<B> Web Cites: Sites Worth Bookmarking</B>
By Laurie Berger
<B>Getting Aviation News for Pennies</B>
Get the daily scoop on airline developments without having to take out a short-term loan. PlaneBusiness (www.planebusiness.com), an aviation Website, is loaded with much of the financial and industry information found in the expensive paper newsletters, but at a fraction of the cost. Holly Hegeman, PlaneBusiness publisher and former aviation analyst for The Motley Fool, serves up free and fee-based data on publicly traded U.S. airlines, including earnings, traffic, quarterly financials, stock quotes, news, analysis, gossip and more. At the site, you can sign up for The Daily Banter, a free e-mail newsletter summarizing the latest developments. For detail and analysis, subscribe to PlaneBusiness Banter, a weekly e-mail sheet, which at $6.95 per month is a bargain. Search the PlaneBusiness archives for free, to retrieve everything written about American Airlines in the past year or review articles on safety.
For a quick update on airline issues of the day, log onto The Air Bulletin (www.airconnex.com/bulletin). While not as authoritative or comprehensive as PlaneBusiness, this free service can be received by e-mail, or using such "push" delivery systems as Microsoft's Active Channels and Pointcast.
<B><a name="2">The Latest In Online Advisories</B>
Move over Kroll. Compass, a fee-based travel alert service, now can be accessed via the Web (www.itiscompass.com). Created specifically for travel management professionals, Compass will generate a 2-3 page personalized advisory for more than 250 locations in less than a minute. Compass claims it goes beyond the standard warnings and entry requirements available from other sources, with more than 30 categories of "know-before-you-go" facts, including public holidays, banking hours and food information. Its database, according to Compass, is updated daily.
From its online brochure, you can view a sample travel advisory and update report, as well as subscribe electronically. The one-time activation fee is $275 plus $50 per month per location for unlimited use. Advisories are available in English, French and soon Spanish.
<B><a name="3">Find 60,000 Global Hotels Fast</B>
The Hotel Guide (www.hotelguide.com), a comprehensive, easy-to-use and fast-loading guide to more than 60,000 properties worldwide, can help you find lodging for travelers headed to Chicago or China. Although it more than adequately covers hotels in world hubs, The Hotel Guide's most valuable feature is its database of business class accommodations in smaller international cities. Even more important, it's updated monthly. This directory lets you specify searches by country, city, resort area or 38 other criteria including price, location and amenities. Each listing contains details on size, price and location. A test of the system found it to be quick, and search results included large hotels as well as smaller boutique properties.
<B><a name="4">Keying In For Keynoters</B>
Why mess with a speakers bureau for your next meeting when you can find the perfect keynoter online for free? LectureAgent (www.lectureagent.com) will help you locate, check availability and book speakers anywhere in the world. Simply fill out the online form and you'll know within 12 hours if Oprah, Tiger Woods or Steven Covey can light up the lectern at your next event. LectureAgent also posts a list of the most popular speakers--divided into categories like Heros, Innovators and Experts--as rated by your fellow meeting professionals and lecture agencies.
Afraid to let go of that dog-eared copy of Agenda? The ever-popular business-to-business directory of sites and services for meeting planners is now online (www.agendaonline.com). You can find everything you need to plan a cocktail party, VIP dinner or new product announcement in Boston, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and soon Chicago. Choose from a list of caterers, restaurants, yacht charters, florists, entertainers and more. You can fill out an online form to receive service referrals from Agenda's list, or print out one of 15 different checklists, to help you pull off a successful event.
<B><a name="5">Translating E-Mail for Global Communicators</B>
The Internet may be a boon for globalizing a travel program, but only if everyone speaks the same language. Now, with Comprende (www.comprende.globalink.com), a fee-based online translation service, you can send an e-mail to your counterparts worldwide, and it will be translated into the appropriate language. Comprende also translates documents, Web pages and chat into several different languages. You can sign up to test the service for free, before plunking down a fee ranging fron $29.95 to $49.95 per user.