Fog Causes Big Increase In Business Travel Booking

24 March 2005

Fog Causes Big Increase In Business Travel Bookings

One of New Zealand’s largest business travel providers received a big increase in the number of bookings from new clients this week, after fog blanketed Wellington Airport for several days for the second time in two months.

FCm Travel Solutions has signed up several new clients fed up with time spent organising their own alternative transport and accommodation during the delays in Wellington.

FCm general manager Greg Hamilton says business travellers are putting more emphasis on productive travel, and dealing with the huge task of reorganising flights, hotels and rental cars can mean whole days of downtime.

Mr Hamilton was one of the thousands of people unable to fly out of Wellington, but had a complete itinerary organised by FCm almost immediately, saving hours of organisation time. However, he did speak to many frustrated travellers trapped at the airport and unable to find any accommodation at all.

“One man I talked to had booked his trip online, and spent hours at the checkout trying to rebook flights, just to be told he had to ring the airline’s customer service centre instead. After a 30 minute phone call to the airline, he then discovered the hotel he was staying at was full, and had to try several more before finally securing somewhere to stay.”

In contrast to these type of experiences during the five-day fog-in, FCm’s clients were all successfully accommodated after contacting the company’s 24-hour helpline.

“I think that may be why we also received a record number of flowers this week,” Mr Hamilton said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media