Meetings Beat: Travel And Transport Boosts Mtg. Booking
Meeting Trends, the meeting and incentive division of Omaha, Neb.-based travel management firm Travel And Transport, this month announced the ability to book meeting air travel online. Its new TravelQuote technology solution will allow attendees to book negotiated discounts for one-way, roundtrip or multi-city trips. "TravelQuote enables Meeting Trends client attendees to easily book online. The attendee can choose from a detailed list of available flights and determine what works best for their schedule in accordance with the meeting date and times. The convenience of being able to book online 24 hours a day has been a tremendous advantage to our busy travelers," operations manager for Meeting Trends Kim Fehlhaber said.
Passkey Automates Hotel Rooming Lists
Online group reservations company Passkey last month announced the launch of a fully automated and fully secure hotel and meeting room list tool. RoomList Express allows meeting planners to upload their rooming-list files to a secure Web location, enabling hotels to pull them into their reservation systems without re-keying data to minimize human error. "With RoomList Express, we are raising the bar again by delivering to the industry the first solution that completely automates several time-consuming processes in a completely PCI-compliant environment. In doing so, we save all parties time while closing the door to potential errors or security flaws that can create problems both in the near term and down the road," Passkey president and CEO Greg Pesik said.
European DMC Firm Acquires PRA
European destination management firm Allied Europe last month acquired North American DMC chain PRA Destination Management Inc. PRA, along with Allied Europe and Allied Arabia, will combine to form a new parent company, Allied International. PRA founder and chairman Patti Roscoe will serve on the board of directors, be a shareholder of Allied International and consult on business matters for the company. Each DMC will operate under its current brand. "The decision to add PRA Destination Management to Allied International was based primarily on the similar business philosophy, shared values and unsurpassed dedication to outstanding service making this new venture extremely beneficial to our existing and future client base," Allied International CEO James Hensley said. Allied Europe operates DMCs in England, Scotland, France, Spain, Monaco and Italy. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Regus Adds Day-Meeting Service Options
Office space provider Regus Group last month announced its expansion of its full-service day-meeting space and services. The fully furnished meeting spaces now are in more than 1,400 locations in North America and in 70 countries worldwide. Space offerings include conference rooms, executive boardrooms, training rooms and videoconferencing studios. Rooms are available by the day, half-day or hour.
WebEx Upgrades Remote Conferencing
Remote conferencing company Cisco WebEx last month launched a new version of its Web meeting service. MeetMeNow's update includes personal videoconferencing. The service automatically finds and configures a user's camera, allowing a meeting host to switch between participants. The toolbar integrates with and opens from the Microsoft Office suite. The service also can launch Web meetings from a computer's desktop and MSN Messenger, Yahoo or AIM. "With the increasing prevalence of video hardware in entry-level personal computers, MeetMeNow can make face-to-face video meetings a reality for businesspeople in a company of any size," Cisco WebEx director of product management Ilan Kasan said. The service costs $49 per month.