a big impact, Airfarewatchdog is actually run by a small handful of people whose passion is saving consumers money on airfare. Real people finding real airfares. Can you believe they do not use automation or computer programs to find the fares they list?

At first glance, the amount of thought and care that goes into Airfarewatchdog.com may not be obvious, especially when comparing the site to the other sites that list, rather than merely search for, low airfares. Like Airfarewatchdog, these fare listing sites do the fare searching for you, and when they identify what they believe is a low fare or a fare that has gone down from the previous level, they post them.

Most of these sites list more fares than we do. However, we believe in quality over quantity. Here are twelve ways that Airfarewatchdog is different than other fare alert or fare list sites: They check seat availability for the fares they list. They list Southwest Airlines and JetBlue fares, which don't load their fares on any online reservations system except their own. They list most international fares including all taxes.

They list airline web site-only fares. They list promo code fares. They specify when a flight is nonstop. They include all weekend fares. We shop for value, not just the lowest fare. We provide deep links. We show fares from every conceivable airport. We only list fares that we think are reasonable. Better organization.

Best Airline: Delta Air Lines

Serving more than 160 million customers each year, Delta is the most admired airline worldwide in its 2011 World's Most Admired Companies airline industry list. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 355 destinations in 65 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft.

A founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance, Delta participates in the industry’s leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia.

Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 13,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. The airline’s service includes the SkyMiles frequent flier program, a world-class airline loyalty program; the award-winning BusinessElite service; and more than 50 Delta Sky Clubs in airports worldwide.

Delta is investing more than $2 billion through 2013 in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground.

What’s new for Delta, or better for its Business Class? All of their Boeing 777 aircraft, each with 45 BusinessElite seats per plane, and all 21 Boeing 767-400ER aircraft with 40 BusinessElite seats per plane have been retrofitted with full flat-bed seats. Sounds nice. “A full flat-bed seat with direct aisle access is a premium cabin feature that's important to our customers and we're delivering,” said Tim Mapes, senior vice president of marketing. “Installing full flat-bed seats on each of our widebody international aircraft is a major component of the $2 billion investment Delta is making in our product and customer experience over the next two years.”

Best Frequent Flier Program: Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan

It’s always great to read when an airline that rates high in customer satisfaction also has a terrific frequency program. That's the case with Alaska Airlines, which scores well in consumer surveys; in fact, J.D Power and Associates has awarded them the award for Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Carriers in North America, four straight years in a row. Plus, the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan was named Program of the Year at the 21st Annual Freddie Awards.

This is the fifth year that Mileage Plan has been named Program of the Year… For those who don’t know, the Freddie Awards are considered the most prestigious consumer-generated honors in the travel industry.

We like the program’s flexibility: Members can give their points to friends or family, and companies can purchase miles to give to employees as an incentive reward. We also like that as long as you keep your account active—that is, as long as you earn or spend at least one mile every 24 months you’ll keep all the miles that you earn.

Alaska Airlines is the seventh-largest U.S. airline based on passenger traffic and is the dominant U.S. West Coast air carrier.

Headquartered in Seattle, Alaska carries more passengers between the state of Alaska and the Lower 48 than any other airline. During recent years, the airline has expanded significantly to serve more U.S. East Coast, Mexican and Canadian destinations.

Long known for its Alaskan roots, symbolized by the Eskimo painted on the tail of the aircraft, Alaska Airlines offers a friendly and relaxed style of service, one that passengers have come to appreciate as the “Alaska Spirit.” The airline also is known for embracing innovative technology to improve the customer experience.

A little bit of history: The carrier traces its roots back to 1932, when Linious "Mac" McGee of McGee Airways started flying his three-seat Stinson between Anchorage and Bristol Bay, Alaska. A merger with Star Air Service in 1934 created the largest airline in Alaska, which eventually became Alaska Airlines.

Best Rental Car Service: Zipcar

Founded in 2000, Zipcar operates the world’s leading car sharing network. Zipcar provides the freedom of “wheels when you want them” to over 560,000 members, known as “Zipsters.”

The company operates a fleet of over 8,000 vehicles in 14 major metropolitan areas and on more than 230 college campuses in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Zipcar’s self-service vehicles are available on-demand in conveniently located in reserved parking spots in neighborhoods where members live and work.

With Zipcar’s revolutionary technology, reserving, accessing and using a Zipcar is as easy as getting cash from an ATM. In minutes or up to a year in advance, members can reserve Zipcars online, over the phone or by using their mobile device, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Zipcar members have automated access to Zipcars using a keyless entry card (called a “Zipcard”) to simply unlock the door and drive away.

Zipsters choose the make, model, type and even the color of the Zipcar they want depending on their specific needs and desires for each trip and the available Zipcars in their neighborhood. Zipcar’s all-inclusive rates start as low as $8.50 per hour and $66 per day, with gas, parking, insurance, up to 180 miles of driving per day, maintenance and roadside assistance included. Zipcar also offers frequent driver and business (Zipcar for Business) programs with additional discounts.

How does it work? the online application, which takes just a few minutes. Zipcar will run a quick driving record check, and then within three days to a week you’ll get your Zipcard (even faster if you pick it up at the office.) Once you receive your Zipcard, you can begin reserving Zipcars and driving right away.

Reserve online or over the phone and choose the car you want—there are MINIs, BMWs, hybrids, SUVS, even pickups. Choose the time slot you want at the location you want. Reserve minutes or months in advance. Zipcar members can now find and book a Zipcar, honk the horn, even lock and unlock the doors—all from their iPhone.

Your Zipcard will only open the car you’ve reserved during the time you’ve reserved it (which means no one else can open your Zipcar during that time, either). All you do is walk to the car and hold your card to the windshield—the doors will unlock. Drive away... and return to the same reserved parking spot at the end of your reservation and use your Zipcard to lock the doors. Walk away. It’s that simple. And remember, gas and insurance are included, too.

Best Hotel Chain: Hyatt Hotels Corporation

A great example of a hotel concept that actually lives up to its hype is seen in the Hyatt Hotls Corporation. The chain was named the 2011 Best Hotel Elite Program for The Americas by the Frequent Traveler Awards.

A leading global hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality.

The Company’s subsidiaries manage, franchise, own and develop hotels and resorts under the Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites brand names and have locations on six continents.

As of March 31, 2011, the Company’s worldwide portfolio consisted of 451 properties in 43 countries. So what's to like? Attractive décor, down-to-earth pricing and thoughtful amenities: a 42-inch flat panel TV; comfortable, functional work areas; cushy sleeper sofas and insanely comfortable beds. There’s even free Starbucks coffee in lobbies.

Best Business Credit Card: American Express

The American Express Corporate Card program offers a variety of features designed to enhance any company's overall spend-management strategy.

Program benefits include negotiated supplier discounts, a variety of payment options and spending controls, and technology-based tools that improve everything from data management to expense report reconciliation.

Now that American Express has partnered with Concur Technologies, a leading provider of on-demand T&E expense management services, to help your company streamline and automate the expense reporting process from pre-population of Corporate Card transactions to the creation of expense reports and approvals.

This helps reduce in expense processing costs: Automation means you spend less time dealing with expense reports and increasing productivity. Online receipt handling eliminates paper, shipping and handling costs.

What else for this mega credit card company? They just launched a free tool to help small businesses manage their online presence, learn what is being said about them and their competitors, and connect with customers in the places where they are most vocal—social media.

YourBuzz aggregates conversations across highly influential review sites such as Yelp and CitySearch, and social networks such as Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter, to ensure listings are accurate, build customer relationships, and mitigate the damage that can be done from poor reviews. Sounds to us that AMEX is beginning to sounds like more than just a card…

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