S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 2 1 £4.30
JET POWERED How private aviation has thrived in testing times
BEDDING IN Top new hotels to try in Asia-Pacific
FLIGHT FOOTPRINT Why sustainable fuel is crucial to cutting airline emissions
SPL ASHING OUT Luxury villa rentals in Europe’s finest locations
PLUS Rail • Bangkok • Tried & Tested reviews
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CONTENTS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
REGULARS 10
UPFRONT
The latest travel news from around the globe 22
INBOX
LEISURE
SLIP INTO THE JET STREAM
Our new section devoted to time off from business
4 HOURS IN... BANGKOK 62
Buddhist temples, delicious roti and boat trips in the Thai capital 65
OPINION
How do pilots deal with misbehaving passengers? 82
NEW HOTELS IN A SIA-PACIFIC 26
Exciting openings to put on your radar as travel to the region resumes
Your online forum posts 55
FEATURES
BIG PICTURE
Imagery from the iPhone Photography Awards 2021
32
Private aviation has thrived in these testing times with firms emphasising safety and sustainability to their wealthy clientele
48
PLUS Rail • Bangkok • Tried & Tested reviews
SPL ASHING OUT Luxury villa rentals in Europe’s finest locations
56
3
Night trains are enjoying a resurgence in Europe
SMART TRAVELLER
72 73
COVER IMAGE: EDEN VILLA, GREECE
FLIGHT FOOTPRINT Why sustainable fuel is cruc al to cutting airline emissions
SLEEPING GIANT
70
businesstraveller.com
BEDDING IN Top new hotels to try in Asia Pacific
Using sustainable aviation fuel will be a vital way for airlines to meet their emissions reduction targets
The Dilly, London; The Guardsman, London; Nobu Hotel London Portman Square; The Fellows House Cambridge; Lexham Gardens by Cheval Maison, London; Fraser Suites Queens Gate, London
A guide to airlines’ hand luggage allowances
You deserve to go large – we round up lavish residences for long-overdue breaks
JET POWERED How private av ation has thrived in testing times
READY FOR TAK E- O FF ?
70
80
LUXURY VILLAS FOR S T Y L I S H S TAY S
S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 2 1 £4 30
40
THE REPORT TRIED AND TESTED HOTELS
ON THE COVER
32
40 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
WELCOME
W 4
elcome to the September/October edition of Business Traveller. It has been a difficult summer for many, and not just in the travel industry. The floods in Europe and China and the wildfires in the US and Canada have quite rightly focused minds on the climate emergency. Travel will have to play its part in demonstrating a commitment to reducing its emissions in the years to come. There have been various predictions of when travel will return to its peak of 2019, and, while the date varies, commentators seem certain that it will then surpass that previous number. As an example, before the pandemic, industry aviation body IATA (the International Air Transport Association) predicted that airline traffic would double from about four billion passengers in 2018 to more than eight billion by 2037. Those figures may have changed somewhat, but looking at the order books of Airbus and Boeing leaves little doubt that more people will fly later this decade than ever before. How can airlines convince the public – and investors – that they are environmentally responsible when their share of emissions will go up and up? One way will be through the use of sustainable aviation fuel, and so our feature on this (page 40), and our in-depth coverage of the subject online, is timely. Whether it is via these new fuels, carbon offsetting or perhaps using battery power for short haul and hydrogen for long haul, we know that there are going to be very big changes in travel. Here at Business Traveller, we don’t believe you have to fly to every meeting, or even the majority of them, and will continue to promote responsible travel. Once choice returns, working out when to go and when to rely on conferencing technology will be an important part of reducing overall emissions in the sector.
Tom Otley Editorial director
IN THIS ISSUE
THE JET SET
The Asia-Pacific region is seeing a flurry of new hotels – from urban sanctuaries to riverside retreats (Page 26)
Private aviation is attracting time- and safety-conscious travellers amidst the pandemic (Page 32)
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
A GREENER FUTURE
The drive towards sustainable aviation fuel may be the key to meeting climate targets (Page 40)
STYLISH SEJOUR
A host of luxury villas to spark inspiration for an autumnal holiday overseas (Page 56) businesstraveller.com
ILLUSTRATION: BENJAMIN SOUTHAN
STAYING POWER
stay with us
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CONTRIBUTORS
HANNAH BRANDLER
ALEX MCWHIRTER
Our staff writer Hannah reports on all aspects of business travel for the magazine and website, as well as acting as our resident Francophile for all things French. This month she discovers the growing appeal of private jet travel amid the pandemic and the industry’s steps towards sustainability (page 32).
Alex has more than 50 years’ experience in the business travel industry, including over 40 years as Business Traveller’s consumer champion. During the EU’s Year of European Rail, Alex explores whether the continent’s night train services will survive a raft of challenges; see page 48.
TA MS I N C O CK S
DUNCAN FORGAN
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
For this issue Bangkok-based writer Duncan hit the city’s older quarters for a bespoke itinerary (see page 62). “The old city retains an edge and an atmosphere of creativity that I find both stimulating and inspiring,” he says. Duncan’s work has been published in TIME, Esquire, Penthouse, and Travel and Leisure.
BENJAMIN SOUTHAN
Tamsin is a former editor of Business Traveller Asia-Pacific and she can’t wait to get back on a plane. On page 26, she rounds up a selection of 14 properties that have opened in the Asia Pacific region in the past year – from convenient boltholes in city centres to hotels with entertainment-rich facilities and extravagant interiors.
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JET POWERED How private aviation has thrived in testing times
BEDDING IN Top new hotels to try in Asia-Pacific
FLIGHT FOOTPRINT Why sustainable fuel is crucial to cutting airline emissions
PLUS Rail • Bangkok • Tried & Tested reviews
SPLASHING OUT Luxury villa rentals in Europe’s finest locations
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Business Traveller has the following international editions: Germany, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Asia-Pacific, China, Africa, Russia, India, Netherlands, North America, Middle East. For more information visit businesstraveller.com/our-websites or email enquiries@businesstraveller.com © 2021 Perry Publications Ltd – a subsidiary of Panacea Media Ltd, United Kingdom, ISSN 0309-9334 Perry Publications, 10 John Street, London WC1N 2EB tel +44 (0)20 7821 2700 businesstraveller.com
Visit businesstraveller.com/thecluboffer SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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UPFRONT
Heathrow drop-off fee to begin in October
JETBLUE LANDS IN LONDON JETBLUE’S TRANSATLANTIC
HEATHROW AIRPORT HAS CONFIRMED that its
10
£5 drop-off fee will start this October. All vehicles, including taxis and private hire services, will be charged to use the designated drop-off zones outside the airport terminals, although “blue badge holders, operational vehicles, emergency services, motorcycles, coaches and [Heathrow] colleague buses” will be exempt. The charge will be applied per vehicle and can be paid online or via telephone. In February Heathrow reported an annual loss of £2 billion for 2020. Revenues raised through the drop-off charge will “offset airport costs, including future sustainable transport investments" and lower passenger charges.
services between London and New York JFK have started, with the first flight landing at Heathrow T2 on August 12. The airline says that it remains on track to launch flights between JFK and Gatwick from September 29, adding that “London service from Boston is planned to start in summer 2022”. Robin Hayes, Jetblue’s chief executive, said “Travellers finally have the ability to enjoy low fares while also experiencing superior service. As the UK opens to travellers coming from America, our flights are well timed to meet the pent up demand for travel between our two countries.”
UNITED ORDERS 270 B737 MAX AND A321NEO AIRCRAFT UNITED HAS ANNOUNCED orders for 270 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, as well as plans to retrofit all of its mainline narrow-body fleet with a new interior. The United Next programme will see the carrier take delivery of 50 B737 Max 8s, 150 B737 Max 10s and 70 A321neos. The new and retrofitted aircraft will feature revamped interiors including seatback entertainment at every seat, larger overhead bins, “the industry’s fastest available in-flight wifi”, and “a bright look-and-feel with LED lighting”. The first B737 Max 8 aircraft with the new interiors are expected to be delivered in 2021, with the B737 Max 10s and A321neos beginning deliveries in 2023.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
Hyatt Place opens first central London property HYATT HAS OPENED THE FIRST
central London hotel under its select-service Hyatt Place brand. Hyatt Place London City East is housed in a redeveloped 1980s office on Whitechapel Road, a 1km walk from Liverpool Street rail and Underground station. The property has 280 rooms, some of which have private terraces. Facilities include Pocketsquare Skyline Bar and Terrace, offering views of London, Zoom restaurant, two event spaces for up to 20 guests, a fitness centre and free wifi throughout. The hotel joins the existing Hyatt Place London Heathrow Airport and Hyatt Place West London Hayes as the third property under the brand in the London area. businesstraveller.com
Virgin Atlantic opens Clubhouse lounges to Plaza Premium guests PLAZA PREMIUM GROUP has taken over the operations of Virgin Atlantic’s Clubhouse airport lounges, in a partnership that also allows travellers to purchase entry via the Plaza Premium website. The deal applies to all of Virgin’s Clubhouse facilities except for its flagship London Heathrow lounge, which resumed operations in July following the reopening of the airport’s Terminal 3. The carrier recently reopened its Clubhouse at New York JFK, with facilities at Boston, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, San Francisco and Washington set to follow. Virgin and Plaza Premium have also signed an agreement “on the co-development of lounges in other key hubs within the airline’s network”, with more details to follow in due course.
CLEAN MACHINE TAKING CARE OF THE LAUNDRY isn’t an easy task
11
when you’re on the road. Enter Freshup, a portable electronic device from Bosch, which uses plasma technology to dissolve odours from clothes without the use of water, solvents or detergents. The on-the-go gadget is easy to use – press it on the fabric and simply wipe from side to side (it will flash purple when active) – and can even be used on clothes while they are being worn. £249.99; bosch-home.co.uk
MANCHESTER AIRPORT ’S T2 E X TENSION WELCOMES FLIGHTS THE TERMINAL 2 EXTENSION at Manchester airport
businesstraveller.com
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
VICTOR KERY PHOTOS
has finally opened for business, with Jet2.com becoming the first carrier to operate flights from the new flagship facility. The first phase of the T2 extension project had been due to open in summer 2020 but this was postponed following the onset of Covid-19. A staggered launch has seen Jet2.com gradually joined by carriers including TUI, Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Brussels Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Air Baltic, Aegean Airlines and Eurowings.
UPFRONT
British Airways offers bag drop option at Heathrow Express BRITISH AIRWAYS HAS LAUNCHED a new initiative allowing
customers to drop off their luggage as they step off the Heathrow Express at Terminal 5. The free service in partnership with Airportr is available to customers who have checked in at home, with the bag drop located at the platforms during peak times between 0500 and 1000. Airportr will then seal, secure and check in the bags, meaning customers can enter the departures concourse free of checked luggage. Passengers can track their luggage online up until it is loaded on to the aircraft. Customers can also book to have their luggage collected from their home or office, with charges starting from £19.
FLYPOP CONFIRMS LONDON STANSTED A S L AUNCH UK BA SE 12
FLYPOP HAS MOVED A STEP CLOSER to launching flights between the UK and India, announcing that it will operate out of London Stansted. Launch routes have yet to be confirmed but the airline has outlined a number of target destinations for 2021 and 2022, including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Pune. “Flypop is focused on serving the Indian and South Asian diaspora communities living in the UK and their visiting friends and relatives, for whom London Stansted is the most convenient airport location,” said its founder and CEO, (Nino) Navdip Singh Judge.
GOLDEN YE ARS SINGAPORE AIRLINES
has launched the commemorative Connoisseur Dry Gin with London-based distiller Hayman’s to celebrate its 50th anniversary of flying between London and Singapore. It includes Asian botanicals kumquat, lemongrass and galangal as well as Persian lime and from September will be available at Heathrow’s Silverkris Lounge at T2. £35 (70cl); haymansgin.com
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
WHSMITH TO OPEN 18 UK AIRPORT STORES UNDER INMOTION BRAND WHSMITH HAS WON THE TENDER to operate 18 stores at UK airports, and will reopen them under its previously US-focused InMotion brand. In April electronics retailer Dixons Carphone announced plans to permanently shut its 35 Dixons Travel airport outlets. WHSmith will now take over 17 of these, at airports including Heathrow, Stansted, Luton, Manchester, Birmingham and East Midlands. The stores will offer “premium products from brands such as Apple and Samsung” along with a range of tech accessories. WHSmith also said that “in a fully recovered travel environment, we anticipate that these stores will deliver sales of c.£60 million per year”. businesstraveller.com
SUSTAINABLE TRAVELLER
VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, RWANDA
WE ARE ALL LOOKING FORWARD to our next holiday, but if we aim to travel less and
travel better (or more “purposefully”) then reconnecting with nature may benefit both the climate and ourselves. How about helping to plant trees in the Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda? Well known for its gorilla trekking, this can now be combined with reforestation and community partnerships to help regenerate the endangered mountain gorilla habitat. The Wilderness Safaris Bisate Lodge programme has seen more than 30,000 native trees planted and nurtured to date, which has had a positive impact on the surrounding area’s unique fauna and flora. The lodge’s on-site agronomist gifts guests an indigenous sapling to plant on the property, and GPS coordinates for the tree are provided for ongoing progress reports on their contribution. wilderness-safaris.com
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RACE FOR WILDLIFE A CONTINENTAL-WIDE COLLAPSE of
businesstraveller.com
DANA ALLEN/PHOTOSAFARI-AFRICA.NET; MARCUS WESTBERG
wildlife tourism and a rise in poaching is causing real concern across Africa. A new survey, conducted by Tusk and Natural State with 60 field conservation organisations across 19 African countries, has found that wildlife rangers are stretched to capacity and continue to see drastic cuts in resources and an increase in poaching owing to the devastating economic impact of Covid-19. To support thousands of the men and women on the frontline of Africa’s protected areas, the Wildlife Ranger Challenge allows you to run virtually with the rangers and sponsor them to raise much-needed funds. wildliferangerchallenge.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
UPFRONT
A NEW MINDSET Expedia Group finds out how traveller preferences have shifted as a result of the pandemic
34%
SPLASHING OUT
SUGAR BEACH, A VICEROY RESORT, will reopen on the St Lucia coastline on November 1 following a five-month renovation. Nine new accommodations, comprising four beachfront bungalows and five luxury cottages, make their debut, all with contemporary design and a neutral colour palette. Elsewhere, the fine-dining restaurant in the main house now has an open-air bar, while the main pool area features new luxury cabanas and a bar – plus, a lawn for private functions overlooks the pool. On the leisure front, the renovated Rainforest Spa will welcome an additional treehouse treatment room, and a new wellness and fitness facility will open on the beach with a gym and yoga studio. viceroyhotelsandresorts.com
have larger travel budgets now compared with 2020
36% would trade a pay rise for more holiday days
52% are likely to use a new mode of transport 14
59% are willing to spend more to make the trip more sustainable
71% are comfortable showing a vaccine passport to travel internationally
72% plan to take a trip in the next 12 months
75% are likely to choose a destination they’ve not yet visited Source: Traveler Value Index conducted by Wakefield Research for Expedia Group, April-May 2021
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
I N - F L I G H T E N T E R TA I N M E N T Our tips to make time fly by
READ: The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman The TV presenter’s debut novel was a huge hit and is set to be adapted for the screen by none other than Steven Spielberg. In the meantime, the Thursday Murder Club returns in this sequel to solve the crime of stolen diamonds. Penguin; £18.99.
LISTEN: Song Exploder Musicians reveal the backstories behind their hits in this Radiotopia podcast by Hrishikesh Hirway. Artists break down their songs and explain the process of writing and recording the music. Find out what prompted Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac to write ‘Go Your Own Way’, or the inspiration for theme tunes for TV shows such as Game of Thrones and
movies including The Martian. Free to download. WATCH: Schumacher Released on September 15, this documentary explores the life of legendary Formula One driver Michael Schumacher, looking at his illustrious career before a skiing accident left him with a severe brain injury in 2013. Directed by Hanns-Bruno Kammertons, Vanessa Nocker and Michael Wech, the film includes new archive material and interviews with his family and fellow motorsport figures. Available to watch on Netflix.
businesstraveller.com
BOOK WITH CONFIDENCE The beauty of a villa holiday is that not only can you spend quality time reuniting with loved ones all under one roof, our villas also offer the space, privacy and seclusion that hotels simply can’t. With 50 years of experience, we know what makes the perfect villa holiday, just the way you like it. What’s more, booking with us means booking with confidence. We are members of ABTA, are fully bonded with the CAA and have an ATOL license, ensuring full protection and complete peace of mind. To secure your perfect villa, get in touch with one of our Villa Specialists today.
020 3944 4566 | cvvillas.com GREECE • ITALY • FRANCE • SPAIN • PORTUGAL • CARIBBEAN • MOROCCO • TURKEY • CROATIA • S I LANKA
UPFRONT
NEW ROUTE: BAHAMAS VIRGIN ATLANTIC IS SET TO OPERATE twice-weekly flights from London Heathrow to the Bahamas from November 20. Economy return fares start from £713 and flights will be operated by a B787-9 aircraft with 31 Upper Class, 35 premium economy and 192 economy seats. Meanwhile, the airline is increasing frequency from its Manchester and Heathrow
hubs to Barbados from October 31 – a five-times weekly service and 11 flights per week respectively. The carrier will also launch its first international flights from Edinburgh on December 5, with a twice-weekly service to Barbados operated by an A330 aircraft. This will be Scotland's first direct route to the Caribbean.
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AIR MILE S
draws on their experience of the past 18 months. HOW ARE FRAGILE WORKS TRANSPORTED?
There are highly skilled shipping companies who specialise in this. As founding members of the Gallery Climate Coalition, Frieze encourages our galleries to opt for sustainable shipping methods such as via sea-freight as opposed to air. FAVOURITE MUSEUM?
KAITLIN LECHICH is global
HENRIK LANDFORS/ISTOCK; FRIEZE
head of VIP relations at Frieze. HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED CREATIVITY?
Artists have adapted their practices. Restricted access to studios has led some to embrace new mediums or work on a more intimate scale, and some artists have created work that SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, which sits on a bluff overlooking the sea. The founder invited artists to create site-specific works for the property. MOST PRIZED POSSESSION?
A painting by French artist David Aiu Servan-Schreiber from his Planet Series. The painting is a gold moon on a dark blue background. It reflects light in the day, and glows in the evening.
WHICH ARTWORK HAS LEFT A LASTING IMPRESSION?
Yves Klein’s Blue Monochrome at MoMA. It made me realise the impact art can have on your life. MOST REWARDING TRAVEL EXPERIENCE?
Travelling to St Petersburg during the White Nights Festival. I visited the State Hermitage Museum’s storage centre, and saw thousands of works that don't fit in the museum, such as Catherine the Great’s stagecoach collection. AND MOST CHALLENGING?
Getting lost in Venice during the Biennale, without a map or working phone! HOW ARE YOU ADAPTING TO THE “NEW NORMAL”?
By dreaming about travel to come, and using the time to create Frieze 91, a new membership programme
designed to deepen members’ passion for art while also offering the access needed to start or develop a collection. DREAM DESTINATION?
Eze in France, a small medieval village with the most stunning panoramic views of the sea. INDISPENSABLE TRAVEL GADGET?
A universal travel adaptor. You can change plans last minute and be ready for anything. IFE PICK?
Classic movie marathons are key on a long-haul flight. WHAT’S NEXT?
Frieze London and Frieze Masters return to London’s Regent’s Park this October after a year’s hiatus owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. Visit businesstraveller.com for the full interview. businesstraveller.com
Keeping travellers safe since 2006 X Covid Testing X Travel Vaccines X Sexual Health screening X Allergy testing
citydoc.org.uk
UPFRONT
LOST IN TRANSLATION Idioms from around the world that have us scratching our heads. This issue, it’s a Spanish expression. Phrase: Se me fue el avion Literally: I’ve missed the plane Meaning: To lose your train of thought Origin: We’re not sure of the roots of this phrase, but it’s certainly one that frequent flyers may relate to – missing the plane owing to forgetfulness
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COMPETITION
WIN
A TWO-NIGHT STAY IN A NEW PREMIER INN ROOM
ADRIA GOULA; ACADEMY MUSEUM FOUNDATION
BUSINESS TRAVELLER has teamed up with Premier Inn (premierinn.com) to offer one lucky reader and guest a two-night stay with breakfast at a UK Premier Inn of their choice that offers a new Premier Plus room. For the full terms and conditions and to enter, visit businesstraveller.com/competitions.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
TIME OUT
New museums opening around the world DOMESTIC: THE POTTERIES MUSEUM A N D A R T G A L L E R Y, S T O K E - O N - T R E N T, SEPTEMBER The museum is reopening with the site’s new 353 sqm Spitfire Gallery. The new space houses the RW388 Spitfire which has undergone a three-year restoration project. The gallery also includes a simulator, displays and a celebration of designer Reginald Mitchell. Free admission. stokemuseums.org.uk/pmag/
SHORT-HAUL : MUNCH MUSEUM, OSLO, OCTOBER 22 The world’s largest collection of art by Edvard Munch is moving to a brand new 11-gallery building designed by Estudio Herreros in the port district of Bjorvika. More than 200 works will be on permanent display, including Munch’s largest paintings, in a specially designed double-height gallery, along with oeuvres by other Modernist and contemporary artists such as Tracey Emin. Entry costs KR60 (£5). munchmuseet.no
LONG-HAUL: ACADEMY MUSEUM OF MOTION PICTURES, LOS ANGELES, SEPTEMBER 30 The largest institution in the US devoted to moviemaking is finally opening on LA’s Miracle Mile. Designed by architect Renzo Piano, the seven floors house exhibition spaces featuring archival film, costumes and objects drawn from the Academy’s collections, two theatres with film screenings, a café and a shop with movie merchandise. General admission tickets cost US$25 (public spaces are free). academymuseum.org
businesstraveller.com
We can do better than paper maps While some people love maps, more than 50% of people in 2020 aren’t comfortable with them. What if there were a better way to navigate travellers into memorable moments?
Join hundreds of hotels that allow their guests to explore the hotel surroundings, like a local, beyond paper maps, with audio-guided running routes, bespoke iPad annotated maps, and digital hotel guides. We really don’t have to rip up menus after one use! RunGo’s new
hotel guides – QR codes, dining guides, activities, and directions – are on the web and optimized for mobile. Skip the paper map, enjoy contactless, outdoor well-being through running and walking on your next trip.
rungoapp.com/hotels
A D V E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E
Dam Health leads the way moved apace with the pandemic which has gripped the planet, and it is companies like DAM Health which are at the fore of opening up this vital market again with safe, fast and affordable in-clinic testing.
As the world gets back to business, one company shows no signs of slowing down. International travel has been ravaged by the pandemic. Pinging out emails, dining in executive lounges and the art of catching up on precious sleep whilst flying have for almost a year been seldom seen. Since March 2020 many aspects of life have changed - perhaps some for ever – and once thriving industries have endured myriad challenges and obstacles to survive. Only since spring of this year has there been a gradual return to normal which continues to accelerate, with Covid testing one of the key components to international travel being possible again; Covid Fit-to-Fly testing has
With airports effectively silent for many months and international travel reduced to a fraction of its pre-pandemic levels, only recently has the familiar experience of going to an airport, checking in and flying to a new destination returned. And as families and friends are able to experience what they have missed again, connecting with each other and setting off on new adventures, business travel is once more thriving. DAM Health continues its innovative work with business travellers who are now back to making important meetings, site visits and acquisitions – crucially in person rather than on a screen or call. Based in Liverpool, UK, the company started with one clinic in Liverpool and now has 40 across the UK as well as an expanding portfolio in Spain and Mexico. Further European countries as well as further afield are to be announced soon. DAM Health’s range of services includes PCR Fit-to-Fly, PCR Fit-to-Work, and also rapid antibody testing and antigen testing and they work with a range of charities including The Hope Foundation, and have forged testing partnerships with iconic football clubs Rangers FC in Glasgow and Crystal Palace in London. The company has seen a huge increase in business travellers wanting the peace of mind of their PCR tests being conducted by trained professionals in one of their clinics.
Q&A with Professor Frank Joseph DAM Health Medical Director
How would you describe the development of PCR testing in the last 8 months? Testing has been a roller coaster journey with changes in rules and regulations having to be adapted to in real time. This has been challenging for us as a team but even more so for those that need the tests. It has been difficult to always enact change as quickly as is required when a country goes from green to amber or amber
to red. This leaves providers with challenges that leave customers feeling dissatisfied. The revelations around delayed results, misrepresented prices and lack of regulation have not helped those providers trying to provide an excellent service and contribute to the management of the pandemic. For those that have got it right and the positive feedback when it does go right for people travelling is always gratifying. DAM Health’s services have expanded and adapted incredibly well during the pandemic and into summer 2021 – what do you think are the key tenets of this success? The key has been the openness and willingness to take criticism when things haven’t gone right and then act on them with a team that are agile and committed to making the customer journey an excellent one. The need and willingness to respond in real time to real time changes in rules and provide additional capacity to provide earlier and timely results has been the foundation of success.
Fit-to-Fly? We’ll get you there! PCR & Antigen Covid Testing Clinics across the UK
What do you think the key changes are for people travelling in 2021? And especially for business travellers? Be prepared for testing, check the rules and regulation regularly as they are constantly changing and plan as much as possible. This is not always possible so ensure you use services that give you more guaranteed and safe turnarounds including same day rapid turnaround if needed. Also be prepared for changes from amber to red whilst out at a foreign destinations this may have implications on return. Lastly, where do you see DAM Health in the next 6 months – what’s next? We hope to be the leading in-clinic testing provider in the country and abroad and continue to build on our laboratory capability to support future developments where such laboratory facilities will help support pandemic management and other areas of healthcare www.dam-health.com
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WHAT IS THE POINT OF CHECKING IN? ➜ CEDRIC_STATHERBY
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In the old days, one turned up at an airport and presented oneself at a check-in desk to (a) leave any hold luggage; (b) get a boarding card; and (c) confirm to the airline that you intended to fly that day (especially if you had an open ticket). These days, leaving luggage for the hold is done at baggage drop points, not check-in desks, and boarding cards are pretty pointless because your ticket should be enough. Which leaves confirming that you are intending to fly, which is only valuable information if you check in and get the boarding card close to the time of the flight. The further in advance one “checks in” and prints off one’s boarding card, the less certain is the information that you intend to fly. I have just had a case in point. I’ve bought a ticket for a flight in a few months and am immediately invited to check in and get my boarding card. A lot can happen between now and the date of the flight to turn my current firm intention into a no-show. All the information
on my boarding card is contained in my booking confirmation. Why does the boarding card process survive?
cancellation after check-in will incur some cost to passengers that also benefits airlines.
➜ INQUISITIVE
➜ ESSELLE
In the US, a physical boarding pass is not required in most airports. You can go directly to security with digital check-in confirmation in the mobile app. Airport security and airline computer infrastructure need to be compatible with this arrangement. That could be a main reason why other airlines/airports lacking that [have] not implemented it.
Equally, in most countries at least, you cannot gain access to airside without one.
➜ TOMINSCOTLAND I was talking to a friend who flew Edinburgh to Frankfurt a couple of days ago. The only check on her Covid-19 status at either end was by check-in staff at EDI on behalf of the airline, Lufthansa. German immigration officials waved her through without any checks. Maybe this becomes the value of some form of check-in, on arrival at the airport and/or at the gate?
➜ INQUISITIVE Early check-in definitely benefits the airlines. As most of the airlines have dynamic pricing and [are] overbooked, they can do some better revenue planning from early check-in [information]. Also,
➜ CANUCKLAD Dependent on the website you need to confirm your intention to fly before having a seat allocated. I allow the airline to randomly assign me a seat and only check in at the very last moment. This generally guarantees me an excellent seat. Sort of like playing a game of seat poker and bluffing until the end. On other respected airlines, I’ll log on and select good seats as soon as check-in opens. So I suppose it’s horses for courses.
➜ DAVIDSMITH2 Departing Accra last week with BA, I checked in online, received and printed my boarding pass and had no hold luggage. But I was still directed to the check-in desk to be issued with another boarding pass (and to show the various Covid-19-related docs). Given I already had a pre-selected seat, the online check in was really a pointless exercise.
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➜ TIMFITZGERALDTC
checking in is akin to the statement, “I am ready to fly and committed to doing so”, For those that often change last minute – which is not the same. I can’t make that checking in early is not helpful as statement weeks or months in advance. offloading passengers on some airlines can be very problematic. With short time frames – if pulling a flight forward for ➜ AJDC example – it can mean that the time taken Which carrier allows you to check in for to process the changes means you cannot your flight months in advance? I used to then take the earlier flight work for an airline and I because a human and a am not aware we allowed computer cannot make the passengers to check in A paper boarding necessary behind-thepass makes for a good even days in advance. scenes processes in time. As far as I am aware, you bookmark for your So yes – don’t really see can only check in for your the point in checking in for in-flight reading – not flight within 24 hours of the a flight until 72 hours departure time once the so good with a Kindle before travel at the earliest. flight has been opened; certainly not months, weeks or even days in ➜ FORMERBA advance of departure date. The move towards no check-in requirement is coming. Regulatory data is now captured from frequent flyer ➜ TIMFITZGERALDTC profiles along with credit card Easyjet allow you to check in details. It won’t be long before 30 days in advance. Ryanair is visa checks form part of the 60 days if you have paid seating. regulatory data exchange Low-cost carriers seem to allow further along with Covid-19 or any in advance than the “traditional” carriers, other medical requirement. but many of these do allow 48-hour checkThe more technology takes over, the fewer in, like Singapore Airlines and Emirates. staff are required and the need for procedures that add costs and no value. ➜ IANFROMHKG I always travel with luggage and refuse to use those wretched self-check/bag drop ➜ DAVIDSMITH2 machines. I find that the few I have used are The benefits of early check in are all in clunky and annoying. While I understand favour of the airlines. Ryanair already the move to automation, I would much requires online check in and penalises rather swan up to a check-in desk manned those who don’t. So how long before by an actual person and let them do it. And the low-cost airlines start demanding check my passport while they’re at it so I that you check in a week before or more? don’t have to do it later in the process. And then add charges for those who Having said that, I often do check in leave it until the last 24 hours? To my online once I know I am going to fly and mind, the early uploading of flyer info get an online boarding pass, and it always (passport number etc) is fine. This assists annoys me that when I go through the law enforcement in checking flyer lists in above process I am invariably given a paper advance. But check-in is something boarding card – what a waste of paper. else entirely.
➜ CEDRIC_STATHERBY
➜ CANUCKLAD
I entirely agree. Making a booking is akin to the statement, “I want to fly”. But
It’s a mystery to me why there is a need for them at all. They are in the most
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inconvenient part of the airport – either blocking your way to the manned check-in desks or hidden away in a secluded corner.
➜ AISLE SE AT TRAVELLER The paper boarding pass makes for a good bookmark for your in-flight reading (not so good with a Kindle).
➜ CANUCKLAD Times move on and the digital world certainly has its advantages, although I do fondly remember the cabin mock-ups at check-in desks with the removal stickers representing the seats. Peeled and then stuck on to a colourful piece of card. As an aside I’m sure I’ve got a shoe box filled with records of my allocated seat on the many flights I took.
➜ INQUISITIVE A paper boarding pass carries a lot of information that could be useful if something unexpected happens during or after the journey. For example, if someone has checked in luggage that is lost, the reporting may need a ticket number, seat number and so on. And if one’s digital equipment runs out of battery after a long trip, the boarding pass could be handy.
➜ E U _ F LY E R Such a good point. I’ve sometimes arrived at airports following long periods of train or car travel when my phone wasn’t able to charge, praying that the battery would last long enough to get me on the plane or at least to a desk to get a paper pass, assuming a power point wasn’t available.
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HOTELS
1 4 N E W H OT E L S I N A S I A-PACI F I C Business trips may be on hold for now, but there are some tempting new properties to check into once travel resumes. Here are 14 new openings to get excited about
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FOUR SEASONS BANGKOK, THAILAND
The long-awaited Four Seasons Bangkok is every inch the luxury riverside retreat, with water features gently cascading down to the banks of the Chao Phraya river, open-air terraces and tropical greenery. Expect 299 gorgeous rooms and suites, light-filled event spaces, two infinity pools, and a holistic wellness centre with everything from spa treatments to Muay Thai martial arts. Dining options include Cantonese cuisine at Yu Ting Yuan and modern Italian fare at Riva del Fiume Ristorante. Spend the day exploring the local Charoenkrung neighbourhood, with its creative scene of galleries, boutiques, restaurants and cafes, then head back to the glamorous BKK Social Club for cocktails and cigars. Opened: December 2020 Best for: Urban sanctuary vibes, 15 minutes from downtown Bangkok fourseasons.com/bangkok
DUSIT THANI LAGUNA SINGAPORE Tee-up the perfect mix of business and leisure at the new Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore. The five-star resort lies within the sprawling
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Laguna National Golf Resort Club, conveniently located ten minutes from Changi International airport and 15 minutes from the central business district. Take your meetings to the driving range, seal the deal on two 18-hole championship golf courses, then toast your success at the Legends Bar – one of the hotel’s five food and drink outlets. The 198-room property also offers three swimming pools, three tennis courts, wellness treatments at the Devarana spa, exclusive benefits at the Dusit Club lounge, and more than 4,000 sqm of indoor and outdoor event spaces. Opened: December 2020 Best for: Working on your handicap, and enjoying Thai and Singaporean hospitality dusit.com
ANDAZ SHENZHEN BAY, CHINA
Hyatt’s boutique brand has landed in the Chinese city’s high-tech Shenzhen Bay district. With an exclusive clubhouse feel evoked by New York-based interior designer Tony Chi, its 220 rooms and suites are presented in a contemporary palette of soothing hues and elegant marble. Facilities include five individually
CLOCKWISE FROM OPPOSITE PAGE: Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore; Andaz Shenzhen Bay; Four Seasons Bangkok
themed restaurants and bars, a 24-hour fitness centre, an indoor pool and flexible event space. Andaz Shenzhen Bay is situated within a RMB20 billion (£2.2 billion) lifestyle-oriented, mixed-use development, which includes the soaring 392-metre “Spring Bamboo” China Resources headquarters, the premium MixC mega-mall with its multiple entertainment outlets, a sports centre, and an arts and cultural centre. Opened: December 2020 Best for: A mix of business and leisure facilities in a vibrant commercial area hyatt.com
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THE HARI HONG KONG 28
Straddling the bustling Wan Chai and Causeway Bay districts, new luxury hotel the Hari is within walking distance of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Times Square and Happy Valley Racecourse. The 210 guestrooms are sleek and inviting, with a muted colour scheme, plush fabrics and gleaming marble bathrooms. Three large rooftop suites add the wow factor, with fabulous private terraces and views stretching from the Peak to Victoria Harbour. Enjoy Japanese cuisine and drinks on the al fresco terrace bar at Zoku, or savour classic Italian dishes at Lucciola Restaurant and Bar. Opened: December 2020 Best for: Rooftop suites with private balcony views and the hotel’s convenient city location thehari.com/hong-kong
HYATT REGENCY PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
The new Hyatt Regency Phnom Penh has opened in the heart of the city, becoming the capital’s largest international hotel. On arrival at the beautiful colonial-style lobby, guests are shown to their choice of 247 luxurious rooms and suites featuring Khmer design accents and SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: The Hari Hong Kong; Hyatt Regency Phnom Penh; Fairmont Ambassador Seoul; Langham Place Changsha; W Osaka
contemporary Cambodian artworks. Lively dining venues offer plenty of after-work options – enjoy all-day dining at the Market Café Restaurant and Lounge or head to Five Five Rooftop Restaurant and Bar, which offers panoramic views over the Mekong river and Royal Palace, sustainable seafood dining and live DJ sets. Venues Metropole Underground and the Attic are temporarily closed, as is the Regency Club lounge on the tenth floor. The Jivapita spa will provide soothing Cambodian treatments when it opens later this year. Opened: January 2021 Best for: Stylish dining and bar destinations in the city centre hyatt.com
W OSAKA, JAPAN
If you’re sitting on a stash of Marriott Bonvoy points, the new W Osaka is the perfect excuse to use them. The dramatic black façade on Midosuji Boulevard was designed by celebrated Osaka-born architect Tadao Ando, who took inspiration from the Edo period when outward ostentation was forbidden. But W fans will be delighted with the classic explosion of colour, design and personality waiting on the inside – from the metallic origami entrance corridor to neon pink and blue lighting in the businesstraveller.com
337 guestrooms and suites. Two bars and four restaurants offer a mix of gourmet Japanese and international flavours, with an eclectic line-up of entertainment in the Living Room social lobby area. A spa, indoor pool and fitness centre cater to leisure needs, while four event and meeting spaces handle the business end of things. Opened: March 2021 Best for: “Work hard, play hard” mindsets, and the nearby eclectic Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori districts marriott.com
LANGHAM PLACE CHANGSHA, CHINA
Switch boardrooms for theme parks and meetings for indoor businesstraveller.com
ski slopes at the Langham Place Changsha’s fun-filled resort experience. Situated in the expansive Da Wang Shan Resort, a 30-minute drive from the city centre and 45 minutes from Changsha Huanghua International airport, guests have access to world-class entertainment on the doorstep. The futuristic hotel design, courtesy of renowned architect Wolf D Prix, is evident in 295 stunning rooms and suites. There are three dining concepts, plus afternoon tea in the Salon, the renowned Chuan spa and 2,000 sqm of event space. Opened: April 2021 Best for: An urban retreat with extravagant entertainment options langhamhotels.com
FAIRMONT AMBASSADOR SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA Seoul’s finance and banking district has been given a splash of glamour with the opening of the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul. Located in Yeouido’s premium Parc 1 complex, the hotel is connected to metro lines 5 and 9, which provide easy access across the city. The property offers 326 guestrooms and suites, with marble bathrooms and Le Labo products, plus a selection of catered event spaces. Modern European fare
can be enjoyed in the sultry Mariposa restaurant, with panoramic views of the Han river from the terrace, while international bites are served at the open kitchens in Spectrum. Activity options include an indoor swimming pool and fitness centre. Opened: February 2021 Best for: Finance execs wanting to be close to the action fairmont.com/seoul
OVOLO SOUTH YARRA, AUSTRALIA Ovolo’s sixth designer hotel in Australia ups the ante with a disco and retro-glamour design aesthetic. Think vibrant pop art, an arcade-inspired light wall and four “rockstar” suites: John and Yoko, and Sonny and Cher. Ovolo South Yarra’s 123 high-tech rooms offer seamless integration with Chromecast and Bose Bluetooth speakers (except the Go Go rooms), bold designs accented by chrome features, and water dispensers to encourage plastic waste reduction. Vegan, plant-based and vegetarian options reign supreme at Lona Misa restaurant and bar, while basement meeting rooms come with a subtle glam rock vibe and pool table where you can kick back. Enjoy sundowners at social hour (first drink on them), all-day
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snacks, a 24-hour gym and a complimentary “loot bag” of goodies. Opened: April 2021 Best for: Thoughtful service, quirky designs and contemporary facilities ovolohotels.com 30
THE LONDONER MACAO
Opening in phases throughout 2021, the Londoner presents an extravagant tribute to British heritage, with a Houses of Parliament exterior – complete with a Big Ben replica; gardens modelled on Kensington Palace; a Claridge’s-style atrium; daily changing of the guards displays; and 14 suites designed by David Beckham, the hotel’s official ambassador. The complex comprises two all-suite hotels, the Londoner Hotel and Londoner Court, plus a host of entertainment options
worthy of the Cotai Strip. When fully opened, these will include an opulent casino with more than 450 tables and 2,000 slot machines; a luxury mall with iconic British brands; ten-plus dining options, including a Gordon Ramsay gastropub; immersive virtual reality experiences; and the Londoner Arena, an amphitheatre with 6,000 seats and VIP amenities. Opened: February 2021 – ongoing Best for: Unbeatable entertainment options and outlandish architecture londonermacao.com
NICCOLO SUZHOU, CHINA
Perched on the top of Suzhou’s soaring new International Finance Square, Niccolo Suzhou has ushered in a new level of business luxury to the Chinese city known as the “Venice of the East” – a 25-minute,
ABOVE, FROM LEFT: Ovolo South Yarra; Niccolo Suzhou BELOW LEFT: The Londoner Macao
high-speed train ride from Shanghai. The 233 spacious rooms and suites offer spectacular views over Jinji Lake and the city skyline – as do two floors of modern event spaces. Experience the culinary theatre of Niccolo Kitchen’s open-plan international cooking stations, and join a cosmopolitan crowd to enjoy international DJs and artisan cocktails at Bar 115. Sky-high relaxation and fitness options include an indoor pool, jacuzzi and gym on the 117th floor. Opened: April 2021 Best for: Luxury accommodation and a chance to visit Suzhou’s famous Unesco-listed waterways, bridges and gardens niccolohotels.com
THE WEST BUND HOTEL SHANGHAI, CHINA
Shanghai’s once-forgotten West Bund has evolved into a leisure and cultural hotspot – so it was only a matter of time before a luxury hotel moved in. The West Bund Hotel, a Rocco Forte Hotel, is scheduled to open any time now and features inspiring interiors by Olga Polizzi and Inge Moore. The 161 stylish guestrooms and 58 suites are decked with soothing neutral tones and subtle Chinese design elements. Spanning two floors, the spa is a wellness destination in itself, with eight treatment rooms, vegan cuisine, a modern gym, and infinity pool with SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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river views. Four premium dining outlets culminate in the 59th-floor rooftop terrace, offering craft cocktails and spectacular views over the Huangpu river. Opening: TBC 2021 Best for: Sophisticated glamour with a chic setting for sundowners roccofortehotels.com
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HILTON GARDEN INN JAKARTA TAMAN PALEM, INDONESIA
The Hilton Garden Inn Jakarta Taman Palem is a solid new business choice in the Indonesian capital. The upscale brand covers all modern work needs, with 168 light, colourful guestrooms and suites featuring ergonomic desks and chairs, and fast wifi. A business centre and meeting room are available, while leisure options include a restaurant, fitness centre and outdoor pool. The hotel is less than 20km from central Jakarta and Soekarno-Hatta International airport, with plenty of shopping and restaurants nearby, plus a water park and golf course. Opened: August 2021 Best for: Straightforward business facilities close to town hilton.com
WINK HOTEL SAIGON CENTRE, VIETNAM
New Vietnamese hospitality brand Wink launched its debut 237-room property in the vibrant Dakao Ward of Ho Chi Minh City’s central businesstraveller.com
District 1. The hotel offers affordable luxury for the modern tech-savvy traveller – its hallmarks include digital check-in, contactless payment options and rideshare partnerships. Expect bright colours, grab-and-go street food concepts for breakfast and lunch, and space-efficient rooms featuring intuitive in-room controls, smart TVs and locally sourced
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The West Bund Hotel Shanghai; Hilton Garden Inn Jakarta Taman Palem; Wink Hotel Saigon Centre
amenities. Guests will enjoy a full 24-hour stay, no matter what time they check-in, and get a free pass to any Toong co-working space in the city – including the hotel’s own. Opened: March 2021 Best for: Tech-savvy Gen Z and Millennial travellers looking for modern business luxury wink-hotels.com BT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
jet stream Slip into the
Private jet travel is synonymous with luxury, but the pandemic has meant that some of its other qualities – fewer crowds, convenience, efficiency – have been put into sharp relief
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ne of the unforeseen side effects of the pandemic is that while it has wreaked havoc on commercial aviation, private jet travel has soared. By July this year, aviation research firm WingX was reporting business jet and turboprop activity up 43 per cent on 2020 and 11 per cent beyond pre-pandemic volumes. Activity was highest in North America, which is where more than 70 per cent of the global activity of business jet flights took place this year – the US has seen its busiest July in the past ten years, with flights up 30 per cent compared with July 2019. Private aviation companies are also seeing an increase in the number of first-time private flyers, who have been lured in by the safe and seamless nature of such travel amid the ongoing chaos of the pandemic. But will the trend to fly private continue, and should it be allowed to with the pressing issue of sustainability?
BUY, PART-OWNERSHIP OR CHARTER?
THIS PAGE AND RIGHT: Vistajet had a record-breaking year in 2020, with a 29 per cent increase in new subscriptions
There are various types of private aviation catering to different flying demands. At one end of the scale is full ownership, which is only really advisable if you fly constantly as it involves a long list of responsibilities, such as aircraft maintenance, crew hiring and scheduling, parking and insurance. “It’s difficult to have your own aircraft, as privileged as it sounds,” says Marine Eugène, European managing director at Flexjet, which along with several other well-known companies, such as Netjets, offers fractional (or shared) ownership to those who fly 50 hours or more per year, with a minimum commitment of 30 and 36 months respectively. What you get in return is a share in an aircraft, promising guaranteed availability, fixed costs and access to multiple bases of operation among other hassle-free features.
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For the busy, the ultimate luxury is time, and flying privately lets you save lots of it
Flexjet has a fleet of more than 160 aircraft, while its competitor, Netjets, has more than 700, and both allow owners to jump on board with as little as ten hours’ notice. The two operators also offer leasing programmes, which are aimed at the same cohort, but involve a different payment structure to avoid a large upfront investment. Flexjet describes the cost of this as falling “between that associated with fractional ownership and a jet card”. Chartering, meanwhile, caters to those who fly fewer hours and allows you to book a jet much like you order an Uber, with a pay-as-you-fly concept. Victor, a charter broker, has access to 7,000 aircraft worldwide and its app provides pricing options and aircraft specifics, allowing clients to determine the best value before booking flights. Other options for those who travel less include prepaid jet cards – buying a block of typically 25 flight hours – or a series of membership programmes. Vistajet, for instance, has its Program
membership, which offers guaranteed availability at a fixed hourly rate on its fleet of over 70 aircraft with as little as 24 hours’ notice. Alternatively, travellers can book a single seat on a jet. Aero, the semi-private jet company from Uber’s co-founder Garrett Camp, offers a shared-charter model, meaning travellers can book a seat on bespoke 16-seater aircraft (or charter the entire jet) and fly to private terminals in locations such as Ibiza, Mykonos and Los Angeles – routes from London to Nice and Ibiza are forthcoming. Clients may choose not to be exclusive to one programme or operator, and might start with chartering and migrate upwards to fractional or full ownership, as they discover its business appeal.
THE BUSINESS CASE
The USP of private jet travel is convenience. It’s often said that for the very rich (or busy), the ultimate luxury is time, and flying privately lets you save lots of it, and make the most of the precious time you have. The pandemic →
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has acted as the deciding factor for many frequent flyers who formerly sat on the fence, because flying with a scheduled airline during the pandemic era has been burdened by limited and erratic flight schedules, the possibility of long queues at immigration and last-minute cancellations. Flying private allows travellers to arrive at the terminal 30 minutes before take-off and land at an airport possibly closer to their final destination. “Forget the luxury element of it, just the time saved by being in a private jet is significant,” says Ian Moore, chief commercial officer at Vistajet, which had a recordbreaking year in 2020, with a rise in bookings of 15 per cent and a 29 per cent increase in new subscription memberships – the fastest rate since the company’s foundation. “There were a lot of people with the means to fly private who perhaps viewed it as a luxury that they didn’t need. That changed with the severe reduction in commercial flights and the prioritisation of Covid-19 precautions,” says Patrick Gallagher, president of sales, marketing and service at Netjets. At the time of writing, the European arm of the company had seen an increase of more than 300 per cent in new owners (as part of its shared ownership programme) compared with last year. Private jets also allow for minimal touchpoints, with customers able to travel with their safety bubble. Travellers are no longer faced with bottleneck
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ABOVE AND BELOW: Netjets has been carbon neutral in Europe since 2012
airport terminals, where they might be mixing with arrivals from countries with high incidences of Covid-19. Much like commercial airlines, private aviation companies have made strides in their cleanliness protocols, sanitising cabins, monitoring the health of the crew and ensuring that the cabin gets fresh air during the trip. Several operators can also organise Covid-19 testing for customers. Meanwhile, chartering is a great way to introduce people to the industry. Victor’s co-CEO, Toby Edwards, explains that the company has not only seen an increase in new clients but also more bookings per customer. Those that formerly saw private travel as a rarity are now flying half a dozen times per year.
LEISURE SEEKERS
With business travel largely still on hold, this surge in bookings is driven by leisure trips. In some cases, general demand is larger than before the crisis. Netjets, for instance, is
currently averaging 541 flights per day compared with 380 per day in 2019. Victor has seen record-breaking levels in the US, with domestic American flights at an all-time high, while Vistajet has also seen an increase in traffic from North America to the Caribbean over the past six to nine months. “We’re probably seeing the same kind of routes but with more regularity and at different times of the year,” Moore says. Private aviation in Europe is expected to take longer to recover because of continuing border restrictions, but it is certainly on the upswing. Flexjet’s European business, for instance, is performing strongly month-on-month, with a 132 per cent increase in flights from May to June 2021, followed by a 57 per cent increase from June to July. At the time of writing in early August, the company says it is already booked at over July levels in Europe. There is high traffic around the Mediterranean in locations such as the Balearic Islands, Southern France, and the Greek islands, although the UK and Ireland still trail behind owing to travel restrictions. “While the top locations remain unchanged, not all have fully recovered – for example, London and Paris are still behind the rest of the market,” Gallagher says. What’s new, however, is the rise in intra-UK/British Islands travel. Flexjet noticed that people who otherwise would have gone overseas are now flocking to the Channel Islands. Europe is a prime market for future expansion, with companies focusing
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on growing their operations on the continent. Flexjet has seen its fleet in Europe increase by 40 per cent in 2021. Netjets has added nine aircraft in Europe this year, with an additional four to be delivered before the end of 2021, and plans to reach a milestone of 100 aircraft there in the first half of next year. “This will add tremendous capabilities to our existing network of more than 760 aircraft worldwide,” Gallagher asserts. Meanwhile, Europe accounted for 43 per cent of new members at Vistajet last year.
FIVE-STAR SERVICE For high-net individuals who are used to a certain level of service, the pandemic has further legitimised their decision to fly private. The few remaining first-class airline cabins have lost their lustre, with disposable packaging replacing porcelain and silverware, limited dining experiences, and the closure of lounges worldwide. Private jet travel, however, has dodged such a fall from grace, and service on board is akin to five-star hospitality. During my flight with Flexjet (see right), we were looked after by two highly experienced pilots who made us feel like a million dollars. Both had been test pilots for Embraer, while an attentive cabin server hailed from the luxury Villa d’Este hotel on Lake Como. Cabin crew at Flexjet are tied to a specific tail number, allowing them to cherish the aircraft, and limiting → maintenance as a result.
EXPERIENCING THE EMBRAER PRAETOR 600 In June, I was lucky enough to be one of the first passengers to experience a new Embraer Praetor 600 belonging to Flexjet – it had been delivered from Brazil just a few days earlier. The “super midsize” aircraft is part of Flexjet’s shared ownership scheme, the first of which was delivered in November 2020. Owners can fly to European hotspots such as Saint-Tropez, landing at La Môle airport, or to long-haul destinations such as New York and Dubai. With travel restrictions still in place, we instead took a domestic flight from Farnborough airport, benefitting from a day of sunny weather. The interiors are as glamorous as the exterior, with Those that custom-designed furnishings, such as tailored textiles from formerly saw the operator’s own LXi Cabin Collection. The aircraft can carry up to nine passengers, with six plush seats that can convert private travel as into beds for longer flights, and three spaces on a divan at the a rarity are now back of the aircraft. It’s easy to see why it appeals to business flying half a dozen travellers, with high-speed Ka-band wifi that allows for video streaming, stowable tables and fantastic noise insulation. The times per year latter was particularly apparent during take-off, and I could easily chat to fellow passengers throughout the flight. Meanwhile, fly-by-wire controls dampen the effects of turbulence, allowing for a more peaceful experience. It also has a cabin altitude of 1,767m, lower than the altitude of St Moritz in Switzerland, allowing you to feel refreshed when you reach your destination. When it comes to hygiene, the cabin has a continuous exchange of fresh, clean air from outside the aircraft, and is equipped with HEPA filtration to improve the cabin air quality. Then there’s the in-flight service, which included catering by Michelinstarred chef Tom Kerridge, with cold canapé-style starters and hot meals fashioned from the galley’s microwave oven on white-tablecloth covered tables. There are also holders for your drinks, although it’s still best to hold on to your glass tightly during take-off and landing to save champagne from flying down the cabin.
SPECIFICATIONS High speed cruise: 863km/h Maximum range: 7,441km Endurance: 8 hours nonstop Altitude: 13,716m Cabin height: 1.83m Cabin width: 2.08m
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Excellent service extends to pre-flight operations, too, with companies providing dedicated account managers or concierge services which handle clients’ demands and introduce unfamiliar flyers to the market. Guests receive a personalised service and can build a good rapport with their manager, something that is lacking in the call centres of commercial flying. Then there are the ground facilities, which are worlds away from the stressful atmosphere during peak travel times at airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick. Many arrange luxury chauffeur transit to the airport, and passengers can often drive straight on to the taxiway, affording them a high level of privacy. It would be a shame, however, not to take advantage of the private terminals. State-of-the-art Farnborough airport, located only 60 minutes from London’s city centre, has multiple lounge facilities, passenger showers, a concierge and even a dedicated pet travel support officer. Meanwhile, Flexjet has a hub in London’s Mayfair (around the corner from Claridge’s, no less) where owners get access to meeting spaces, private offices and dining areas, and Aero can secure access to exclusive perks and events at partner resorts, restaurants and beach clubs.
CLIMATE CONSCIOUS
In the era of flygskam (flight shaming), the carbon-intensive industry of
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ABOVE AND BELOW: Victor has access to 7,000 aircraft worldwide
private aviation has a lot to answer for. According to the NGO Transport and Environment (T&E), private jets are five to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes (per passenger), with a single private jet able to emit two tonnes of CO2 in an hour. Put into context, four hours of flying on a private jet is equivalent to the emissions of the average European citizen over the course of a year. Its clients, too, face opposition for their choices. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for instance, was criticised earlier this year when he took a short private jet flight to Cornwall for the G7 summit. With the impacts of climate change becoming more prominent by the day, private aviation companies have sought solutions in carbon offsetting programmes, the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF – see feature on page 40) and investment in greener technologies. I question, however, whether carbon offsetting is enough to address the
problem. “Carbon offset is a minimum baseline and there’s nothing you can really brag about. You’ve got skin in the game, you can’t just address it from a PR perspective, it has to be rooted and real,” Flexjet’s Eugène tells me. Flexjet is offsetting every flight by 300 per cent, compensating not just for carbon emissions but also other pollutants such as aerosol sulphate and nitrous oxides. This is a mandatory measure, built into the pricing model. The aircraft itself is also another consideration, with newer models far less polluting. Flexjet’s fleet, for instance, has an average age of six years. Victor’s Build Back Better framework also includes a mandatory minimum 200 per cent offset – that is, buying double the amount of carbon credits to reverse the pattern of emissions – and clients can choose to top this up. “It isn’t a silver bullet; it’s a pragmatic method of cleaning up after yourself and paying for your collusion,” Edwards says. Vistajet also introduced carbon offsetting in January 2020, and while this isn’t mandatory, more than 80 per cent of members took part last year. “That shows that you’re pushing on an open door,” Moore says. Such measures will help Vistajet to reach its commitment to be carbon neutral by 2025, which is 25 years ahead of current industry goals. “I want to make sure this little guy has a planet to be →
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able to fly on a little later,” he remarks as his toddler joins the Zoom call. Meanwhile, Netjets has been carbon neutral in Europe since 2012, and expanded its Global Sustainability Programme last year with a focus on SAF. The company has committed to purchasing 100 million gallons of Wastefuel’s SAF over the next ten years. “This partnership will make sustainable aviation fuel more accessible across the industry as a whole – both private and commercial,” Gallagher says. Flexjet, Vistajet and Victor also allow customers to purchase SAF credits to minimise their impact. It helps that airports are also getting involved, with Farnborough announcing in July that it would offer Neste MY SAF to all passengers, in turn reducing flying emissions by up to 80 per cent. While the private jet players are getting involved in the discussion, T&E suggested in May that more drastic measures should take place. Its paper Private jets: can the super-rich supercharge zero-emission aviation? recommended that regulators only allow the use of electric or hydrogen aircraft for private jet flights under 1,000km within Europe by 2030, and impose a tax on flights and fuel in the meantime. T&E states that a ticket tax applied to flight distances could raise €325 million per year if applied to all flights departing from the EU and UK, which could in turn be used to finance further green technologies.
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It appears that things are moving in that general direction, with the European Commission (EC) announcing in July a set of tax reforms as part of its Fit for 55 plan that would end the tax exemption on jet fuel for private and commercial flights within Europe. This, however, doesn’t apply to flights departing from Europe, which are responsible for more than 60 per cent of emissions, according to T&E. The EC proposes that these are instead covered by an offsetting scheme. Looking further ahead, there’s the prospect of electric aviation, which will lend itself to the private market as it will begin with smaller cabins. Another game changer will be eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off ), which will provide door-toBusiness travel is door capability. Flexjet’s sister company Halo also set to rebound, Aviation, a UK-based with face-to-face helicopter operator, meetings still key to has ordered 200 eVTOL aircraft from maintaining client Embraer’s Eve Urban relationships Air Mobility Solutions, with an expected delivery date of 2026. It will be years before all of this is reality, but as Eugène states, “it’s credible, it’s not science fiction”. Aviation is, after all, an evolving industry that has been constantly changing its technology over the past century.
BELOW: Vistajet introduced carbon offsetting in January 2020
THE FUTURE
With the surge in demand inextricably linked to the pandemic, will we look back on this period as an anomaly? Honeywell Aerospace’s Global Business Aviation Outlook forecasts that business jet usage will recover to 2019 levels by the second half of 2021, while a report from market research company Beroe predicts that the business jet market is set to reach US$37.5 billion by 2030. Netjets, for instance, which is the oldest and largest operator in the industry, says that 70 per cent of new owners plan to extend their contracts or upgrade to a lease or a share. “Even if only 10 to 15 per cent stick, that’s a lot of growth for this industry to be able to take on top of the natural growth that we’re already seeing,” says Moore of Vistajet. Business travel is also set to rebound, with face-to-face meetings still key to maintaining client relationships. In Vistajet’s The Future of Business Travel report, issued in June 2021, 55 per cent said that they would travel privately to save a client relationship worth more than US$5 million, with 33 per cent seeing fewer deals closed as a result of the lack of business travel during the pandemic. “As an industry, we’ve had an accelerated opportunity to show what we do and I don’t think anyone sees that trend reversing any time soon,” concludes Moore. Time is money, after all. So long as you can afford it. BT
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S US TA I N A BI L I T Y
Ready for take-off? Sustainable aviation fuel is an exciting development in the quest for greener ways to fly, but cost and provenance are significant issues
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y now, most regular flyers will have heard about sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). All parts of the aviation industry – airlines, aircraft manufacturers and airports – have emphasised its importance. IAG, the owner of Aer Lingus, British Airways and Iberia, has committed to operating 10 per cent of its flights with SAF by 2030. The recent ReFuelEU Aviation initiative from the European Union has proposed a minimum of 2 per cent of jet fuel being SAF from 2025, rising to 5 per cent in 2030. Heathrow, meanwhile, has called for the UK government to set escalating mandates that would require a minimum of 50 per cent SAF use by 2050. But what exactly is SAF, and what are the challenges in realising these aims?
WHAT IS SAF?
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HOW SUSTAINABLE IS IT?
It depends on how it is made. To use the term “sustainable’’ validly, the fuel must meet criteria such as lifecycle carbon emissions reduction, limited freshwater requirements, no competition with needed food production (such as first-generation biofuels) and no deforestation count. There are some processes that seem to have obvious benefits – using household waste, for instance, or used cooking oil. But even then, it is important to certify that the oil is, in fact, waste. A recent study showed that more than half of the waste cooking oil for SAF in the EU came from abroad. China supplies more than a third (34 per cent) while almost a fifth (19 per cent) of waste oil comes from the major palm oil producers Malaysia and Indonesia combined. The increasing reliance on imports means that the price of used cooking oil can sometimes rise above virgin oils, such as palm oil. This could potentially lead to virgin oils being reclassified as waste to meet demand, so driving deforestation. Finnish-based company Neste is currently the world’s largest supplier of SAF but it includes in its feedstock palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD). Transport and Environment says: “PFAD is a byproduct of the palm oil industry that →
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SAF is best understood as a collective term for many different types of fuel. It is the feedstock – what goes into the mix to create the SAF – as well as the process by which it is made that determines just how “sustainable” the fuel is. Most existing forms of SAF might also be termed biofuels, which, as the name suggests, means a fuel produced from biological resources (plant or animal material) but which also includes used cooking oil, and municipal and household waste. It is also possible to create synthetic fuels from hydrogen and carbon dioxide – these are often referred to as e-kerosene, power-to-liquid and e-fuels. As an
added complication, some NGOs, such as clean transport campaign group Transport and Environment, use the term SAF to refer to “sustainable advanced fuels”. These are the same as sustainable aviation fuels but don’t carry the implication that the fuels have to be used for aviation.
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is used in other industries. Thus, its promotion for biofuel use, beyond directly creating an incentive for more palm oil cultivation, leaves a gap in these other industries as they would need other feedstocks – such as virgin palm oil.” Neste defends its use of PFAD, saying that it is just one of several feedstocks it uses: “Proportions of individual raw materials in Neste’s refining vary from year to year, depending on their availability, price and specific market requirements, for example.” It argues that this provides flexibility and allows it to “respond to the needs of different markets and customers… We are constantly looking into diversifying our portfolio with new raw materials. Replacing fossil oil with renewable and recycled raw materials helps to reduce crude oil dependency [and] greenhouse gas emissions, and combat climate change.” Other companies, such as Velocys, use municipal and wood waste. Lanzajet, launched by biotech company Lanzatech, uses ethanol, which, depending on the market, might come from corn (in the US), sugarcane (in Brazil) and wood waste (in Europe), but also steel mill waste gases from its planned plant in South Wales. The proposed facility will yield about 100 million litres per annum. 42
CAN EXISTING AIRCRAFT USE SAF? Yes. The chemical and physical characteristics of SAF are almost identical to those of conventional jet fuel. This means they can be safely mixed with the latter to varying degrees, can use the same supply infrastructure and do not require any adaptation of either aircraft or engines. It means that SAF is often referred to as a “drop-in fuel” – that is, fuel that can be automatically incorporated into existing airport fuelling systems. All fuels (and SAF) must be certified to be used in commercial flights, and there are several bio-based aviation fuel production pathways that have been certified, with others in the approval process.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Here lies the problem. As Henrik Wareborn, chief executive of Velocys (see box overleaf ), says: “The spot market for SAF is currently at US$2,500 per tonne. That’s what airlines pay for the small volumes available today. The similar
LESSONS LEARNT FROM ROAD TRANSPORT While focusing on aviation, it is important, and instructive, to remember that it is part of a larger strategy for overall transport. The EU regulated the use of SAF in road transport as long ago as 2009, when the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) set a target of 10 per cent of renewable fuels to be used in land transport by 2020. The past decade has allowed lessons to be learnt from this, and NGOs such as Transport and Environment say that because of poor sustainability criteria and a lack of consideration of the full life-cycle emissions of the fuels, the target has driven the use of unsustainable crop-based biofuels, such as palm and rapeseed oil, which has caused deforestation, loss of habitat and increased greenhouse gas emissions. The revised REDII (adopted in 2018) took some steps to reduce the use of these biofuels and put a strong emphasis on advanced fuels – such as biofuels based on true waste and residues without negative direct or indirect impacts – but still allows for crop biofuels to count towards the RED targets.
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price for fossil jet fuel is US$500 per tonne, meaning SAF is demand and so help to bring down the cost. Campaigners five or six times the price. It is eye-wateringly expensive and point out that all other transport fuels – apart from hard to procure.” kerosene –are taxed, and so removing this exemption would Production must rise and prices must fall before its raise revenue and help to close the gap, while also affecting widespread use. As put by IATA: “Insufficient supply and some demand management (by raising the cost of flying and high prices have limited airline uptake to 120 million so reducing demand). litres in 2021– a small fraction of the 350 billion litres that As part of the ReFuelEU Aviation initiative, there are airlines would consume in a normal year.” proposals to introduce such a tax on the 27 countries in the There is no single solution to reducing the high cost of EU on a gradual scale over the next ten years – still, as you SAF in the long term. Producing it in volume will obviously can imagine, airlines are not keen on this. make the price drop, but for that to “Making jet fuel more expensive happen, governments will have to play through taxation scores an ‘own goal’ a role in carbon pricing, either through on competitiveness that does little to ‘The spot market for emissions trading systems or a carbon accelerate the commercialisation of SAF,” SAF is currently at tax. This would mean that an airline says IATA director general Willie Walsh. US$2,500 per tonne would have to either pay for SAF, or pay IATA argues that taxes “siphon a similar price for the carbon they will money from the industry that could – it is eye-wateringly emit from their flights up to whatever the support emissions-reducing investments expensive and hard percentage mandate is. So if the mandate in fleet renewal and clean technologies”. to procure’ for SAF is 5 per cent, they would have to In other words, by reducing the pay a penalty equivalent to the carbon potential profits of the airline industry, emitted for 5 per cent of their flights. This it leaves less money to invest in → would encourage them to purchase SAF, which would drive technologies such as SAF.
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SO WHAT ARE AIRLINES PLANNING?
ALTALTO: ANOTHER WAY British Airways is one of the investors in a proposed SAF facility at Immingham, Humberside. Called Altalto (altus being Latin for “high”, and “alter” a nod to “other”, in recognition of alternative aviation fuels), it is the brainchild of Velocys, an Oxfordshire-based sustainable fuels technology provider, which aims to demonstrate its technology on a large scale. The plant, which will produce SAF from a variety of waste materials, including household waste and woody biomass, could open as early as the middle of the decade, according to Velocys chief executive Henrik Wareborn. Since there are pipelines from the area going to, for instance, Manchester airport, the SAF can be added into that and used by airlines at the airport. Those carriers that have used and paid for the SAF will be exempted from paying a carbon penalty, and those that have not will have to pay a penalty for not using it, as part of
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the proposed EU mandate on SAF (see main article). As Wareborn puts it: “The level of the penalty will very quickly be equal to the highest cost – including the cost of importing SAF from abroad, since there will be a shortage of SAF for some time, so securing domestic SAF will be an advantage for UK airlines.” The Altalto plant is designed to process 600,000 tonnes of municipal waste, and it has applied to join the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) carbon capture and sequestration cluster. The NEP has been formed to develop offshore carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure in the UK North Sea, with BP as lead operator along with partners Eni, Equinor, National Grid, Shell and Total. The infrastructure will serve both the proposed Net Zero Teesside (NZT) and Zero Carbon Humber (ZCH) projects that aim to establish decarbonised industrial clusters in Teesside and Humberside.
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Nearlyy every major airline has outlined plans for increasing its use of SAF. ANA, for instance, has reached an agreem ment with supplier Lanzatech for the future purchase of SAF F and signed a memorandum of understanding with Neste “to “ create a medium- to long-term strategic alliance”. Since July J 2021, Neste SAF has been used on flights departing from Tokyo Haneda and Narita. JAL, meanwhile, along with other investors, acquired a stake in SAF-manufacturing company Fulcrum ioe o nergy, which has a newly constructed plant starting roduction at the end of this year in Nevada, allowing the airline to refuel its flights departing from North America ith SAF. In Japan, it is working with the Japanese g ernment to encourage domestically produced SAF “ it ith the aim of achieving the government’s objective of t e widespread adoption of domestically produced SAF by 2030”. In th In he US, carriers are taking various approaches to SAF, i lud ng investing in production facilities on the supply e and encouraging use on the demand side. Examples of he ormer are United investing in Fulcrum Bioenergy andd partnering with some of its large corporate customers i its Eco-Skies Alliance to buy approximately 3.4 million gallonss of SAF this year.
For its part, Delta Air Lines has a medium-term goal to replace 10 per cent of its jet fuel with SAF by 2030 – it has an agreement with Neste and has agreed to buy 70 million gallons per year from producers Gevo and Northwest Advanced Bio-Fuels, beginning in 2024 and 2025, respectively. On the demand side, Delta’s SAF partnership agreements, launched in 2021, enable corporate customers to offset their business travel while building SAF demand. Organisations already on board include Nike, Deloitte, Takeda, BCD Travel and CWT. Similar agreements have been made by organisations such as American Express Global Business Travel and Shell Aviation. Virgin Atlantic has had agreements with Lanzatech since 2011 to help “the scale-up of their process to convert industrial waste gases into various low carbon products”, says a spokesperson for the airline. In 2018 it operated the world’s first commercial flight using Lanzatech’s advanced waste-based SAF. Last year Lanzatech launched Lanzajet, which focuses on making jet fuel through a patented process that “can use any source of sustainable ethanol, including, but not limited to, ethanol made from non-edible agricultural residues such as wheat straw and recycled pollution”. British Airways is joining Lanzatech, Mitsui and Suncor Energy as an investor in the company. BT
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IN PAR T NER SHIP WIT H…
BACK ON TRACK
David Horne, Managing Director of LNER, on the strong return for rail travel ata released in August by the Department for Transport shows that use of the National Rail network in Great Britain is back up to 55 per cent of pre-Covid levels, with use of London Underground at around 50 per cent of the equivalent week in 2019. What the national figures hide is the strong return to rail for leisure travel – certainly on LNER where our passenger numbers over the past three weeks have been back up to 94 per cent of pre-Covid levels. Our figures reveal that the number of people taking an LNER train for leisure is actually significantly higher than it was preCovid. Plenty of us are making up for time lost during lockdown, taking trips to meet up with family and friends we have been unable
to see for a long time, or to take a trip this summer to explore somewhere new. This is important, not least because of the significant benefit of such travel to the wider economy, jobs and prosperity. New research released in August by the Rail Delivery Group highlighted the significant connection between train travel and retail, hospitality and leisure businesses. The research found that train passengers travelling for days out spend a total of £46bn per year on food and drink, shopping, accommodation and entertainment and culture. The strong recovery we are seeing at LNER is testament to the hard work and determination of the many colleagues who have been focused on our recovery from the pandemic, starting last year when we focused on reassurance – investing in additional cleaning, employing extra cleaners and improving our seat reservations system to ensure social distancing.
‘Match Ready’
Since the start of this year, we have been getting ‘Match Ready’ for the easing of Covid restrictions – working on a multiplicity of projects to ensure that the LNER experience for our customers is the best yet. Our newly-launched LNER mobile phone app has soared in popularity to become one
of the most highly rated within the industry, making it easier for our customers to book and access their tickets in one place whilst on the go. Seat reservations can now be made via our app with a simple process as close to five minutes prior to travel, whereas it used to be hours in advance. The app is also the place to go for our new customer loyalty scheme, LNER Perks, which gives customers benefits to spend on future journeys, gifted as an LNER eVoucher to friends or family or donated to a charity partner. Delay Repay is now available with just one click on the app – making it even easier to get compensation when delays impact a journey Just as your favourite restaurant or local pub introduced the technology so you could order your meal or favourite tipple from your seat, so did we! Our Let’s Eat At Your Seat service enables our customers to scan a QR code, then order and pay for refreshments without the inconvenience of walking to the buffet car.
Station Improvements
At our stations, we have built new car parks at Durham and Grantham and we’re rolling out a programme of station improvements – for example, York’s first-ever First Class lounge and new toilets. Alongside these improvements, we’ve
Our Let’s Eat At Your Seat service enables our customers to scan a QR code, then order and pay for refreshmentsfrom their seat. been working hard to promote rail travel to an audience facing another summer of disruption to traditional holiday options.
Sustainable travel At the beginning of June we launched the first LNER Green Guides, showcasing the best sustainable places to stay, eat and drink during trips to Edinburgh, Newcastle or London – revealing local hotspots and even some hidden gems. With contributions from LNER staff and passengers, Visit Edinburgh, NewcastleGateshead Initiative and Visit London, the ‘Green Guide’ can be downloaded for free at lner. co.uk/greenguides. Indeed, our partnerships with the destination management organisations along our route have probably never been more important. In July we ran our LNER Lincoln Experience train, taking a normal scheduled Saturday service and showcasing
LEFT: The new First Class Lounge at York Station
everything that Lincoln has to offer, on the weekend when the city launched its Lincoln Imp sculpture trail. Not only did we take significantly more people to Lincoln than we do on a normal weekend, but two thirds of our customers on that trip had never been to the city before. We’ve expanded our LNER Family Tickets to more destinations, providing savings for up to two adults and four children at a fixed price. We’ve also cut the cost of parking at our stations, most recently at Newark Northgate and Grantham stations where the cost to park is £5 all day for the summer. And we’re looking forward. In August we put our tickets on sale for Christmas travel. For years it has been an industry tradition to get tickets on sale 12 weeks in advance, but that is a tradition we are keen to break for the better, and for the convenience of our customers!
With traditional commuting patterns probably changed for ever by the pandemic, many more train journeys now involve an active choice. In response, our choice as a train company is to change how we think. Over the past 16 months, we have grasped hold of every opportunity to innovate, invest and improve for the benefit of our customers and those who are yet to travel with us for the first time. Our ambition is to truly transform rail travel in the UK and we believe that this pioneering approach is key as we look to welcome customers back to rail. We’re not at our destination yet, but the train has departed and life is getting back on track.
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RAIL
The revival of night trains across mainland Europe has many obstacles to overcome
Sleeping giant
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seasonal and does not provide the sort of Imagine if you sleeper accommodation could wake up at that would appeal to your destination, the corporate market. There are also several refreshed, rather newcomers, one being than rushing to a joint venture between catch an early flight Dutch start-up European Sleeper and Belgium’s Moonlight Express. They plan to operate Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague under the name of European Sleeper, and the service is mainly intended for the leisure market. Still, considerable problems remain. Let’s start with the issue of ABOVE: OEBB, with its Nightjet rolling stock for trains serving the services, has the corporate or well-heeled leisure biggest night train network in Europe market. Only OEBB has suitable
stock capable of serving major business destinations with its sleeping carriages, some of which have en suite facilities. In addition, it is only OEBB that has commissioned a fleet of “next generation” rolling stock to meet travellers’ future needs. When SNCF restarted its Paris-Nice overnight train, it was thought that something similar to the famous Le Train Bleu would be recreated. Sadly, nothing was further from the truth. Many customers, including a number of our readers, were left disappointed. Why? Because SNCF had to revive older couchette stock which then meant Paris-Nice would appeal mainly to the leisure market. In truth, SNCF had dispensed with its comfortable sleeper trains years ago when it decided to quit the sleeper business. France’s last international sleeper service, operated by Thello and linking → SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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t might have been missed by many, but 2021 is the EU’s Year of European Rail, and operators across Europe are investing in night trains. The appeal is obvious. There is the romance of overnight train travel, but there is also a benefit for business travellers. Imagine if you could take an evening train and wake up at your destination, refreshed, rather than rushing to catch an early morning flight, always worrying about delays. For long-distance trains there are options for working on the journey, or relaxing, and of course they are more climate-friendly – important with the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) fast approaching. It is for that reason that there is likely to be government support, not least since the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, published by the European Commission in December 2020, called for a major shift in passengers to rail, including night trains. Austria’s OEBB leads the pack with Nightjet. It offers the largest network of night trains by far, and one that will be expanded thanks to collaborations with national operators SNCF (France), DB (Germany) and SBB (Switzerland). At the time of writing, OEBB had ordered a further 20 complete trains from Siemens. Elsewhere, new Swedish operator Snalltaget has started a StockholmCopenhagen-Berlin link, but this is
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that finding the right “facilities to clean, resupply and maintain rolling stock [was] proving a challenge”. Acquiring suitable new stock is not easy. It can be time-consuming and expensive, as OEBB and Caledonian Sleeper have experienced. Look at the number of years it has taken both operators to order and commission their new stock. The other major issue is whether or not an operator can make money from a night train operation. OEBB claims it can but, for the others, it is doubtful. The costs of operating and funding night trains is mired in secrecy. Last year, we reported online that Caledonian Sleeper’s losses had increased by 48 per cent from £3.08 million to £4.57 million in 2019-20. That was pre-Covid-19 and lockdown, when they may have risen further. At the time of writing, Caledonian Slee er, alon with other
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Paris with Milan and Venice, was suspended at the start of Covid-19 and Thello has said its night service will not return. Although France still maintains a couple of night trains, these provide a spartan service on board. In July the Financial Times reported on SNCF’s night trains. When one passenger on a Perpignan-Paris service asked the conductor about catering facilities, he was told: “Nope. There’s no food, not a thing. You’ll just have to go to sleep.” One therefore wonders whether operator Midnight Trains will succeed in its plans to launch numerous routes with the best rolling stock as soon as 2024. Founded by French entrepreneurs, its aim is to offer an alternative to state-run SNCF sleepers and short-haul flights, with “hotel-style” rooms and an onboard restaurant and bar. Proposed routes out of Paris could include Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Venice, Berlin, Hamburg and Copenhagen. Its selling point is that it will use sleeper accommodation with catering facilities. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
There are obstacles to overcome, however. Speaking to publication Railtech, Romain Payet, co-founder of Midnight Trains, said that finding places to park and maintain rolling stock was a major obstacle, since “workshops and sites are almost all in the hands of the major national carriers” which are controlled by the government. Payet said that he was continuing to negotiate with vehicle owners for equipment and track but
ABOVE: Sleeper accommodation aboard OEBB’s Nightjet train
TOCs (train operating companies), is under the government’s emergency measures or ERMA agreements. This means that the government now takes the fares revenue and has the responsibility for their operations. No further details are available, although The Guardian reported in May 2021 that the government said it had spent £12 billion funding the UK rail → network during the pandemic. businesstraveller.com
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A major issue is whether or not an operator can make money from a night train operation
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COST CONSIDERATIONS
Why are night trains unlikely to make money? Some reasons are the high cost of rolling stock, poor utilisation, especially on shorter routes, low passenger numbers and a high staff-to-passenger ratio (compared with daytime trains), and complexity of operations. Take utilisation for the Caledonian Sleeper, for instance. Over one day (and it operates only six days a week) one train will make a single trip. By comparison, a daytime train between London and Edinburgh would make two or three trips per day, so they have greater earning potential. However, these facts are based on conventional night train operations. Nick Brooks, secretary general of SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
Allrail Alliance (an alliance of new market entrants), told Business Traveller: “State incumbents have always done night trains in the same way, with the same type of advertising and the same complex bureaucracy. Newcomers think outside the box and do things differently. They use different yield management systems, different advertising techniques and so on. They will not carbon copy the state incumbent product.” As for SNCF’s night train customers, there’s some good news about the future. Speaking to the Financial Times, France’s transport minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, revealed a new investment plan. “Between 2020 and 2030, France will invest €75 billion in the rail sector.
ABOVE: Midnight Trains plans to offer ‘hotel-style’ rooms and an onboard restaurant and bar
Of this, €100 million will go towards night trains, with €69 million to be spent on upgrading the rolling stock.”
FURTHER PROBLEMS
However, another issue has emerged. It’s one of climate change – and in July, at the time of writing, there were numerous incidents of weather-related disruption. Examples included Russia’s Trans-Siberian line, which surely has sound infrastructure. One might expect issues in the winter – but in July? That’s when flooding destroyed a bridge in the Baikal region, which blocked the line completely. Closer to home, Caledonian Sleeper was either cancelled or had to start from just outside London because the lines outside Euston were flooded for several days. Then intrepid rail user and EU transport expert Jon Worth took OEBB’s Nightjet from Berlin to Vienna. All was going well until a tornado damaged the tracks in the Czech Republic. Fortunately, OEBB has a contingency plan and the Nightjet was rerouted. This meant an unscheduled reversal at Brno. The Vienna arrival was not overly delayed and Worth made his onward connection to Budapest. More worrying was the incident on a Warsaw-Vienna night train. Polish media reported that flooding washed away some track ballast, derailing the train. Tragic floods across Europe this summer also affected several countries and caused widespread disruption. Nevertheless, the EU and the UK are determined that trains in general, and night trains in particular, are a “greener” alternative to yet more flights; and with Eurostar boss Jacques Damas suggesting a £1 tax on aviation fuel to help fund the cost of rail access fees for companies such as Eurostar for using high-speed lines, it seems likely that night trains will become more established in the coming years. In the final analysis, night trains have a future, providing the funding and new rolling stock for the next generation can be made available. BT businesstraveller.com
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LUXURY VILLAS
4HRS IN BANGKOK
We round up lavish residences for longoverdue breaks
Buddhist temples, delicious roti and boat trips in the Thai capital
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
VILLAS
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LUXURY VILLAS FOR
STYLISH STAYS After the last 18 months of lockdowns and staycations, we’re all overdue a holiday abroad – so treat yourself, and the more lavishly the better
SANTORINI, GREECE
With the Andronis Arcadia resort in Santorini, five minutes’ walk from the village of Oia, you have the privacy of a villa with all the benefits of a hotel. Spanning over 600 sqm, the threestorey Eden Villa has direct sunset views and a colour palette of white, sand and turquoise. It has six bedrooms, two private pools, its own fitness centre and spa room, and a fully equipped SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
modern kitchen. If you want something smaller, the resort also includes suites through to four-bedroom villas. The hotel has an Evexia Spa, developed in partnership with Denise Leicester, founder of organic skincare brand Ila Spa.
DETAILS: Price per week from £21,000, sleeps 12. Andronis Arcadia; andronis.com/ hotels/andronis-arcadia
ABOVE: Sunset views from Eden Villa at the Andronis Arcadia resort in Greece
TUSCANY, ITALY
Podere Celli is an historic Tuscan home ideal for large groups. Surrounded by extensive grounds and gardens, it has a 16 metre-long swimming pool built in travertine stone, with a pergola facing it furnished with sofas and sun loungers – the perfect spot for watching the Tuscan sunset. At the heart of the property is an open-plan living room, divided by archways into businesstraveller.com
sitting and dining areas, with two large fireplaces. The highlight is the kitchen which has a wood oven, designed for avid cooks, though there is the option of renting the villa complete with cook and staff which might be advisable given it has 13 bedrooms. Plus, Siena is located under one hours’ drive away. DETAILS: Price per week from €11,400, sleeps 26. Tuscany Now and More; tuscanynowandmore.com
FRENCH RIVIERA, FRANCE
With views over the sea and Cannes, Villa Lizzie is a Provençal-style bastide
with seven bedrooms and plenty of outside space for children to explore. This is a country house with a homely feel to it, featuring a living room with a fireplace, a wine cellar (though you will have to source and pay for the wine), an office, a playroom for younger children and a swimming pool. Five of the bedrooms are in the main villa and each has its own en suite, while the remaining two bedrooms are in a guest house, one with a double bed and the other with twin beds.
DETAILS: Price per week from £23,000, sleeps 14. One Fine Stay; onefinestay.com
THIS PAGE: Villa Lizzie, Cannes; Podere Celli, Tuscany
PROVENCE, FRANCE
A former retreat of French royalty, Le Château Aubenas is a 16th-century residence in the rural landscape of the Luberon. The five-bedroom château is sheltered by tall trees, yet elevated enough to enjoy views of nearby hills. Located in gated grounds, it offers complete privacy. Outdoor areas include an olive grove, sun terrace, a barbecue and table-tennis table. There is also a heatable swimming pool in a pine-scented setting, which is open from May to September (and beyond for an additional cost). Inside, high ceilings and old-world artefacts are complemented by stylish contemporary décor. A chef can be pre-booked and Forcalquier’s shops, restaurants and market are 10km away. DETAILS: Price per week from £2,746, sleeps up to eight adults and four children. CV Villas; cvvillas.com
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VILLAS
ANDALUCIA, SPAIN 58
Many villa rentals have the advantage of having a hotel as part of the complex. Located on the Andalusian coast, close to the village of Casares, the resort of Finca Cortesin has a collection of 16 five-bedroom, all en suite villas with fully-equipped kitchens and private pools. They overlook a championship golf course, with views of the Sierra Bermeja mountain range. Breakfast is available in the hotel restaurant and the resort also offers complimentary parking and babysitting, freshly cut local flowers, Penhaligon’s toiletries and twice daily housekeeping. DETAILS: Price per week from €40,500, sleeps 10. Preferred Hotels and Resorts; preferredhotels.com
CORFU, GREECE
The grand six-bedroom Villa Doria is ideally located for enjoying Corfu’s north-east coast. It’s a short drive from Avlaki beach and the waterfront restaurants and cafés in St Stephano, while Kassiopi’s harbour, restaurants and beaches are also within easy reach. The 12-metre long infinity pool is a real draw, while views down the hillside toward the Ionian Sea and across to Albania allow you to watch the sunrise SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
and ping pong table. Meanwhile, the local area offers a great variety of water sport activities.
DETAILS: Price per week from €4,050, sleeps 10. Villa Travellers; villatravellers.com
TUSCANY, ITALY
FROM TOP: Finca Cortesin, Spain; Villa Erakle, Sicily
in the morning as you look east, and see the lights along Albania’s coastline at night.
DETAILS: Price per week from £2,136, sleeps 12. CV Villas; cvvillas.com
SICILY, ITALY
The newly built Villa Erakle, located in Eraclea Minoa on the southern coast of Sicily, benefits from a secluded beach nearby and plenty of al fresco dining venues. The villa is set over three floors with five bedrooms, and a main living area with a beautiful fireplace and large windows offering sea views. Outdoor facilities include a swimming pool with sunloungers, a hammock, a barbecue
Situated in the Chianti region, south of Siena, Villa Vercenni is a large former farmhouse accessed via a cypress-lined drive in a wooded private estate. The six-bedroom villa has been tastefully and artistically restored. The heavily beamed sitting room has a huge inglenook complete with a woodburning stove, along with ample chairs and sofas, and a wall-wide mural of the estate. Occupying much of the lower floor, the kitchen/breakfast room features a stepped stone floor which opens onto the terrace, offering panoramic views of hills and valleys. The grounds also have a pool that is sunk into lawned surrounds, and a pergola for lunches. A chef can be prebooked, and there are cafés and small shops in Radda, 3km from the villa, while Siena’s attractions are located 33km away.
DETAILS: Price per week from £2,539, sleeps 11. CV Villas; cvvillas.com businesstraveller.com
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ABOVE: Villa Mayfair, Quinta do Lago, Portugal LEFT: Villa India II Menorca
DETAILS: Price per week from £12,573, sleeps 12. Abercrombie and Kent Villas; akvillas.co.uk
ALGARVE, PORTUGAL
MENORCA, SPAIN
James Villa Holidays has a huge selection of villas – over 3,000 in 60 destinations. Its Villa India II in the S’Atalaya area of Binibeca is a kilometre from the resort’s restaurants and shops, as well as a sandy beach. The modern villa has patio doors leading from the lounge and all bedrooms to the outdoors, air-conditioning units, and a covered terrace with built-in barbecue.
DETAILS: Price per week from £609, sleeps six. James Villa Holidays; jamesvillas.co.uk SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
PROVENCE, FRANCE
Le Mas des Chenes Verts has stone floors and walls, antique furniture and local artworks. The six bedrooms are all en suite, there is a large living space with an open kitchen and lounge area and the pool house has its own barbecue and bathroom facilities. North and south facing terraces for dining offer views over the Luberon Valley and Mont Ventoux. The nearby village of Bonnieux with its restaurants and shops is only a short walk away either by road or along a forest path.
Villa Mayfair is in the heart of the Quinta do Lago resort, with its fitness centre, The Campus, close by, plus top restaurants, cafés and bars. The villa has five en suite bedrooms across the first and ground floors, two of which have their own private terraces. It also has a basement with a games room, complete with table tennis and snooker tables, giving teenagers their own space and providing adults with some peace and quiet. The private garden has a pool, a cascade waterfall, a barbecue dining area, plus a separate children’s pool. This villa is an ideal rental for the whole family – there’s even space in the basement to sleep four teenagers for an additional cost – but the resort has plenty of villas and apartments for every size group. DETAILS: Price per week from €21,000, sleeps 10. Quinta do Lago; quintadolago.com
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DALMATIA, CROATIA The brand-new Villa Vista is located above the beautiful city of Omis on the Croatian coast. Close enough to local attractions and only a five-minute drive from local beaches, the villa still remains hidden and private. The family pool makes the most of the views, and there are three double bedrooms (all en suite) and a cosy living room with a fireplace and TV. DETAILS: Price per week from £816.96, sleeps six. Vrbo; vrbo.com
VAL D’ISERE, FRANCE Apartment Chartreuse is a ski-in, ski-out duplex penthouse apartment with a free-standing bath in the master double bedroom, and two further twin/double bedrooms with TVs and en suites – all with access to a balcony offering panoramic views of Val d’Isère. On the top floor, an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area has a stone fireplace while a snug area tucked away behind the staircase means children can watch films on the TV away from adults. Includes in-chalet ski and boot businesstraveller.com
fitting service, lift pass delivery service, luxury robes, slippers and toiletries. DETAILS: Price per week from €9,660, sleeps eight. Bramble Ski; brambleski.com BT
VILLA OPERATORS Abercrombie and Kent Villas akvillas.co.uk Affinity Villas affinityvillas.com Andronis Arcadia andronis.com Bramble Ski brambleski.com CV Villas cvvillas.com Croatian Villas croatianvillas.com Quality Villas qualityvillas.com James Villa Holidays jamesvillas.co.uk Luxury Villa Collection theluxuryvillacollection.com One Fine Stay onefinestay.com Preferred Hotels and Resorts preferredhotels.com Quinta do Lago quintadolago.com/en SHA Villas shavillarentals.co.uk Tuscany Now and More tuscanynowandmore.com Villa Plus villaplus.com Villa Way villaway.com Villa Travellers villatravellers.com Vrbo vrbo.com WIMCO Villas wimco.com
TOP: Mas des Chenes Verts in Provence, France LEFT: Villa Vista, Croatia BELOW: Apartment Chartreuse, Val d’Isère, France
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
4 HOURS IN... 1 WORDS DUNCAN FORGAN
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Bangkok Enjoy a leisurely tour of the Thai capital
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WAT SUTHAT
Take advantage of the relatively calm mid-morning traffic with a cab ride to Bangkok’s old city (THB100/£2.20 from Sukhumvit or Silom), where you can explore the myriad royal and religious highlights. Kick off your stroll at the astoundingly beautiful Wat Suthat Thepwararam, home of Thailand’s biggest wi-hahn (main chapel), and the Giant Swing, a towering landmark formerly used for Brahman ceremonies. From there, it is an easy walk (or short tuk-tuk journey) to other big-hitting sights, including Wat Saket (Golden Mount), the Grand Palace and temple complex Wat Pho – famous for its giant reclining Buddha.
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KARIM ROTI MATABA
Missing an opportunity to eat in Bangkok is woeful – so it’s time for lunch. Hip, upscale options near the royal sights include Nusara, an intimate Thai dining room presided over by Michelin-starred chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn. Alternatively, Phra Athit Road is a brisk walk (or THB50/£1.10 cab ride) away – where old-school dining can be found at Karim Roti Mataba, a Thai Muslim restaurant that has been dishing out crispy roti with curry for about seven decades. Undoubtedly, the star dish is the mataba, with spicy fillings stuffed into a roti before being pan-fried, but the mutton curry and oxtail soup are dishes to look out
for. Choose to dine in the shabby but atmospheric restaurant, or order takeaway and devour the flaky, spicy goodness by the banks of the Chao Phraya river. roti-mataba.net
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CHAO PHRAYA
From Karim Roti Mataba, walk to Pra Athit Pier and catch the Chao Phraya Express Boat downriver to Si Phraya Pier (THB15/30p). The journey along Bangkok’s so-called “River of Kings” is a memorable excursion. Take a prime vantage point at the side of the boat and observe the passing cargo barges, riverside communities and landmarks. These include Wat Arun, one of Bangkok’s most striking temples, the legendary pile of the businesstraveller.com
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Mandarin Oriental hotel, and the Old Customs House dating back to 1888 – one of the many Europeanstyle buildings commissioned by King Chulalongkorn. Designed by Italian architect Joachim Grassi, its dilapidated Palladian grandeur has made it a favourite setting for photo and movie shoots.
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SKY BAR
Even its biggest fans would agree that Bangkok’s heat and traffic can drain a visitor’s energy. Thankfully there’s plenty of scope for liquid replenishment at the end of a busy afternoon. The distinctive gold dome at Sky Bar in Lebua at State Tower – a ten-minute walk along Charoen Krung Road from Warehouse 30 – acts as a beacon for thirsty wanderers. As one of the highest rooftop bars in the world (and famous for its starring role in The Hangover: Part II), the venue is reliably packed. But the views over the Chao Phraya river are worth sharpening up your elbows for. It’s a gilded way to end an action-packed itinerary in Thailand’s charismatic capital. lebua.com BT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
ALEXANDR PODVALNY/ISTOCK
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WAREHOUSE 30
Back on dry land, it’s a short walk from the pier to Warehouse 30, a hub for Bangkok’s creative community, designed by leading Thai architect Duangrit Bunnag. Transforming a cluster of Second World War-era warehouses, Bunnag and his collaborators have established a creative hub teeming with galleries, dining venues, boutiques and pop-up shops. The revolving cast of vendors at the complex changes regularly. Recent highlights include Aurum Gallery, vintage retailer Horse Unit, and the DAG, a hip communal dining venue. Across the road, be sure to stop by P Tendercool
for a browse. Reclaimed colonial-era hardwood, Burmese teak and gleaming brass add a distinctive flair to the distinctive bespoke tables handcrafted by this design company. warehouse30.com
Join THE CLUB and save money on your travelling life It’s been a while, but travel is returning. Time to join The Club by Business Traveller. It offers members a range of offers and discounts on travel-related technology, airport services, luggage, accommodation, experiences and health and fitness products.
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OPINION
Aye aye captain! Tipsy passengers, unruly revellers, a cheeky smoke in the loo – it all seems like a bit of fun until somebody gets hurt. Enter the captain… OUR ANONYMOUS PILOT REVEALS THE SECRETS OF THE COCKPIT
I
am sure that many of you, at some point, will have read media articles about how well paid pilots are. I can neither confirm nor deny this as it depends on who you fly for, what you fly and where you are based. However, as background, I thought you might be interested to know more about the responsibilities and authority of the captain. First and foremost, the captain is legally responsible for the safety and security of the aircraft and all persons on board. Safety throughout the aviation world is paramount, which is why air travel has earned the reputation of being one of the safest forms of transport. If, at any point, the captain has any concerns in this regard, their decision is final and cannot be overridden. Before a flight departs, the captain must be satisfied that the aircraft is technically fit to fly, the weather is suitable for the flight and there is sufficient fuel to get to the intended destination. Additionally, the captain has to ensure that air traffic control knows which route is being flown, that the aircraft has been loaded correctly, that security has been checked and that all the customs procedures have been complied with. Once these tasks are complete, the captain will sign two pieces of paper to confirm they are happy to operate the flight. THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY Another area of responsibility is to ensure that no person’s behaviour while on board endangers the flight or any other person. In this regard, both verbal and physical abuse are wholly unacceptable and against the law. This includes anyone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
businesstraveller.com
While on a British-registered aircraft, UK law applies, even when in flight over other countries. Whenever such situations arise, the captain has the authority to act in order to bring the situation under control. This could involve a verbal warning, asking the police or security services to attend the aircraft on arrival, or, if all else fails, to order the crew to physically restrain the person until the appropriate authorities arrive.
The captain is legally responsible for the safety and security of the aircraft and all persons on board
Regarding alcohol, it is actually illegal to be drunk on board an aircraft, and in this regard the captain can refuse boarding or stop the serving of further alcohol to a passenger who, in the crew’s judgement, has had sufficient. Indeed, the captain can refuse boarding to anyone they deem to be a risk to the safety of the flight. A common situation I have dealt with several times is a passenger refusing to fasten
their seatbelt, or to cease using their mobile phone when asked to do so. Again, it is illegal to disobey an order from the crew that relates to the safety of the flight and a warning to that effect, in my experience, resolves the situation very quickly. There have been occasions where a passenger has, for instance, been smoking in the toilet, or has behaved inappropriately, where a warning has not sufficed and I have called ahead for the police to meet the aircraft. I am pleased to say that, on every occasion, the police have been most supportive and used the full force of the law to deal with the seriousness of the situation. IN SAFE HANDS There are too many responsibilities to detail in this article, but it goes without saying that throughout the flight, the captain is ultimately responsible for any actions or decisions that are taken. It is in an emergency situation where this is most relevant. In these circumstances, the captain must use their skills, and those of the crew, to ensure the outcome is never in doubt. As you might expect, these situations can be highly pressurised and for the captain carry enormous responsibility. Returning to my comments at the start of this article referring to pay, we say we are not paid for the 99 per cent of the time when everything goes to plan but for the 1 per cent when something unexpected or challenging occurs and you are safely returned to Mother Earth to live another day. I am often asked, “Do you ever feel the weight of all that responsibility on your shoulders when you are flying?” The answer I give is, “No, we are so well trained that it’s just another day in the office.” BT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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BUSINE S S TR AVELLER PROMOTION
Carte blanche Away on business and hungry for something new? Try one of these relaxed, convivial restaurants
LONDON BOCCONCINO
Nestled in the heart of Mayfair, Bocconcino is a fine-dining restaurant that delivers mouth-watering Italian cuisine and first-class service. The restaurant showcases dishes from all regions of Italy with a touch of contemporary flair. Bocconcino's indulgent menu, created by head chef Marco Corsica, features fresh fish, ITALIAN handmade pasta, wood-oven pizza and succulent meats. Signature dishes include grilled tomahawk steak, king crab linguine, and tagliatelle with black truffle. The gourmet food can be enjoyed alongside a beautiful selection of fine wines and handcrafted cocktails. ■ 19 Berkeley St, Mayfair, London W1J 8ED +44 (0)20 7499 4510 reservations@ bocconcinorestaurant.co.uk bocconcinorestaurant.co.uk
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LONDON
LONDON
BENTLEY'S OYSTER BAR & GRILL
CORRIGAN'S BAR & RESTAURANT MAYFAIR
Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill is one of London’s longestrunning and most-loved seafood restaurants. Owned by Michelin-starred chef Richard Corrigan, it is considered a British institution for oyster enthusiasts. Located within a beautiful Victorian building, it is the perfect place to escape the bustle of central London – quietly confident and yet OYSTERS elegantly understated. & GRILL Much has changed since the restaurant first opened in 1916 but Bentley’s values remain to this day; championing local produce and independent suppliers, whilst the staff deliver a warm and polished service. ■ 11-15 Swallow Street, London W1B 4DG +44 (0)20 7734 4756 reservations@bentleys.org bentleys.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
Corrigan’s Bar & Restaurant - Mayfair is home to the acclaimed celebrity Irish chef, Richard Corrigan. The three AA rosette restaurant opened in 2008 and has previously been FINE awarded London DINING Restaurant of the Year by the Evening Standard, as well as AA London Restaurant of the Year. It redefines the concept of quintessential British and Irish cuisine, fusing seasonal produce with Richard’s unmistakable flair. The menus are inspired by Richard’s humble, rural upbringing – combining 21st century luxury and style with down-to-earth, home-inspired cooking. ■ 28 Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, London W1K 7EH +44 (0)20 7499 9943 reservations@corrigansmayfair.com corrigansmayfair.co.uk businesstraveller.com
LONDON
FRENCH
CLARETTE
Based in a sleek and relaxed setting of an iconic mock Tudor townhouse, Clarette brings a refreshing burst of life to the London wine scene and Marylebone Restaurants. Offering a unique curated wine list, Clarette is a destination where wine lovers can enjoy old favourites, or discover new grape varieties, wine regions and styles with a wide selection of fine wines available. For the non-wine lovers Clarette presents a uniquely curated cocktail list, perfect for alfresco dining. The exciting food menu features French-inspired food, beautifully presented and expertly served, to perfectly complement the wines. Dishes change regularly to keep the menu both exciting and full of seasonal, quality ingredients. ■ 44 Blandford Street, Marylebone, London W1U 7HS +44 (0)20 3019 7750 info@clarettelondon.com clarettelondon.com
LONDON BURGER & LOBSTER
Burger & Lobster is a classic in London, with nine locations across the capital. Promising an extraordinary union of land and sea, it might only do a few things, but boy, does it do them well. From the very start, it has focused on just two quality ingredients: tender Nebraskan beef and wild Atlantic lobster. And for over a decade, it has perfected its craft to get the very best out of these two amazing products, to bring a taste of affordable luxury to each and every one of its customers. Today its menu is a little larger than its debut offering of grilled lobster, lobster roll or a juicy burger, but its mission remains the same: source the best, treat it with respect and have a great time along the way. ■ Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Bond Street, Oxford Circus, Soho, Leicester Square, Bread Street, Threadneedle Street, West India Quay hello@burgerandlobster.com burgerandlobster.com
BURGER & LOBSTER
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LONDON BUSTRONOME
ENGLISH
This luxury bus-restaurant marries two of life’s greatest pleasures: exquisite food and sightseeing. With a unique panoramic dining room as its main feature, passengers aboard the high-end double-decker bus can discover delicious food and wine whilst enjoying the capital's cultural monuments. Bustronome offers English gastronomy with a French twist, and its carefully curate menu uses only the finest and most seasonal produce. It's perfect for celebrating special occasions, and the unrivalled combination of beautiful views and gastronomy on board promises the ultimate shared dining experience. ■ Victoria Embankment, London WC2N 6PB +44 (0)20 3744 5554 london@bustronome.com bustronome.com/en/london businesstraveller.com
MANCHESTER VERMILION AND CINNABAR
Vermilion delivers a world-class Asian fusion dining experience and is one of Manchester’s top luxury venues. A three-storey labyrinth includes the restaurant, cocktail lounge Cinnabar and three event spaces. It combines award-winning interior design by Miguel Cancio ASIAN Martins (Buddha Bar, Paris) with an equally adventurous Asian fusion menu, created by chef Bobby Geetha (Noma and Taj Hotel) – the only South Indian chef to make the final 10 in BBC’s Masterchef. The menu is a combination of Indian with Thai, Chinese, Korean, French and English cuisine – an exciting culinary journey not to be missed. ■ Hulme Hall Lane, Lord North Street, Sport City, Manchester M40 8AD +44 (0)161 202 0055 reservations@vermilion.uk.com vermilion.uk.com SEPTEM
BER 2021
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eport TRIED AND TESTED
TRIED AND TESTED
TRIED AND TESTED
The Dilly, London
The Guardsman, London
Nobu Hotel The Fellows London House Portman Square Cambridge
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TRIED AND TESTED
Lexham Gardens by Cheval Maison
Fraser Suites Queen’s Gate, London
A guide to hand luggage allowances
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TRIED AND TESTED HOTELS
The Dilly, London
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B A C K G R O U N D This property originally opened in 1908 as the Piccadilly Hotel, featuring a Neo-Baroque style edifice inspired by 17th-century Palladian architecture, designed by Richard Norman Shaw. In recent years it became part of the Forte Group, then a Starwood hotel under the Le Méridien brand. Ownership has remained with Archer Hotel Capital since 2010. Recently transformed and rebranded as the Dilly, it is the first hotel in the Archer portfolio to be operated independently. W H A T ’ S I T L I K E ? The redesign by Aspinall Creative Design in Staffordshire is striking, and the new signage and lobby stop passersby in their tracks – I watched many people ask the doorman if they could step inside to take photos. Inside, the walls are painted a Farrow and Ball “Hague blue”, a dark tone that contrasts well with the stained glass cupolas, red leather armchairs, bright contemporary art and floral arrangements by Pulbrook and Gould. The mezzanine floor balcony, which used to be the club lounge, has been renamed, simply, the Balcony, and in the evening, the lobby becomes nightclub-like, with one door leading to Madhu’s restaurant and a doorway to the right leading to the bar. W H E R E I S I T ? On Piccadilly, only a two-minute walk from Piccadilly Circus Underground station for connections to Heathrow. It’s so central that you could
walk easily to most places in the West End within a few minutes.
R O O M S There are 255 rooms and 28 suites, all available in a variety of categories, sizes and aspects, which means few are identical. Each has a good-sized desk and convenient USB charging points and plug sockets, and the bin is subdivided for recycling. Bathrooms have modern amenities, large walk-in showers (both rain and power settings) and come with Floris toiletries from nearby Jermyn Street.
The food at Madhu’s at the Dilly is excellent, as is the service F O O D A N D D R I N K The hotel’s bar in the basement, rebranded as Downstairs at the Dilly, was closed at the time of our visit. For those who prefer daylight, there are drinks available at all-day dining restaurant the Terrace, which in the 1920s and 1930s was where the outdoor swimming pool was located. Now it’s covered and feels like a conservatory with lots of plants, low-slung sofas and coffee tables. You can have everything here, from afternoon tea to cocktails and an evening meal. The selection of drinks, as well as the snacks, all have English connections, from Bimber whisky to Chapel Down wines and Toast beer. On the ground floor, in the most impressive room in the hotel – the Grade II
listed Oak Room – is both the bar and pop-up restaurant of Madhu’s at the Dilly, which serves Punjabi cuisine with a Kenyan twist. Madhu’s is a fourth-generation family restaurant and hospitality business that started in Nairobi and, after decades of success in London’s Southall, is expanding (there are also Madhu’s at the Sheraton Skyline Heathrow and the Grove in Watford). The food is excellent, as is the service, and at the time of my visit, even though the hotel was only just reopening, the restaurant was full. Highly recommended.
M E E T I N G S The first floor has several banqueting and meeting rooms and a separate kitchen for catering, as well as hotel bedrooms, allowing a function to take over the entire floor.
L E I S U R E On the lower-ground floors there is a large health club with two squash courts, several rooms of fitness equipment, a swimming pool, a dance studio, other exercise rooms, and the Spa at the Dilly, which is run by Yoma and offers various treatments including a Thai massage. V E R D I C T The renovation has been a great success so far. The new public areas and rooms work well, and once autumn arrives and the new bar opens there will be a greater choice of places to drink. The staff are as excellent as ever, and Madhu’s is very special for food in the evening. Tom Otley BEST FOR An unrivalled location at the heart of Piccadilly in the West End
DON’T MISS A blow-out meal at Madhu’s
PRICE Internet rates for a flexible midweek stay in November started from £319 for a Dilly Classic room
LOCATION 21 Piccadilly; tel +44 (0) 20 7734 8000; thedillylondon.com
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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The Guardsman, London B A C K G R O U N D This new-build hotel is part of Preferred Hotels’ upscale luxury LVX collection and is owned and operated by Shiva Hotels. The Guardsman opened in May following a soft launch in October, and has 53 rooms and six residences that range from one- to three-bed apartments. W H A T ’ S I T L I K E ? Guests get a taste of the design from street level, with gold touches and the grey façade mirrored in the colour palette inside. The reception is concierge-like, with just one member of staff on duty, creating a sense of exclusivity. This is reflected in the members clubstyle interiors, where a geometric golden pattern across the floor-to-ceiling windows prevents people from peeking in. Design is courtesy of Dexter Moren Associates and Tonik Associates, with lighting provided by Tom Dixon. The ground floor has a bright contemporary drawing room featuring bespoke furniture including Napoleonic armchairs and a replica of Jackie Kennedy’s deep-buttoned sofa from the White House, and a Library on the left-hand side for reflective moments. A sleek, winding staircase takes you down to the restaurant, which is only open to hotel residents and their guests. The Guardsman uses 100 per cent renewable energy sourced from its rooftop solar panels and is BREEAM-certified. W H E R E I S I T ? On quiet Vandon Street, just off Buckingham Gate. It’s close to the palace itself, as well as the Houses of
Parliament. St James’s Park Underground station is a three-minute walk away.
R O O M S All rooms and residences have sumptuous queen-sized beds, Nespresso machines and tea facilities, a minibar, a safe, Noble Isle toiletries, and an HD TV with Chromecast. Rooms come in four categories and range in size from 13 sqm to 28 sqm, with bathrooms clad in black and white marble. Each has a walk-in shower, and some have underfloor heating. The six residences are all named after former female politicians, including my Astor penthouse, named after the first female MP in Britain to take a seat in parliament in 1919. All have an open-plan layout, full kitchens, a work area and views of Westminster. Additional options include a private chef and valet. The Astor Residence is an expansive 117 sqm space that includes three bedrooms and a wraparound terrace offering views of Buckingham Gate and St James’s Park. The interior design is contemporary, with a neutral colour scheme, splashes of brass, herringbone parquet flooring and large windows that flood the space with natural light. As you enter, there’s a vast living and dining space, and a well-equipped galley kitchen with a wine fridge (a nice touch). A leather-topped desk made for a lovely
The hotel uses 100 per cent renewable energy sourced from its rooftop solar panels workspace, although I was tempted to use the luxe study down the hall, which also converts into a bedroom. To the left of the entrance are two bedrooms, each of which has its own USP. The master features an en-suite and access to the terrace, while the other has a Japanese soaking tub in the bathroom. It’s a bit too reliant on technology. The touchscreen panel for lighting and air-con stopped working during my stay, but I informed reception and staff were friendly and eager to help.
F O O D A N D D R I N K The Dining Room and Bar is open all day and offers a menu of seasonal dishes based on modern British cuisine and a drinks menu with 250 whiskies. Highlights include the Cornish crab on toasted sourdough with guacamole and lemon vinaigrette. M E E T I N G S The Library and residences can be privatised.
L E I S U R E None. V E R D I C T The Guardsman offers stylish stays, and a design that pays homage to its political milieu. What it lacks in leisure facilities, it makes up for in luxury, with inviting public areas and ultra-plush residences that have ample space for work and entertainment. Hannah Brandler
BEST FOR High-end apartments with a homely feel in the centre of London
DON’T MISS A nightcap in the Library
PRICE Internet rates for a flexible midweek stay in November started from £280 for a Superior Double room
CONTACT 1 Vandon Street; tel +44 (0) 207 309 9200; guardsmanhotel.com
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TRIED AND TESTED HOTEL
Nobu Hotel London Portman Square
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B A C K G R O U N D The opening marks
R O O M S These come in seven categories
the 13th hotel from Nobu Hospitality, the luxurious brand founded by chef Nobu Matsuhisa, actor Robert De Niro and director Meir Teper, and the third collaboration with L+R Hotels. Previously the Radisson Blu Portman, the building underwent a refurbishment and reopened as the new lifestyle hotel in May following a soft launch in December 2020.
and start at 18 sqm. Many of them have balconies. All feature the same minimalist design by Make Architects, which includes subtle tones and soft wooden furnishings. Black metal detailing pays homage to the wrought-iron gates of neighbouring Portman Square, while Japanese touches include lantern-style lights and bonsai trees. The entry-level Superior room features a king-sized bed, while all other categories boast an emperor bed. Amenities include a Nespresso machine, minibar, safe, high-speed wifi and 24-hour gym access. Bathrooms combine marble and wooden fixtures and feature Toto toilets and large bottles of Grown Alchemist toiletries.
W H A T ’ S I T L I K E ? The new glass façade on Upper Berkeley Street is an impressive contemporary redesign of the first two floors of the existing building, which has two less attractive towers jutting out above. The expansive hotel houses 249 rooms and suites and has a beautiful open-plan lobby with double-height ceilings, a mezzanine with event spaces, and natural light flooding in through
The rooms feature Japanese touches such as lantern-style lights and bonsai trees floor-to-ceiling windows – an architectural feat that shines on to the street as night falls. A kinetic sculpture by British artist Ivan Black stretches five metres from the ceiling, with rotating fins suspended above a centrepiece of delicate orchids in green glass vases. An intricate piece on the left-hand wall made of burnt Japanese silk paper recalls the motion of a typhoon. The lobby opens on to the hotel’s lounge on the right-hand side, which features furnishings in burgundy and green, and a sultry art deco-style bar clad in black and gold geometric lines. It’s a great space for business meetings, cocktails and light meals.
W H E R E I S I T ? On the corner of Portman Square in Marylebone, near Marble Arch Underground station and Oxford Street and within walking distance of Mayfair and Hyde Park. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
F O O D A N D D R I N K Nobu is first and foremost renowned for its cuisine. Marylebone is the brand-new home of the former Nobu Berkeley Street restaurant, which operated for 15 years. The ground-floor bar has a deep blue colour scheme, with dark wood and little natural light, giving it a moody nightclub feel (there’s a DJ box, after all). It’s here that you’ll spot A-listers, although you might need night-vision goggles. A year-round terrace has been transformed into a Japanese Gin Garden in partnership with Roku Gin. Upstairs lies the lengthy restaurant area, which resembles an upmarket canteen-like space that comes alive in the evenings.
The multi-course Omakase dinner features signature dishes such as black miso cod and a chocolate fondant with green tea ice cream presented in a bento box.
M E E T I N G S The hotel has two boardrooms and a 600-person ballroom on the first floor with an adjoining reception area that overlooks the lobby.
L E I S U R E There’s a huge 140 sqm gym and wellness area with three treatment rooms. The main attraction is the Nobu Pilates Studio, which holds classes that blend classical Pilates with high-intensity training and state-of-the-art equipment.
V E R D I C T This sophisticated hotel offers a wonderful combination of in-room serenity and lively energy at its glamorous bar and restaurant outlets, which are already hotspots in the capital. Hannah Brandler BEST FOR The black miso cod at Nobu Restaurant
DON’T MISS A dynamic Pilates class to refresh
PRICE Internet rates for a flexible midweek stay in November started from £329 for a Superior room
CONTACT 22 Portman Square; tel +44 (0) 20 3988 5888; london-portman.nobuhotels.com businesstraveller.com
TRIED AND TESTED HOTEL
The Fellows House Cambridge B A C K G R O U N D This new-build opened in July 2021 as one of Hilton’s Curio Collection. It is Hilton’s second hotel in Cambridge (after the Hilton Cambridge City Centre) and is an apartment-style property, appealing to those wanting to stay longer than in a traditional hotel but not needing to stay for many months on secondment, for instance.
by the lifts that has been hand painted to look like the plaster has been removed to reveal a brick wall with the faded crests of the university colleges on it. The hotel also has an outdoor area – the Fellows Garden, with sculptures dedicated to astronomer William Herschel and planting inspired by his wife Mary, along with a covered area called the Observatory.
W H E R E I S I T ? About a 15-minute walk to the town centre across the River Cam and through Jesus Green, yet in a residential area that has the feeling of being a suburb of Cambridge. There is secure, covered car parking available beneath the hotel (£21 per day) and electric car charging ports.
W H A T ’ S I T L I K E ? In design, it is both modern and stylish, yet with quite a lot of artistic whimsy. Its theme is indicated by the name of the hotel, with dozens of artworks celebrating both the University of Cambridge and its fellows (senior graduate members of a college). In reception, there is a large colour portrait of Davidson Nicol, the first African to graduate from Cambridge
Pieces of artwork celebrate both the University of Cambridge and its fellows with first-class honours and be elected as a fellow, and coffee tables display art and architecture books. Our stay was in August 2021, so Covid-19 precautions were in place, with Perspex screens at reception and staff wearing masks. We arrived early, left our bags at reception and went off to explore Cambridge, returning at 3pm when the room was ready. Staff were helpful throughout the stay and were genuinely welcoming and proud of the hotel, which is certainly stunning inside – cleverly designed, with so much to explore that much of it you only notice the second or third time of looking. As one example, there’s a wall businesstraveller.com
R O O M S There are 163 rooms across 11 categories, including king rooms (24 sqm), studios (26 sqm) and one-bedroom apartments (32 sqm), together with duplex apartments. The room types are named after people associated with the city and notable Cambridge fellows such as Kipling, Newton, Gormley and (David) Attenborough. Many of the studios and all of the apartments have fully equipped kitchens with a kettle, toaster, hob, dishwasher and full-size fridge (in the basement is a laundry). Many of the rooms are large enough for families, with these rooms also having sofa beds and the option of connecting rooms. FOOD AND DRINK The Folio Bar and Kitchen has an excellent menu, particularly if you like eating healthy, plantbased food, with locally
sourced ingredients. Main courses cost £12.50-£32.50. I tried a squash and lentil bowl with green Puy lentils, roasted caramelised butternut squash, grilled tofu steak, courgette ribbons, spiced crunchy chickpeas and pickled radishes (£14.50). It was busy both of the evenings we ate there, and while the room can get very loud, it works well at keeping the place vibrant, as does the attractive lighting. Service is enthusiastic, but food and drink were slow to be served.
M E E T I N G S The hotel’s Hawking Suite seats up to ten people and doubles up as an event space and private dining room.
L E I S U R E There is a small indoor swimming pool (pre-booking required because of Covid-19 restrictions), gym, sauna and steam room, as well as bicycles for hire.
V E R D I C T This is a really well-thought out hotel that delivers on the Curio promise of being “one-of-a-kind”, yet also reflects the town it is in. Tom Otley
BEST FOR Its location is perfect for those needing to drive for business or leisure, with its underground secure parking, yet also close enough to walk into Cambridge and then retreat when the crowds return
DON’T MISS The artworks, and vegetarian and vegan food options
PRICE Internet rates for a flexible midweek stay in November started from £200 for a Kipling King room
CONTACT: 33a Milton Road, Cambridge; tel +44 (0)12 2394 9499; hilton.com SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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TRIED AND TESTED HOTEL
Lexham Gardens by Cheval Maison B A C K G R O U N D The Cheval Collection of serviced apartments includes both the Cheval Residences and Cheval Maison brands. In London, it has nine apartment locations and another three in Edinburgh. Lexham Gardens by Cheval Maison opened in June this year and is situated within two large stucco buildings (spanning numbers 32-38) dating from the 1870s and 1880s.
(both on the Piccadilly line). A walk from either takes you away from the busy Cromwell Road into a quiet residential area, helped by the fact that the apartments are at the end of Lexham Gardens and so get very little through-traffic.
R O O M S There are 30 apartments split between the “A” and “B” blocks, with either one or two bedrooms, spread across six floors. Not all rooms are directly accessed from the lifts because of the mezzanine floor, so there may be steps to negotiate: staff offered to help when we checked in. The apartments look out either on to Lexham Gardens at the front or the newly constructed garden at the back. The rooms are all of a good size, although because of the nature of the conversion are different
Our two-bedroom apartment was one of the equestrian-themed ones, which meant large black-and-white pictures of horses and a cooler colour scheme than the redand green-themed apartments. The beds were firm and very comfortable, and the soundproofing was excellent. There was a reasonable amount of wardrobe space, an iron/ironing board, a laptop-sized safe and, in the main room, a circular table with four chairs, a sofa bed and a large TV with the ability to stream content from your own device via Google Chromecast. There was a very well-equipped kitchen with a coffee maker, an oven, a washing machine and a dishwasher. For the two rooms there were also two bathrooms, both with good showers (both power- and rainshower), robes and high quality toiletries.
W H A T ’ S I T L I K E ? Reception is up
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a few steps in one of the blocks at the end of Lexham Gardens. It is stylish, in an anonymous sort of way, with large black-and-white photographic prints on the white walls, smart low-slung sofas and the reception with Covid-19 screens in place. Design is cool and elegant with high ceilings and art books on the shelves around the central fireplace. The staff were friendly, and offered to take us to the room
The apartments are very modern, but without seeming impersonal and then provided a show-around. This is worth accepting since there are numerous appliances that need pointing out, although they were all fairly intuitive to use.
W H E R E I S I T ? Lexham Gardens is equidistant to both Earl’s Court and Gloucester Road Underground stations
dimensions even in the same category. Deluxe one-bedroom apartments on the first floor range from 64 sqm to 76 sqm, while Luxury one-bedroom apartments on the lower ground floor are 51 sqm to 53 sqm. Superior one-bedroom apartments are on the lower ground and ground floors, and range from 49 sqm to 76 sqm. There are also three colour schemes: Racing Green, Luxurious Glamorous Red and Cool Neutral Equestrian. As you’d expect with them being brand new, all the apartments are very modern, but without seeming at all impersonal.
L E I S U R E There is a fitness centre on the lower ground floor with equipment from Precor, including a treadmill, elliptical and stationary bike, and a landscaped atrium garden.
V E R D I C T This is a super new addition to the Cheval Collection. Tom Otley
BEST FOR Residential living in a lovely area of London with good transport connections
DON’T MISS Exploring the cobbled mews streets and grander stucco blocks on the way up to High Street Kensington and Hyde Park
PRICE Internet rates for a flexible midweek stay in November started from £315 for a Superior one-bedroom apartment
CONTACT 32 Lexham Gardens; chevalcollection.com SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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TRIED AND TESTED HOTEL
Fraser Suites Queens Gate, London and a good-sized bathroom. There was a comfortable sofa, a circular table with two gold-coloured chairs, and a wardrobe with iron and ironing board. All the suites are designed with functionality in mind and are neutral in tone. Touches of luxury include shot silk curtains and padded velour headboards on comfortable beds, with good-quality cotton sheets. There is large if slightly anonymous abstract framed art, interesting Giacomettiinspired lamp stands and dark brown
B A C K G R O U N D Frasers Hospitality is
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part of Frasers Property Group, a global hospitality operator of serviced apartments and hotels with around 25,000 rooms worldwide. In the UK, it has apartments across London, Edinburgh and Glasgow with living space, separate bedrooms and in-room kitchen facilities.
W H A T ’ S I T L I K E ? The apartments are located in several large multi-storey stucco blocks. Reception is up a few steps, under a modest portico, and all the Covid protocols are marked out. Reception is attended 24 hours, with good security, but guests need their room key to get into the property at night.
W H E R E I S I T ? On Cromwell Road in London, a short walk from Gloucester Road Underground station, with good service to Heathrow and the West End. R O O M S There are 105 suites in total, ranging from studio apartments to one and two bedrooms including duplexes. As the building is a conversion of several large Victorian stucco buildings, each room is different in shape, ceiling height and vantage. Entry-level studio deluxe rooms are 31 sqm, while the studio executives are 40 sqm. The one-bedroom deluxe is 41 sqm and one-bedroom executive is 48 sqm. My room was one of the latter and had a separate bedroom accessed down a corridor, then a living room, kitchen SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
All the suites are designed with functionality in mind and are neutral in tone laminate flooring, though the latter does cause a problem when someone is walking overhead since the sound of their footsteps can be very noticeable. I mentioned this at reception and they said it was because the apartments are a Victorian conversion. The bathrooms have good shower pressure and L’Occitane toiletries, and all of the suites have fully equipped kitchens. There is a thin but adequate desk and very fast wifi. A QR code was provided for accessing newspapers and magazines via devices. The TV didn’t seem to have the ability to stream content from my device, which would have been useful, but it was adequate for watching the local news. A few points generally: there is a shortage of plugs from which to power
devices, the fridge had no door shelf, meaning bottles could not be stored upright, the kitchen tap leaked, there was a rip in the seat of the office chair, marks on the walls, and the extractor fan didn’t work in the bathroom so it steamed up and had condensation on the walls. On the lower-ground floor, there is a self-service laundry, or, of course, you can pay to have laundry done. Housekeeping is for stays of eight nights or more, so you must keep the place tidy, though towels and other in-room amenities are replenished on request.
F O O D A N D D R I N K The property has a good-sized bar (Magenta Bar) to one side of reception and an outdoor eating area, but with the wealth of choices available on neighbouring Gloucester Road and South Kensington, it’s tempting to eat out. Food can be served in the downstairs breakfast room, though I didn’t take advantage of the £12 breakfast since there are so many options nearby.
M E E T I N G S There is a meeting room on the ground floor near reception that can seat 12 in a boardroom arrangement.
L E I S U R E There is a gym in the lower basement with a variety of equipment.
V E R D I C T A good-value property with a residential feel, in a convenient location for travel in London and to Heathrow, and only a short walk from Kensington Gardens. Tom Otley
BEST FOR Good value for money, and you can book short stays of one night up to several months
DON’T MISS Choosing a room at the front with large sash windows
PRICE Internet rates for a flexible midweek stay in November started from £176 for a Studio Deluxe room
LOCATION 39B Queens Gate Gardens, London; +44 (0) 20 7969 3555; london-queensgate.frasershospitality.com businesstraveller.com
T ! N’ UT DO S O IS M
Americana Luxury Seat Sale!!! “All Business Class”
New York fr £898 rtn* Bangkok fr £1298 rtn* Hong Kong fr £1298 rtn* Miami fr £1198 rtn* + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Abu Dhabi Abuja Accra Albuquerque Antigua Auckland Austin Aruba Atlanta %DKUDLQ %DOWLPRUH %DQJDORUH %DQJNRN %DUEDGRV %HLMLQJ %HUPXGD %RJRWD %RVWRQ %ULVEDQH %XHQRV $LUHV %XIIDOR Cabo San Lucas &DLUR Calgary &DQFXQ Cape Town &DUDFDV Charleston &KDUORWWH Chennai Chicago &LQFLQQDWL Christchurch Cleveland
£798 £1298 £1298 £1298 £1298 £1898 £798 £1298 £998 £1298 £898 £1298 £1198 £898 £898 £1998 £798
Colombo Dar Es Salaam Dallas 'D\WRQD %HDFK Delhi Denver Detroit Dhaka Doha Dubai El Paso Entebbe )W /DXGHUGDOH )W 0\HUV *UDQG &D\PD1 Grenada Guadalajara Havana Hilton Head Hong Kong Honolulu Houston Hyderabad -DFNVRQYLOOH Jakarta Johannesburg Kauai Kingston Kolkata Kona Kuala Lumpur Kuwait Lagos Las Vegas
£998 £1498 £1198 £998 £1198 £898 £998 £1298 £898 £1298 £1598 £1298 £1198 £1498 £1298 £1298 £1598 £1198 £898 £1198 £1498 £1598 £998 £898 £1598 £1498 £798 £898 £998
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£1198 £1298 £1598 £1298 £1498 £1598 £1598 £1798 £1198 £1198 £798 £798 £898 £1498 £1298 £1298 £898 £898 £898 £1298 £1298 £1798 £798 £1298 £1198 £1198 £1198 £1298
Rio De Janeiro £1198 Salt Lake City £1198 San Antonio £1298 San Diego £1198 San Francisco £1198 San Juan £898 6DQWLDJR Sao Paulo £1198 Sarasota £1198 Savannah £1198 Seattle £798 6HRXO Seychelles £1298 Shanghai £1498 Singapore £1498 St Croix £1498 St Kitts £1298 St Louis £1298 St Lucia £1298 St Thomas £898 Sydney £1898 Tampa £1298 Tobago £1298 Tokyo £1298 Toronto £798 Tortola £1498 Tucson £1298 Turks and Caicos £1298 Vancouver £898 Washington £898 :HVW 3DOP %HDFK
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SMART TR AVELLER
Our guide to...
H
and baggage has always gone hand-in-hand (pun intended) with short business trips, saving you time at the destination and ensuring you’re free from the burden of lost luggage. It’s no longer as efficient and cheap as it once
Hand luggage allowances was, however, with a raft of low-cost carriers recently introducing restrictions on free hand baggage allowance, citing time-saving improvements and limited overhead locker space as the reasons for the change in policy. This means that passengers wishing to bring a
case into the cabin will have to purchase more expensive fares, dramatically downsize their packing, or alternatively check in their luggage. Here, we take a look at the cabin bag allowances across various airlines. Note that this is correct at the time of writing.
AIRLINE
DIMENSIONS
NUMBER OF PIECES
WEIGHT
Air France-KLM
55 x 35 x 25cm
Case plus one personal item
12kg economy; 18kg premium economy, business, La Première (total weight)
Aer Lingus
None
One underseat bag (plus case for Priority, Plus, Advantage and AerSpace fares; Silver, Platinum and Concierge AerClub members; passengers connecting to and from an Aer Lingus transatlantic flight or one of its partners, or adults accompanying infants)
10kg case
American Airlines
56 x 36 x 23cm
Case plus one personal item
None
British Airways
56 x 45 x 25cm
Case plus one personal item
23kg (each)
Cathay Pacific
56 x 36 x 23cm
Case plus one personal item
7kg economy/premium economy; 10kg business; 15kg first (total)
Delta Air Lines
56 x 35 x 23cm
Case plus one personal item
No maximum apart from at select airports
Easyjet
45 x 36 x 20cm (bag) 56 x 45 x 25cm (case)
One underseat bag (plus case for flexi, up front, extra legroom, and Easyjet Plus passengers)
None
Emirates
55 x 38 x 20cm
Case (plus one item in first and business)
7kg economy; 7kg first and business (each); 10kg for flights from Brazil
Etihad Airways
56 x 36 x 23cm
Case plus one item
7kg case; 5kg item
Iberia
56 x 40 x 25cm
Case plus one item (extra case in business plus long haul)
10kg case economy; 14kg business (two cases)
ISTOCK
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
businesstraveller.com
AIRLINE
DIMENSIONS
NUMBER OF PIECES
WEIGHT
Lufthansa
55 x 40 x 23cm
Case (two items in first and business)
8kg economy/premium economy; 8kg first and business (each)
Malaysia Airlines
56 x 45 x 25cm
Case (two items in business)
7kg economy; 14kg business (total)
Norwegian
30 x 20 x 38cm
One underseat bag (plus case 55 x 40 x 23cm in low fare plus and flex)
10kg low fare/low fare plus (total); 15kg premium flex (total)
Qatar Airways
50 x 37 x 25cm
Case (two items in first and business)
7kg economy (10kg from Brazil); 15kg first and business (total)
Ryanair
40 x 20 x 25cm (bag) 55 x 40 x 20cm (case)
One underseat bag (plus case for priority customers)
No weight limit for small bag; 10kg for additional case for priority customers
Singapore Airlines
Sum of length, width and height of each piece should not exceed 115cm
Case (two items in suites, first and business)
7kg economy/premium economy; 7kg suites, first and business (each)
United
56 x 35 x 22cm
Case plus one item (basic economy only allows one personal item)
No weight limit
Virgin Atlantic
56 x 36 x 23cm
Case (two items in upper class)
10kg economy/premium economy; 16kg upper class (total)
Wizz Air
40 x 30 x 20cm (bag) 55 x 40 x 23cm (case)
One underseat bag (plus case for Wizz Priority)
10kg each
businesstraveller.com
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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CARLOTTA CONSONNI/IPP AWARDS
THE BIG PICTURE
SNAPSHOT
Head in the clouds
Smartphone lenses increasingly rival those on conventional cameras, so it should come as no surprise that there’s a competition celebrating the snaps taken on mobile devices. The iPhone Photography Awards has been running since 2007 and is open to photographers worldwide using an iPhone or iPad. This year’s edition saw submissions from over 140 countries across 17 categories. Carlotta Consonni’s surreal image, Isolation, shot on an iPhone XS in Monza, Italy, was awarded second place in the “Other” category. See the full list of winners at ippawards.com
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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MAJOR MEDICAL HEALTH PL AN
FOR WHEN THE EVERYDAY DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH
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With Major Medical, you can feel reassured that you’ll receive the treatment you need, when you need it. Wherever life might take you. That’s not your everyday.
Global
Search Bupa Global Major Medical Or call 0371 705 2798
Calls may be recorded. Bupa Global is a trading name of Bupa Insurance Limited and Bupa Insurance Services Limited. Bupa Insurance Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Bupa Insurance Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
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