Everybody is talking about how dirty airplanes are but the airlines will need to have fewer flights if they want to really clean their planes –

The COVID-19 virus has caused a lot of people to question how healthy it is to fly in an airplane. The nice thing about airplane travel is that airplanes have state-of-the-art HEPA filters to provide real clean air movement on the airplane. How dirty the seats are is another question. Most airplanes have 30 – 60 minute turn-around time from when they land and take off. Current schedules simply do not provide enough time to completely sanitize a plane between the last person leaving and the first person coming on board. Southwest Airlines has a turn-around time so fast that they are able to get one or two more flights per day than most of the other hub and spoke airlines. If they are going to be serious about cleaning airplanes so future pandemics are less lethal then they are going to have to come up with a new process to clean airplanes between flights. The cleaning crews will have to either be doubled or tripled in size or the time between flights will need to expand to allow an airplane scrubbing instead of airplane polishing.

Hotels also need to step up their game with cleaning –

Airlines have gotten most of the bad rap since the virus has closed down the travel industry worldwide. However, the hotels need to step up their game in the area of cleaning to the next generation of super clean. I found a great article that shares how to disinfect a hotel room. You might be surprised at all the areas in your hotel room you may need to pay attention to. CLICK HERE to read more.

Airlines are making a major mistake extending elite reward status to 2022 –

The Big 3 airlines, American, Delta, and United have all in the last few days announced they are extending elite status from January 2021 until January of 2022 because of COVID-19. Basically the airlines realized that this virus is shutting down almost all air travel in March, April and probably much of May. Frequent flyer elite status is provided by airlines to provide upgrades and other benefits to the best travelers. The airlines are hoping that by providing a free year (2020) of continued elite status is their way of thanking their best customers in hopes they will remain loyal when air travel once again takes to the skies. I personally think this was a big mistake by the airlines. Let’s assume that during the second half of 2020 people start traveling again. If the airlines had left minimum flying requirements (let’s say 35% of normal travel) in place to retain 2021 elite status, it would have almost forced their best travelers to get on a plane and jump-start the industry in order to retain their elite upgrade status. The travel industry basically gave away a large incentive to travel this fall and winter for many business and frequent flyers. I think they will soon realize how much they just flittered away.

I finally found the secret chocolate chip cookie recipe from Doubletree Hotels –
If you have ever stayed at a DoubleTree hotel the first thing you notice is they give you a complimentary chocolate chip cookie when you check-in. Recently the hotel chain decided they would share their secret recipe for their fans around the world. CLICK HERE to find out the delicious details. 

Executive Travel has big news for our team as they all return to work on Wednesday –

The coronavirus has been a knockout punch to the travel industry as a whole and to travel management businesses in particular. To address the slowdown our company has, unfortunately, had to implement multiple ‘stay alive’ measures including furloughs, shortened work weeks, and pay cuts. On Wednesday, April 15 our team will be celebrating the end of furloughs and shortened work weeks as our whole team will go back to full-time work and staffing. We joyfully are able to re-employ our team as we received funding on Friday, April 10 of our PPP loan from the recently passed Paycheck Protection Program as part of the CARES act passed by Congress and signed by President Trump. This program is a lifeline for our team that allows us to get back on our feet and start building for the future. Executive Travel has a business model that allows it to be one of the first companies in the travel industry to return to full employment. We will be using this time and these resources to expedite training our staff to be the best service providers in the industry so when we come out of this economic trauma we can accelerate into the future. We are so thankful that we can provide our team with this financial security until the industry gets back on its feet. CLICK HERE to read an article today in Travel Weekly Magazine featuring Executive Travel and how we are bringing our team back to work.