Author Archives: bookingbusinesstravel

hotels near eurostar London

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The hotel nearest to the Eurostar terminal in London is the Renaissance St Pancras but the standard rates in July 2012 are currently £390 or advance purchase £354 (including VAT)

Compare the rates via our Hotel Search but currently the hotel does not appear to be discounting their published tariff. We did find discounted rates of £311 including VAT during September 2012

For a lower price, we recommend the Hotel Russell which is located in Russell Square, towards London’s theatre land , a short walk from the Eurostar Terminal. Rates start at £135 including tax

Even better value is the St Giles Hotel in a similar location and with a stunning pool!

 

 

 

No Eurostar Services during selected dates September & October 2012

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Schedules are yet to be finalised but we believe that due to engineering works in the tunnel, there will be reduced train services on the following days

Saturday & Sunday 29 & 30 September
Monday 1 October
Saturday 13 & 14 October

In addition, there will be restrictions on trains to Paris and Disney due to French railway works from Tuesday 2 October through to Monday 15 October

Alternatives

Use the UK’s best flight search  engine to compare the following flight options:

easyJet from Luton (easily reached by train from …St Pancras International!) to Paris CDG
British Airways, Air France from Heathrow to Paris Orly or CDG
CityJet from London City to Paris Orly

Our “who flies where?” tool to the right may help if you need to research Paris or other destinations.

Subscribe to our blog and we’ll keep you informed. We do not know if Eurostar will provide an alternate route e.g. Train to Lille and and other transportation Lille to Paris

Eurostar Departure Board

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Monitor the only Eurostar Departure Board that we have found, here, but the site includes domestic services.

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/STP

Alternatively, you can register for alerts on a specific train if you enter a Eurostar booking reference at https://contactdetails.eurostar.com/ but only for bookings made directly on Eurostar.com

If you’re mobile, the best train app that features live arrival information is called “Train Tickets” by Cross Country trains. My experience of this app is that it is sometimes more up-to-date than station announcements!

I hope that this information is helpful. Do come back. We feature the best hotel comparison site in today’s online market here.

If you require hotels near to the Eurostar Terminal in London, read my short article here

Eurostar Arrivals Board

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There are no online arrivals boards dedicated to Eurostar but this site provides live information on all trains arriving at St Pancras International station here.

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/arr/STP

It includes domestic trains so you may need to scroll down. You cannot filter the display because it doesn’t recognise Paris / Brussels or Lille as being valid stations!

If you’re mobile, the best train app that features live arrival information is called “Train Tickets” by Cross Country trains. My experience of this app is that it is sometimes more up-to-date than station announcements!

I hope that this information is helpful and do come back.

If you need a hotel near the Eurostar Terminal in London, read my short article here

If you need hotels elsewhere, we feature the best hotel comparison site in today’s online market here:

http://www.bookingbusinesstravel.com/hotels/

 

 

Eurostar and TGV Train from London to Bordeaux

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We have found return fares of £109 for travel in early August! This compared favourably with British Airways at £280 return

Avoiding the hassle of transiting Paris, you can choose a service via Lille, which should just be a change of platforms.

Also available, return fares at £199 return in First Class !

Other regional destinations in France are available at similar prices.

Use the Eurostar Page to compare Rail Europe prices and availability with those from Eurostar itself.

 

Eurostar Quiet Carriages

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For Premier Class only, coach number 8 and 11 will be designated quiet coaches from 11 September 2012

Amusingly, Eurostar state that “due to the nature of” direct trains to Disney, they cannot guarantee that there will be quiet coaches on that service, nor on Ski destinations

If you need to pre book specific Eurostar coach numbers or seats, this can only be done on the Eurostar website

Please visit our Eurostar Page for further information

 

Exact time of RAF Jubilee Flypast 5 June 2012

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We’ve had to search everywhere to find exact times for the RAF flypast on Tuesday 5th June.

Firstly, please allow me to say that our site is dedicated to helping you to find the lowest air fares and hotels, online.

So, inevitably, we impartially direct you elsewhere, just as we do in this article.

But we hope you’ll keep coming back to us as we feature the UK’s most popular flight search tools and a fantastic hotel comparison engine – our clients have saved over 30% on hotels alone.

Please visit our Hotel Search page.

Now; Details of the Queen’s Jubilee Royal Flypast on Tuesday 5th June 2012

The Queens flypast will occur over Buckingham Palace at 3.30 pm (1530 hrs).
The formation will include Battle of Britain Spitfires, Lancaster and Hurricane aircraft.

The aircraft usually fly from East to West over Hackney to line up with the Mall
If you’re in central London, you’ll hear before you see!
The drone of the approach is fantastic so I hope you enjoy as much as I will.

More information is available from the RAF site here.

We hope you’ll come back when you next need to book travel!

UPDATE 14th JUNE 2013

For this year’s flypast details please read my article here:

http://www.bookingbusinesstravel.com/flypast-time-5th-june-2013/

 

LHR-KUL

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Fly from LHR-KUL (London-Kuala Lumpur) and stop-over, option to take a train from KL to Singapore, return,

Fly KUL-DPS (Kuala Lumpur to Denpasar, Bali)

Travel overland from Bali to Jakarta

Fly JKT-LHR (Jakarta-Heathrow)

All the above flights are available with the superb Etihad Airlines, for under £1,100

RAF Royal Flypast Queens Jubilee 5 June 2012

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It’s proving difficult to find out the precise details of the 2012 flypast.

All we know to date is that on Tuesday 5th June 2012 the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will have lunch at Westminster Hall with a guest list of some 700 people, after which they will travel by carriage along a processional route to Buckingham Palace.

There will then be a Balcony appearance and the RAF flypast.
We don’t know the exact time or composition of the flypast but we estimate that it will be around 3pm or 4pm

May I recommend that if you ever need to book hotels online, we have thoroughly researched all the major websites and we feature the best on our Hotel Search page, above.

Indeed, Ryanair has just launched a site using the same search engine Michael O’leary said that the search engine “searches more hotel prices than any other comparison site”

To date, my clients have saved an average of 30% and they have found space when hotel-direct sites appear to be fully booked.

See for yourself here, or click on the Hotel Search heading, above.

Please bookmark our site – we also feature the UK’s best airline Flight Search tool and we’re here to help you whether on business or holiday.

Enjoy the Jubilee Weekend and the flypast!

UPDATE ON THE EXACT TIME OF THE JUBILEE FLYPAST 5TH JUNE 2012

We have finally found the exact time of the Queen’s jubilee flypast. Aircraft will depart Biggin Hill and other sites from 1430 to 1510 and overfly Buckingham Palace at 1530 hrs

Included will be  a Hurricane, 4 Spitfire, a Dakota and Lancaster

 

Etihad chauffeur new limits

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Some changes have been announced to Etihad complimentary chauffeur service….

Etihad frequent flier members, Gold and Silver, continue to receive free chauffeurs for departure and arrivals throughout the Etihad network.

If stopping in Abu Dhabi in each direction, that’s a total of 8 chauffeur transfers!

But for non members or those that haven’t attained Silver status, travellers in Business Class (Pearl Business Class) will be eligible for a limit of TWO single chauffeur transfers PER PERSON

This applies for new tickets from 1st May 2012

Hyatt Prague

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Currently, the closest Hyatt Prague is in Berlin which is disappointing as I have consistently found reasonable rates for Hyatt elsewhere.

Use our hotel comparison site to locate the best rates at alternatives to a Hyatt Prague – I recommend the following:

Sheraton Prague Charles Square
Hotel Esplanade
Savoy Hotel

Qatar airlines chauffeur first class and business class

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First and Business Class customers in Doha are serviced via their Premium Terminal in Doha where they are provided with a personal chauffeur driven transport to and from the plane. And a bell-host service will take care of luggage

But Qatar Airways do not offer the “free chauffeur service” to and from airports that Virgin or Emirates do.

We searched for a First Class fare to Dubai with Qatar Airways

Qatarairways.com priced at £3,637
Expedia online quoted £3,389

Discount Flight Specialist, Capable Travel of Old Bailey, London EC4 offered £50 off the Expedia fare, including credit card charges and they were able to “hold” seats whilst a decision was made.
They also offered Emirate airlines at a slightly higher fare with chauffeur cars at London and Dubai with the benefit of direct flights.

Telephone Capable Travel on 020 7489 8787 or email sales at Capabletravel.com

Best hotel search engines reviewed

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Several new hotel booking companies have emerged online and we review a selection here.

We’ve considered three questions:

Is the website quick, friendly and easy to use?
How many hotels are featured?
Are the rates competitive?

We searched for hotels in some obscure European towns to compare content major cities to compare actual hotel rates

The first two companies are “Hotel Booking Agents”. That is, they sell hotel accommodation.
The third and fourth companies compare rates from over 50 hotel booking agents and then you are free to make your choice.

Roomkey

A good name for a hotel booking engine and the site is quick but when we searched for hotels in smaller towns, only one or two hotels were offered, whilst as fifteen options are provided by our recommended search engine. Hotels featured appear to be those of the major international chains only.

BBT summary: A nice site but lacking in content

Tingo

From Tripadvisor, Tingo offers to refund your credit card if the price drops. That sounds like a good idea but…
Patterns of travel bookings nowadays are to book at fairly short notice. The price-drop feature would only be meaningful if you booked well in advance, allowing sufficient time for any reductions to take place,
Also, the price-drop offer doesn’t apply to all the hotels room types.
And how do you know that you have the best rate in the first place? You’d need to use our recommended comparison site.
Rates are displayed in USD and the prices excluded taxes and fees until selected on a subsequent page, which makes comparison difficult. We found some hotel rates to be competitive but not all, because we believe that the rates offered come from just one company, Expedia. For that reason, only 4-5 hotels were offered when we know that 15+ exist

BBT Summary – A novel concept but lacking in substance and content.

Hotelicopter

A slick website when it works, Earlier today we took a look and found that the site lacked content in Europe. It appears to be more US centred but claims to have 160,000 hotels in its database. We have tried a more detailed review but the search form is not responding when we try various cities. We’ll take another look tomorrow.

HotelsCombined

We feature this company on our hotel search page. The reason for our choice is not based on the website design so much as the accuracy of the information, the range of hotels and sheer number of hotel booking agents offered.

The site “it does what it says on the tin” It searches all the relevant sites, hotel booking agents and the major hotel chains.
Even in obscure towns e.g. Liberec in Czech Republic, a selection of all 20+ hotels and quality pensions are offered.

We have corporate clients who use this search engine every day and we frequently hear of the savings they are achieving.
I personally saved over £200 booking an all-inclusive resort in Morocco, despite working for a travel agency at the time!

Frequently, availability is found even when the hotel itself has sold out of rooms. This is because some of the agents featured hold “room allocations” This can be essential to business travellers.

Another plus is there is usually a choice of payment in advance, (preferred by holiday makers) or pay at check-out (preferred by Business Travellers, providing additional flexibility) Several companies allow you to hold a room and cancel without charge. A real bonus.

BBT Summary: The best search engine for content, rates and availability. Try the site here and save the webpage to your favourites.

British Airways Self Bag Tagging

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Following a trial at Gatwick Airport, London City Airport is to offer passengers a self-tag your bag option.

This is yet another move to alleviate what were traditional duties of the airline staff to do-it-yourself.

All in the name of cost saving efficiency no doubt but what next?

Fly your own plane?

Kingfisher Airlines to cease UK to India Service

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Indian airline Kingfisher will cease flights between the UK and India from 10th April 2012

The airline offered through fares from the UK to many destinations and was consistently cheaper than other airlines.

Recently, the airline was suspended from IATA’s billing programme, BSP.

This raises questions regarding refund procedures for passengers holding Kingfisher bookings for flights after 10th April and we’ll endeavour to keep you informed

St Pancras International Station atrocious cycle parking facilities

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The cycling facility at St Pancras Station may deter you from visiting the station and travelling onwards by Eurostar.

The bicycle park is in a dimly lit NCP car park a long walk at the rear of the station.

When I visited St Pancras station on 15th March 2012 there were only 11 “Sheffield” style bicycle stands – adequate for just 22 bikes – and all were used.
And there were police notices warning about locking bicycles and avoiding theft which suggests to me that theft may be an additional problem.

What a sad city this is!
A superb station, fantastic facilities and amazing Eurostar.

But for bicycles?

What is it about the British mentality that refuses to incorporate bicycles into city planning?

Visit Amsterdam central station and you’ll see hundreds if not thousands of bicycles clearly visible at the front of the station….

Baghdad airport closure March 26 to March 30

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For the period of the Arab League Summit the airport will be closed

Airlines are offering full refunds and those that fly to other destinations (Etihad to Erbil for example) may allow passengers to reroute.

NB Erbil is in the North of Iraq

Use our “Who-flies-where” Skyscanner widget to the right of this article to see the alternative airports in Iraq

Where to find cheapest Germanwings airfares?

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We conducted this study on behalf of a client who travels frequently to their offices in Stuttgart from London.

We recommend using our Skyscanner flight search engine to compare schedules and fares but the following booking tips will save you additional time and costs:

Tip 1
Choose the “Compare Times” option for an easier display by departure time

Tip 2
After choosing the German Wings flights you will be offered a choice of companies through whom you can book.
Always chose German Wings direct – even if the fare appears to be cheaper elsewhere!

We compared Skyscanner Fares for a Heathrow-Stuttgart-Heathrow flight, midweek travel on specific flights.

Opodo quote £209 but actually £273 plus £20 booking fee plus £7 credit card fee Total £300!
Ebookers quote £273 which increased to £283 plus £7 credit card Total £290!
German Wings direct originally quoted at £283 appeared to be the most expensive but after researching the above options, it is clearly the best booking option. German Wings also added a £7 credit card fee at the end.

Additional benefits of booking direct:
Your reservation is made directly on the airline’s booking engine and not through a third party.
You can deal direct with the airline if there is a problem later on
The option of reserving a seat directly with German Wings is available for direct bookings
Special offers and different fare types are offered direct.

Iberia Strike Dates Friday 16 and Monday 19 March

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Iberia pilots have cancelled plans to strike on Friday, 16th March  and  Monday,  19th  March  2012

The airline was offering full refunds for tickets purchased before 12th March 2012 or the option to rebook on alternative Iberia flights.

Future strike dates may also be cancelled and we are awaiting confirmation. They were anticipated to be as follows:

March 23, 25, 26 (Friday, Sunday and Monday)
March 30  (Friday)
April 2, 4, (Monday & Wednesday)
April 9, 13, 16, (Monday, Friday, Monday)
April 20, 23, 27 and 30, (Friday, Monday, Friday, Monday)

Bookings held for the above dates cannot be changed until Iberia confirms that the strikes are going ahead and advises their rebooking policy.

Until that time, the airlines fare rules (change fees and cancel-refund penalties) apply

Discount Gatwick Express Tickets 2012

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I once assumed that the Gatwick Express service between London Victoria Station and Gatwick Airport would be the best option, albeit the most expensive.

But I was suprised to discover that Southern Rail offered me the same journey which took just one minute longer! The journey was 31 minutes compared to 30 minutes.

And the return fare cost just £15.60 return compared to the Gatwick Express fare of £25.00

Our advice; Always use the National Rail journey planner for impartial timetable and fares information.

If you appreciate this advice, try our hotel comparison search engine to find best hotel prices