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Now Europeans Are Slower to Spend, and It Shows
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:23:19 -0000
For the first time in more than a decade, consumers in much of Europe are buying less than they did a year earlier, helping to slow economies that may have fallen into recession.
U.S. Rescue Seen at Hand for 2 Mortgage Giants
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:08:01 -0000
The plan would replace the leaders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and virtually wipe out their shareholders but allow them to continue to function uninterrupted.
Big Summer Sell-Off Hits the Russian Stock Market
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:21:00 -0000
Russia’s stock market is suffering its worst correction in nearly a decade as sliding oil prices, political attacks on private companies and instability after last month’s war in Georgia spook investors.
The Feed: The Allure of Plain Vanilla
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:29:01 -0000
As the economy sputters and consumers look to save money, the privately held supermarket chain Aldi is suddenly emerging as a major force in the grocery business.
Union Leader’s Legacy May Be Hard to Match
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:24:27 -0000
Basil E. Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, enjoys a public profile in Canada that arguably has not been matched since the days of Walter P. Reuther and Jimmy Hoffa.
Stocks Withstand Jump in Jobless Rate
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:54:29 -0000
Wall Street managed a slight gain on Friday, a day after concerns about the economy, and in particular the labor market, sent the Dow plunging. Markets in Europe and Asia ended the day lower.
Portfolio.com: Business Travel
Trip Tactics
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0000
It’s hard to say how common theft is at hotels, but it does happen. Rather than leave security entirely in the hands of management, take these precautions to make sure you don’t lose your shirt—or watch or money or laptop. When checking in to a hotel, read the fine print on your room registration and in the room itself: Most hotels are not liable for anything that happens to your belongings. If leaving your luggage to be stored, make sure it will be in a locked room. To deter thieves, make it appear that your room is occupied by leaving the TV on and putting a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. Avoid broadcasting your room number. If a desk clerk announces it, request a room change. Use the room safe—or ,better yet, the hotel’s own safe—for valuables. Buy a security cable so you can lock your laptop to a piece of furniture so it’s secure even when you’re not there. If something is stolen, don’t just alert the manager but contact the local police to file a report; you’ll likely need it if you want to seek redress with your insurance company; many homeowners’ policies cover losses on the road. However, according to the Insurance Industry Institute some companies limit the amount of such “off-premises coverage” to 10 percent of the insurance you have for all of your possessions. Expensive items like jewelry may require a rider to insure to their full value. As a further safeguard, you may want to carry documentation for items like cameras, video equipment, or a computer, in case something should happen to them while you’re away.
Crime in the Suites
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0000
On a trip to London a few years ago, security consultant Bruce McIndoe had a few hours to kill after checking out of his hotel room. So he left his luggage with the bell captain—something most business travelers do without a second thought. But McIndoe does think about it now, for when he returned that afternoon, he discovered his bags had been stolen. “They said they were very sorry, but their luggage closet had overflowed and so they threw a few bags out in a hall unattended,” he recalls. McIndoe knows he has plenty of company: As president of Maryland-based Ijet consultants, which advises corporations on protecting employees and property around the world, he’s heard many tales of theft, petty and otherwise, at some of the world’s better hostelries. Once, he learned that at a five-star resort in the Bahamas, a gang had been stealing items from guests while they lazed by the pool. “The hotel was aware of it and was quietly dealing with it, but yet they did nothing to alert their guests,” he says. “The bottom line is that hotels have little interest in ensuring that their guests don’t get pilfered.” That’s one reason it’s hard to say just how common hotel crime is—they have little incentive to draw attention to problems, and most local law-enforcement authorities lump such incidents in with general statistics on crime. (More than a decade ago, the Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey found that the rate of crimes against travelers was 127.8 per 1,000 people, versus 213 crimes per 1,000 in the general population.) And unless the loss is substantial, travelers often choose not to pursue their grievance once they’re back home. But anecdotes abound—both about theft and the lack of response from hotels. Hotels can usually duck legal responsibility for theft on their property, and victims of theft are often met with indifference or even skepticism from managers, especially since guests may be unable to offer hard proof that they were in fact carrying the valuables that are now gone. When McIndoe examined the fine print on his claim check, he was startled to learn it absolved the hotel—a full-service luxury property—of all responsibility. Although the hotel eventually offered some compensation, he was struck by how little protection consumers have in such circumstances. Now, he says, he always verifies that his suitcase will be in a locked room while it’s out of his sight. But even cautious travelers may be tripped up. Melanie Graczyk, a loan officer with Access National Mortgage in Roanoke, Virginia, thought she knew all the rules: She’s a frequent traveler, and her husband worked for years in the hotel business. When she stayed in the brand-new Hilton Garden Inn in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, last year, she was surprised to find that there were no safes in the room, so she hid $600 in cash in her drawer. During her stay, workmen entered her room to fix a broken air conditioner. Soon after that, she noticed the money was gone. She immediately reported the loss to the front desk. “They told me I could walk to the police station and file a report,” she said. “The reactions I got ranged from total indifference to almost accusatory.” She followed up with letters and emails and finally heard from an insurance-company representative who said that under New Hampshire law, the hotel was not liable. (A manager at the property told Portfolio.com that the security was “very good,” and she felt that the incident had been handled appropriately. In addition, the hotel states on its registration form that safety deposit boxes are at the front desk.) “It is a major problem,” says Madeline Lee Bryer, a Manhattan attorney who has represented victims of hotel muggings, including a businesswoman from Canada who suffered a broken jaw in a push-in robbery at New York’s Paramount Hotel eight years ago; the attacker was later caught and sent to jail, and Bryer sued the hotel for failing to provide adequate protection. (The suit was settled; Paramount did not respond to requests for comment.) Bryer says that hotels don’t see security as a “moneymaking proposition” because there’s little advantage to be gained by raising a subject that would only stir negative feelings on the part of their customers. “They want people to be lulled into this false sense they’re in the protective arms of this pleasant environment,” she adds. Of course, that is exactly why thieves prey on hotel guests; it’s hard to imagine a more tempting target than a group of people uprooted from their familiar surroundings, trying to relax or distracted by travel hassles, many of them carrying valuables. The hotel industry, for its part, says they address security, but discreetly. “A lot of hotels added more security after 9/11; it is just that many customers don’t see it,” says Joe McInerney, head of the American Hotel & Lodging Association in Washington. With a few exceptions, such as Las Vegas’ Bellagio, where guards inspect your key before you enter an elevator, hotels prefer their security to be invisible. Common measures include posting security cameras in more locations, especially in corridors and near elevators; positioning uniformed and plainclothes security guards in public areas and at entrances, and performing more intensive background checks on employees. (Electronic key cards have made it harder for unauthorized persons to enter guest rooms but doesn’t necessarily protect against inside jobs.) “You don’t want consumers to think they are in an armed camp,” McInerney says.Travelers are often surprised by the lack of sympathy they encounter when they report a crime. Jane Eccles, an artist who was traveling last year with her consultant husband, says she was rebuffed when several hundred dollars worth of jewelry was stolen from her room at a conference center in Princeton, New Jersey. The couple had packed their bags and left them in the room while they grabbed breakfast in the dining room. When Eccles opened her suitcase shortly after leaving the property, she discovered the theft and immediately contacted the hotel, but was told there was no evidence that anyone other than the guests had entered the room. “They said they were covered, and that was it,” Eccles says. Bryer says that most state laws appear to back the lodging industry in disclaiming responsibility for theft. Moreover, some hotel sources say that if they were always to accept their guests’ versions of events, they could open themselves to a wave of false claims and insurance fraud. Some hotels are making security a priority; Marriott is introducing automatic dead bolts at many of its properties and has a policy of investigating “any and all thefts” against guests, says Roger Conner, a spokesman for the chain. He claims these measures and the secure keys have dramatically reduced guest-room theft, although he would not provide actual figures. We might be left in the dark, but avoid being left in the lurch with these tips on security.
What Not to Worry About
Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0000
Business travelers come by paranoia legitimately. The airlines unabashedly rig their fare structures to guarantee we pay the most and often get stuck in the middle seat. Hotels deftly stack their rate cards to ensure we pay the highest rate and often end up with the room nearest the noisy ice machine. I would never suggest that we business travelers abandon this well-earned paranoia, but I do think there are some things we need not worry about this fall. It simply won't be as bleak as the ill-informed talking heads have lead us to believe. Don't Sweat the Prices All year the "experts" have warned about massive and imminent airfare increases. And at least on the surface, there was plenty to worry about. Airlines were unprepared when oil jumped from last summer's $75-a-barrel price to this spring's highs around $150 a barrel. And with fuel accounting for 40 percent of costs, Delta chief executive Richard Anderson's claim that fares would need to rise 20 percent seemed chilling but rational. And fares have risen—at least a dozen times since January. But looking at the surface leads to superficial analysis. The experts forgot that airlines—and airfares—don't exist in a vacuum. As fares rose, Americans stopped booking vacations they couldn't afford. And business travelers cut flying to match the needs of their own businesses, which were negatively impacted by skyrocketing energy prices. The result: As I predicted in a June column, airlines had to slash some fares at the last minute to fill seats. So the prices travelers paid actually rose much more slowly and much more modestly than the bloviators expected. In July, for example, Continental Airlines said its RASM (revenue per available seat mile flown) was just 4 percent higher than in July 2007. The Air Transport Association, the airline trade group, pegs the average year-over-year price increase at about 7 percent. Of course, the problem with averages is that no traveler pays the "average" price. I don't doubt that business fares have risen faster than leisure fares—paranoia strikes deep, you know—but year-over-year airline-revenue figures prove that prices aren't rising precipitously. The slowdown in air travel has affected hotels and resorts too. And as we discussed in a recent column, the lodging gravy train has stalled. Hotels are discounting lustily to keep their existing rooms filled and put heads on beds on the new properties that continue to open. Don't Sweat the Fees Airlines have piled on the fees this year and it has led to the virtual "unbundling" of airfares. Many items once included as part of the basic fare are now à la carte options. But many of the new fees are for options that business travelers don't use or don't like anyway. Why worry about fees for checking a second bag when surveys say that about 80 percent of us don't check a second bag? And do you really mourn the loss of "free" food and snacks in coach? Most of us despise that slop anyway. Airports now have a vigorous food and beverage scene, so buy before you fly. But one new fee might matter: Four large airlines (American, United, US Airways, and Northwest) now charge for checking a first bag. But they exempt elite and full-fare flyers like us. And they're fighting a rearguard action against three major carriers (Continental, Delta, and JetBlue) that refuse to levy a first-bag fee. If those three gain customers by keeping the first checked bag bundled in the basic fare, the other four will give way. Of course, the market is perfect: If Continental, Delta, and JetBlue don't gain market share, that means a first-bag fee doesn't bother us, so they'll add the charge too. Don't Sweat the Capacity Cuts This week airlines begin what can only be called the Big Pulldown. Most will slash passenger capacity by about 10 percent compared to their flight schedules last fall. That has led to a frenzied spate of analysis claiming that there'll be a shortage of seats in the skies. In a word: Baloney. Traffic is falling faster than airlines can trim capacity. In fact, the A.T.A. predicted a 6 percent decline in passengers over the Labor Day weekend, the last busy period of the summer season. Airline executives tell me their advance bookings for fall, especially for overseas travel, aren't living up to expectations. There will be plenty of seats to go around. Don't Sweat Laptop Seizures The federal government says—and courts have so far agreed—that Customs agents have the right to seize and examine your laptop when you reenter the country. The laptop rule is based on settled law about the government's right to search baggage at the borders without suspicion of wrongdoing. This has infuriated many business travelers, who are paranoid (there's that word again) that the government will copy, store, and disseminate the data and information taken from confiscated laptops. We can dispute the fine points of search-and-seizure rules, the rights of the individual versus a snoopy government, and the logic of equating a data-loaded laptop to a bag full of clothing. I'm all for fighting the power. Just make sure you don't have sensitive data on your laptop when you return from overseas. Upload it to an online storage site or a virtual private network, then wipe your hard drive clean. The Fine Print… Despite its continued profitability thanks to efficient operations and savvy fuel-hedging strategies, Southwest Airlines has put the brakes on its growth. In fact, its winter 2009 schedule, released last week and effective in January, shows about 200 fewer flights a day. The reductions are mostly in flight frequencies. Only three routes have been completely dropped from Southwest's route map. Related LinksThe Last TabooWho Takes the Hit? Tips for a Sky-High Spring
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