The business of travelling for work

Hilton opening 115 new hotels in Europe

ONE IN SIX hotel rooms under construction in Europe will carry the Hilton brand name. It is now the fastest growing global hotel company, based on room growth.

There are 54,500 rooms under construction in Europe and there will be an additional 115 Hilton branded hotels in Europe by the end of 2014.

Patrick Fitzgibbon, Senior Vice President of Development at Hilton said, “This is testament to current investor confidence in Hilton and the industry-leading brand strength”.

The new hotels will be across the six Hilton brands: Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Hilton, DoubleTree by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton.

The highest number of openings will be in Russia, with 27 hotels, followed by 18 in the UK, 15 in Turkey and 13 openings in Poland.

More rights for passengers

A VOTE ON a fair deal for passengers will be taken by the European Parliament Transport Committee on March 29th.

MEPs want simple, accessible information for travellers: they are calling for prices that include taxes and charges, a basic right of refund, rerouting or rebooking and easy access to a complaints procedure. Minor corrections to bookings should be allowed and a withdrawal from online reservations within two hours of booking.

Chicago flights return

AMERICAN Airlines returns to Ireland on April 4th with the re-launch of a daily service from Dublin to Chicago, departing at 10am and arriving at 12.20pm.

With pre-clearance in Dublin, people will arrive as domestic passengers and won’t need to claim and re-check baggage before flying on.

Two new hotels in the city are Public Chicago and Radisson Blu.