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Carbon offsetting 101

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With climate change recognised as a threat facing our planet, the race is now on to find effective means to mitigate the impact.  Fortunately there are an increasing number of options available to the travel industry, organisations, and individuals who want to take positive action to tackle their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.  

One such option is “carbon offsetting” – a mechanism that in combination with the measurement of emissions and reductions at source can allow a business to effectively reduce its net CO2 emissions to zero. This is how it works:

Measurement
Company X measures (or commissions an audit) of its “carbon footprint” or total CO2 emissions

Reduction
The emissions assessment identifies how to take steps to avoid or reduce CO2, for example switching offices to a renewable energy tariff and delivering greater energy efficiency.

Offset unavoidable emissions
However far reaching the reductions, there will be some remaining unavoidable emissions. Travel emissions most often fall into this category: The carbon footprint of vehicle fleets are changing slowly but face to face meetings using air travel are a ‘must’ for some global corporations.

These unavoidable emissions can be compensated for or offset by working with a specialist like ACTE partner The CarbonNeutral Company (TCNC). For every 1000 tonnes of CO2 produced by Company X, TCNC pays for 1000 tonnes of CO2 to be saved somewhere else in the world (these are called ‘carbon credits’). For example, the saving can be achieved by replacing fossil fuel energy in Sri Lanka with solar panels or supporting forestry (where the trees literally absorb CO2).  

The benefits of this approach are multi-levelled. The process of offsetting, for example, helps companies to re-price carbon emissions by putting a financial cost on the climate change impacts of their business. As legislation is likely to get tighter, this sort of voluntary action can be part of a ‘future proofing’ strategy. In tandem with reductions, offsetting also buys some time whilst low or no carbon technologies are being developing.  And, last but not least, whilst carbon offsetting is not a silver bullet for climate change, the purchase of carbon credits also helps to channel crucial funds into renewable energy and energy efficiency projects around the world that reduce CO2 emissions and help many communities in developing countries to grow in a sustainable manner.

The best eateries from London to LA

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It’s easiest thing in the world to find the hippest new restaurant in town. Finding dependable places that have traded in home comforts for decades rather than flash in the pan hype isn’t quite so easy, however.

Especially since the world and his dog are now counting their GI index or some other puritanical foodie fad.  Sometimes though it’s good to loosen the tie, drop your guard, grab your paper napkin and admit: grease is good every once in a while.

Look close and there still a few fine old guard establishments that have been allowed to age gracefully away from the vein-popping, face-lifting hyped up eateries that come and go like a bus-boy ferrying dirty dishes.

These places exist in a perpetual state of timelessness, without judgment or irony, where the provision of a fine meal for cheap is king. And calories be damned…

E Pellicci, 332 Bethnal Green Road, London E2.  Greasy spoon-come world heritage site
Pellicci’s isn’t quite be up there with Rules and Simpson’s on the Strand in the restaurant guides. Who cares, the city’s music, fashion, film, sex, and crime sub-cultural anti-heroes have passed through these doors.  They’ve made up for the Michelin stars in tabloid column inches.

Pellicci’s is a rare example of the stylish Italian cafe that flourished in London in the 1920s and 1930s. A proper bacon-egg-and-fried-slice East End ‘caff’ it served as the Kray Twins’ and their gangster cohorts’ canteen in the 1960s, and little has changed since. Except that English Heritage have decreed the humble deco panelled interior is up there with some of London’s finest architectural landmarks. Pellicci’s has been granted the café grade II listed status – and about time, too.

Katz’s Deli, 205 East Houston Street, NYC.  Good enough to give Meg Ryan an orgasm
NYC’s oldest and most famous deli has been packing ‘em in, being routinely rude, and filling ‘em with colossal sandwiches since 1888. A whole lot of pastrami has passed though these doors. Based in the Lower East Side neighbourhood of Manhattan, it was founded by a Russian immigrant family who saw a gap in the market for providing other displaced Euro-Jews with cooked and cured meats. Of course, word got out and soon Hollywood would descend to film When Harry Met Sally and Meg Ryan’s rapturous scene.  Laugh?  I almost dropped my ruben sandwich.

Apple Pan, 10801 Pico Blvd, LA – The world’s greatest burger – forever
Service hardly ever comes with a smile at this West Los Angeles institution; but it’s stone-faced ultra-efficiency that’s kept Apple Pan at the top of the tree since it opened in 1947. There’s limited seating around a single horse-shoe counter, and limited choice when it’s your turn to order. Don’t dilly dally either – or there’ll be hell to pay from the paper-hatted waiters who look and behave like supporting actors in Goodfellas.  Burgers come in just two styles – both exquisite; fries are duly dispatched with a well-aimed blob of Heinz ketchup from freshly opened bottle. Finish with a piece of pie, and I guarantee the memory of eating in this delightful anomaly will stay with you forever.

Taverne Henri IV, 13 Place du Pont-Neuf, 1er, Paris – Fat of the Landes
We all know that Paris operates in a different league in terms of culinary expertise; but it is possible to get at least a little low-rent there too. Taverne Henri IV, near the Seine at Pont Neuf, has just celebrated 50 continuous years of wine glasses being smeared with their fabulous duck or goose rillettes (meat potted in its own fat), sausages, and pates. 

It may be a cut above anything else on this list – notwithstanding, Taverne H IV is also twice as greasy as anything you’ll find on the opposite side of the Atlantic. They might even do you some proper French fries too – if you ask the moustachioed owner nicely. The atmosphere is crowded and convivial and grease-cutting wines from Beaujolais and the Loire are a speciality.

Raging bulls

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If the first firework wasn’t enough, the second deafening crack certainly raised mine and the crowd’s collective awareness. Then the madness started.

The first runners could be seen in the distance in the canyon-like confined street of Santo Domingo. Their progress was so sluggish they appeared to be running in treacle; their expressions tightened as the bulls bore upon the stragglers. 

The bulls run at a blistering pace – covering 100m in around six seconds.  That’s nearly twice as fast as an Olympic sprinter. Within seconds of the first firework foolhardy souls are swamped. From the safety of the sidelines you could see bodies crush in slow motion as the six bulls piled into them sliding and skittering on the shiny cobbles like a deer on ice.  

For most of the year, Pamplona, located in the north-eastern province of Navarra, is just like any other Spanish provincial town. In July though it is transformed into the focus of an international bacchanal – the annual nine-day festival of San Fermin – the patron saint of Navarra.  

The most famous part of the cermony is the Running of the Bulls, or Enceirro. This breathtaking display of bravery first attracted Ernest Hemingway, and brought this spectacular and deadly custom to a wider audience. Originally, men from the surrounding arid landscape would have taken part. The documented history of the enceirro dates back to the 16th Century, though its roots extend back through the mists of time to the era when Spain first embraced Christianity. Now Pamplona’s population of nearly 200,000 swells ten fold during the San Fermin celebrations to welcome 2 million visitors.  With epic parties and guaranteed action, it should come as no surprise that this is one of the must-see events on the international backpacker circuit. Today, thousands of runners, wannabe runners, thrill seekers and party goers make their way to this small town each July for the eight day fiesta.  Hotel rooms are like gold dust, booked months in advance, the festival running all day everyday for eight days. And despite the late nights, the Enceirro takes place every morning at 8am sharp. This distilled Spanish spirit has to be witnessed first hand.  

Unlike bull-fights, which are performed by professionals and idolised as gods, anyone feeling brave enough may take part in an encierro. However, most of the men who participate are young and athletic – but they’re not athletes. Athletes train morning noon and night for a race; the only training these chaps have done for the last week or so are short repetitious curls of their drinking arms.  

A heavy and constant intake of alcohol in the approaching to the running of the bulls is almost as traditional as the event itself. And who can blame them, with the bulls weighing as much as 1,500kg, you need all the confidence beer can muster. Injuries are common; both to the participants who may be gored or trampled, and to the bulls, whose hooves grip poorly on the paved or cobbled street surfaces.

Since 1924, 13 people have been killed. The last was a 22-year-old American, Matthew Peter Tassio, who was gored in 1995. This year’s festival is due to pay a special tribute to him to mark the 10th anniversary of his death. Another famed runner, Fermin Etxeberria Irañeta, died in 2003. Etxeberria, 63 when he died, had never suffered an injury in 350 runs. Anyone who survives a close encounter with a panicky bull is said to have been protected by San Fermin’s cloak.

At about 7am, stewards and officials begin to barricade off the streets; the course the bulls run takes shape.  Using large pieces of wood fencing, the officials mark well worn route through the cobblestone streets. The rudimentary fence is about six feet high and is made of two sturdy cross bars of thick rough-sawn wood – one for stepping on to get over the top and the other as the top.

The fence also had large gaps on the bottom for people to slide under if they are being chased by the bulls and want to make a quick escape. Of course, during the melee, there are thousands of spectators crushed up against the fence, so finding solace behind it isn’t that easy.

Around 7:30am, workmen began to hose down the streets in readiness for the main event. The half-mile (848-metre) route – extends from the inclined street of Santo Domingo to the city’s bullring. The chase rarely lasts more than three minutes, unless one of the bulls becomes separated from the herd.

Stray bulls become extremely agitated, and so the organisers arrange for a second release of calmer and older steers to run through the streets in order to pick up any straggling bulls. The first firework announces the release of the bulls from their corral, and a second signals that the last bull has left the corral.

From there, the animals stamped along Santo Domingo and cross the Town Hall Square.  As the chaos intensifies, the charge enteres Calle Mercaderes – this street signifies the beginning of the most treacherous stretch of the course. A dangerous blind curve leads into the Calle Estafeta, the longest and most infamous part of the route.  

Although all the stretches are dangerous, the curve of the Calle Mercaderes and the stretch between the Calle Estafeta and the Bull Ring are those which hold the most risk. This is where the casualties rise. Immediately after is the Calle Duque de Ahumada – known locally as as the Telefónica. This gives way to the dead end street which leads to the bull ring. Thankfully, nobody was badly injured on this occasion, but with enceirros taking place for the following week, gorings are common.

As the mayhem approached my vantage point, the crowd of white-clad runners suddenly split to reveal a snorting bovine mass. Only now did I understand the threat to the runners faced from its sharp horns and rippling black body was entirely real.

“If you go down, stay down,” was the advice I heard offered by one San Fermin veteran.

As the chaos passed, the mayhem abated almost as quickly as it came. The chase entered the bull ring enclosure and a third rocket arced into the sky. Inside the crowd enjoyed the spectacle of the runners being tossed in the corrida, and other tender parts. The fourth firework indicated that the beasts were safely sequestered in the bullpens and the Bull Run was over.

Of course the danger and mayhem doesn’t stop the thousands of men who’ve come here to prove their worth in the face of galloping adversity. To the outsider it might seem like a spectacularly futile exercise, but that would be missing the point. The enceirro is a blinding metaphor that encapsulates the indomitable spirit of Spain.

The ‘e’ word

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For almost a decade, corporate travel managers have been clamouring for a comprehensive breakout of their hotel spend, commonly known as the hotel folio. The hotel folio itemises the rate versus the amount spent on tax, amenities – such as mini-bar, movies, and parking – and any other extras on a particular bill. Now corporate travel managers have access to such technology. Within the last year, eFolio, the electronic version of the hotel folio, has become widely available from major hotel chains in North America.

Knowing what your company actually spent on the hotel rate, and having the charges itemised and pre-populated by the corporate card provider in the corporation’s expense reporting tool, has obvious benefits. The content information provides travel managers with leverage in their negotiations with hotel suppliers. The greater accuracy of the data, as opposed to information the traveller manually inputs, also enables companies to better monitor compliance to their travel policy. The traveller meanwhile saves valuable time by having the expense report pre-populated with the detailed content.

Clearly, in today’s competitive and cost-conscious environment, having comprehensive data is the key to managing a successful travel programme. eFolio provides the answer, filling in the information gap on the hotel spend that has long created difficulties for travel managers.

The logic of adopting eFolio is obvious. Actual utilisation, however, has been a mystery.  To what extent has the marketplace been embracing this long-sought-for capability? To find out the degree of penetration, as well as the future prognosis of eFolio usage, ACTE, in partnership with MasterCard, conducted a survey on eFolio usage among North American buyers in August. The results are as follows:

12.5 percent of respondents currently receive hotel folio line item spending data from their card providers.
76.6 percent—more than three quarters of survey respondents—plan to obtain the content in the near future.
Almost half of respondents—47 percent rate the importance of getting electronic transmission of hotel folio data in their expense management system as “very critical.”

Respondents in the survey rated the various benefits of eFolio to the travel management programme, the traveller, and the company organisation. Under travel management, the results were as follows:
– 52 percent of respondents rated “expands hotel negotiations based on all spend, not just room” as very critical.
– 51 percent rated “enhances decision support through deeper levels of reporting and analysis” as critical.

More than a third noted the following benefits were either critical or very critical:
– “provides detailed metrics to track compliance and improve policies” (42 percent)
– “enhances value proposition to travelers along with price, location, services, etc.” (44 percent)
– “sustains/grows traveller adoption of travel tools” (42 percent)
– “streamlines pricing cycle via more accurate and detailed data” (39 percent)

Early adopters and those in beta testing validate the survey response of perceived benefits to managing hotel spend.
 
ON Semiconductor, based in Phoenix, is currently in a beta test with its corporate card provider. Strategic sourcing manager Colleen Guhin said she has already identified instances in which the hotel did not charge the traveller the negotiated rate. Previously, Guhin relied on the travel agency and the corporate card provider for the data. “I could not audit the hotels to see if we were getting the preferred rates or see the spend per night,” Guhin said. “Now I can better see what we need to do when negotiating. Also, it is a way to monitor policy compliance.”

Another travel manager summed up the benefits: “First, it validates what we are actually buying. Is it close or not to the corporate discount? Second, we will be able to sit down with the supplier at these hotels and see that we are paying this much for the restaurant and other amenities. If we spend $10m with a given chain and $2m of that is for high-speed internet access, we will want to negotiate that expense.”

Five years ago, the eFolio initiative got its first big boost from IBM, which became the first corporation to obtain the data. IBM began requiring its preferred properties to provide the efolio. At IBM, eFolio has “taken the cost out of the system for everybody,” Mark Williams, category consultant at ISC Procurement Services at IBM said. “It is easier for the card companies and saves on auditing costs. From an auditing perspective, it detects fraud and will kick out anything out of policy.”          

The corporation is a stakeholder, also, in deriving benefit from the expansion of eFolio, especially related to auditing. 

In terms of the value to the organisation, the survey results illustrate the following:
– 54 percent of the survey takers rated “further automates the internal auditing process” as critical.
– 46 percent noted “helps avoid travel expense reporting fraud” was critical.
– 40 percent said “moves the company to a more paperless environment” was critical.    
 
James Haddow, chief global procurement officer at AT Kearney, Inc, based in Alexandria, Vancouver, said his company audits all expense reports. However, once eFolio is implemented—an initiative that is “high on the radar screen from a procurement and management and finance perspective”–he expected the automated feed of the line item detail from the card provider would “probably give us a savings in labour” because the company would switch to auditing a sampling of reports. This would “potentially reduce the number of auditors needed.”

One particularly valuable feature of eFolio was the elimination of paper receipts.  As an electronic receipt, which is acceptable to the government, eFolio is an invaluable aid to auditors. The pre-populated report also represents a time savings for travellers and enables the company to monitor expense reporting to a degree that was not possible before

Regarding value to the traveller, the ACTE-MasterCard survey results were as follows:

Almost half of participants — 47 percent — said “increased productivity via faster expense report completion” was very critical.

43 percent indicated “reduced errors association with manual calculation and data entry” is very critical.

With an eye to future roll-out of eFolio on a global basis, Haddow predicts one big advantage of having expense reports from stays in hotels outside of North America pre-populated with the data on a nearly real-time basis: “The exchange rate issue goes away. Because it is an electronic receipt, the eFolio relieves the traveller of having to keep track of paper receipts.”

eFolio represents a turning point in the advancement of business travel management. 

As more hotels sign on and corporations resolve privacy issues, eFolio can become an indispensable tool for successful management of the travel programme on a global basis.

Corporate travel managers will have complete transparency into where their dollars are being spent in the hotel portion of their programme. However, the expansion of eFolio beyond the fraction of US corporations currently using it will not occur unless corporate travel managers express the need to their hotel vendors and expense reporting systems vendors. Corporate travel managers are finally able to reap the benefits of eFolio, and the potential for expansion is virtually unlimited. Travel managers hold the keys as to whether this potential is realised, and the goal of universal availability of eFolio is achieved.

A day at the races

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The metal starting-gates fly open, the horses carrying their silk-clad jockeys hurtle forward and the crowd roars: ‘They’re off!’ There are few spectacles to compare with horse racing, so aptly named ‘the sport of kings.’ Every race has its share of drama, bravery and bitter disappointment.

And what started back in Roman times, and first gained its royal patronage during the reign of King James I, is now an amazingly rich and colourful global phenomenon.

Across the world, from Ascot to Melbourne, this great sport, excites, inspires and delights millions.

And of all the magnificent events in the racing calendar, three stand out – our own Royal Ascot, the French classic Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Dubai World Cup. Each is unique in a very special way.

Royal Ascot, held just a short gallop from the royal residence of Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, is the epitome of traditional English style. For five days in June, the races are heralded by the daily procession of the Queen, a great racing enthusiast. She and other members of the Royal Family ride in carriages up the course each day at 2pm sharp.

Ceremony is the hallmark of the meeting, and spectators at Royal Ascot races look as though they have stepped straight out of the world of My Fair Lady. Men wear the required ‘morning attire’, including top hats and tails, while women parade the latest fashions and outlandish, eye-catching hats. In keeping with the rich, ingrained tradition of Royal Ascot, many of the same races have been run annually for more than a century.

Just across the Channel and a mere ten minutes from Paris’s most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower, is witnessed the culmination of the European racing calendar – the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. This event, held at the Longchamp racecourse, which extends between the Seine and the Bois de Boulogne, is rated the most important flat race in Europe.

It features a 1.5-mile course and attracts more than 35,000 spectators. Competitors include winners of classical races in England, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy – all battling for the £1.1m divided between the first five. The race has great historical significance for the people of France. It was named in tribute to the courage of French soldiers killed and wounded during the First World War.

The Dubai World Cup is in every respect a very modern race. First run in 1996, it is now one of the most highly prized and is recognised as the richest race in the world, with a purse of £3.4m.

The race, run every March, hosted by the United Arab Emirates and staged at the Nad Al Sheba racecourse, has marked a rich new era in racing history. It is the dazzling highlight of the Dubai social calendar, with prizes being awarded to the best-dressed woman, the wearer of the best hat and the best-dressed couple.

It is highly appropriate that it is held in Dubai, because it is generally accepted that every thoroughbred in today’s world of racing is descended from the three Arabian stallions exported from this part of the world in the 15th and 16th centuries — the Darley Arabian, the Byerley Turk and the Godolphin Arabian.

The rewards of travel risk management

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In June 2003 the families of three men employed by a small British company, Granger Telecom, settled a deal on the steps of the High Court for their negligence claim against the firm over the trio’s tragic and horrifying deaths almost five years earlier.

The three men had been sent by Granger to the troubled region of Chechnya, on the borders of Russia, in 1998 to help install a radio telephone system. They, together with a fourth man, were kidnapped, held hostage and, after negotiations for their release failed, beheaded.

The families of the three men employed by Granger claimed the company had been negligent in sending them to the region. Granger, and its insurers, admitted the precautions designed to keep the men safe in Chechnya had failed and, eventually, made an undisclosed settlement likely to have run into seven figures.

The case was a thankfully rare but powerful example of the risks that business travellers – and the companies that employ them – face when working away from home in an increasing number of countries and regions around the world. The US State Department currently has warnings to travellers about extreme risks that could face them in no fewer than 27 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, almost one in seven of the globe’s independent nations. A big company might have 40,000 international trips a year to as many as 125 countries – some of which are going to be on that State Department list.

Of Nigeria, for example, the State Department says: “Road travel is dangerous. Robberies by armed gangs have been reported on rural roads and within major cities. Because of poor vehicle maintenance and driving conditions, public transportation throughout Nigeria can be dangerous and should be avoided. Taxis pose risks because of the possibility of fraudulent or criminal operators, old and unsafe vehicles, and poorly maintained roads … most Nigerian airlines have ageing fleets, and maintenance and operational procedures may be inadequate to ensure passenger safety.” In Nigeria, a common scam at Lagos airport, apparently, is for an insider to obtain a passenger’s name and pass it to an accomplice in the arrivals hall, who writes it on a welcome board. The unsuspecting victim is lured into a waiting car and taken off for who knows what.

There are areas of the United States where wiser travellers do not venture, of course, and that is before taking into account more general calamities, from hurricanes to terrorist attacks of the scale of 9/11. At the same time, while any half-awake company is aware of the risks of sending its people to do business in the world’s most notoriously dangerous countries – Iraq, Somalia, Colombia, to name three – there are perils today even in major European cities as global conflicts spill over to domestic locations. The bombings this year in London and last year in Madrid made companies with personnel out and about in the places where the bombs went off realise the importance of being able to check quickly where their workers were and whether they were safe.

There are three sides to the security story for business travellers. The first is training and awareness for the people in the field, so that they know how not to put themselves in danger. They should be taught to watch out for taxis not ordered by telephone or on the traveller’s behalf by a responsible individual such as a hotel concierge; the cab could be stolen, and driven by criminals, who have been known to beat their victims up and take them to ATM machines where they are forced to withdraw money and hand it over. Do not get too chatty with strangers in Asia: they could be setting up a scam. Dress to be inconspicuous, and carry items such as a laptop computer in a backpack rather than its own carrycase or a briefcase. Beware of distractions at airport check-in desks, even at security checks or in restrooms: putting bags down for a moment gives a thief a chance to strike. Choose a recommended hotel, and even then don’t hang the “Please make up room” sign on the door when out; leave the “occupied” sign on the doorknob instead. Leaving the radio or TV on while the room is vacant is another deterrent. Don’t go walking about alone: groups of three or more are vastly safer.

Some security specialists recommend moving any loose furniture towards the door at night, so as to create a maze for villains to get tangled up in if they try to enter the room while the occupant is sleeping. Other recommendations include carrying a razorblade to scratch off stickers on hire cars that might indicate a rental/business traveller driver; and, for perhaps the seriously paranoid, buying a ceramic plate that will fit inside a briefcase, which allows it to be used as a shield against bullets.

The next level is specialist advice and protection for countries where the danger is a step up from simple theft or mugging. Companies such as Control Risks Group of London, Pinkerton Global Intelligence Services, Rosenbluth International of Philadelphia or iJET Travel Intelligence of Maryland, supply overviews on the risks facing business travellers in 200 countries around the world and hundreds of individual cities, provide daily intelligence to company security officers and have guidance and backup for specific situations.

IJET, for example, runs something it calls GlobalGuardian, a business travel security service that provides alerts for travellers to changing risks around the world, and also gives access for its clients to professional medical, security and legal advice; emergency medical and political evacuation; repatriation services; language translation and interpretation services; travel assistance for family members; and emergency cash advances. Companies will also have advice on specific precautions to be taken in particular countries. For anyone doing business in, say, Algeria, the recommendation is likely to be for an escort of armed guards and a bullet-proof car, costing about $1,000 a day.

If things start to go wrong unexpectedly – a tsunami, an earthquake, a terrorist attack, a plane crash – iJET and companies like it will have in place a system to track and communicate with employees, find out if they are safe or in need of assistance, and speedily deploy emergency response services throughout the world. After the Asian tsunami of December 26, 2004 for example, with the help of medical and relief agencies, iJet managed to locate all 250 of employees of client companies who were operating in the nine countries stricken by the disaster. Only one died: a businessman on a side-trip to Phuket, Thailand. Control Risks runs a similar system it calls CRTravelTracker, an online service which automatically collates all employees’ travel details, allowing clients to control where employees can travel, and locating them at a moment’s notice. With this Control Risks offers a round-the-clock response service which, in the event of an incident, allows travellers to contact it directly for advice, while helping companies to contact their travellers to check their safety and provide them with recommendations to reduce their risks.

The final plank to any company’s security policy is a system to click in when, despite the planning, the knowledge and the training, it all goes a la poire. If, for example, an employee has been kidnapped, the company needs a crisis management plan in place so that it does not react in panic. It needs to know where to find skilled negotiators, and how not to make a bad situation worse. There are others besides kidnappers and the employee to consider: a company needs to know how to handle relatives in such a situation; and how to handle the media: if the crisis is going to be made worse by publicity, for example, companies need someone who knows how to get the media onside.

Operators such as Globe Risk Holdings International take clients through exercises of situations that could arise, allowing them to feel happy with contingency plans – and enabling them to show that, by giving staff travelling to risky areas preventative training, alongside contingency plans, the company is doing its best to protect the people at risk, thereby minimising the risk of litigation from families of a kidnap victim. Other companies, such as Control Risks, also offer personal security training, and will put its own people on the ground, organising security and meeting and greeting visiting executives when they arrive. For the truth is that, although on the balance sheet it is possible to quantify risk versus reward, when it comes to situations like that described at the beginning of this article – where lives are threatened and the devastation to both companies and families is insurmountable – there is no reward that can justify risks of this magnitude, and they must be addressed and managed at all costs.

Gadget guide

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Knight Car
£29.95
Forget the moustache of Magnum P.I, Hasselhoff’s Michael Knight was the king of 1980s TV detectives. A pseudo-vigilante acting against criminals who operate, not on the wrong side, but above the law, he formed a confusingly homoerotic partnership with KITT. The Knight Industries Two Thousand, a car that seemed to develop new gadgets every week, could leap through the air with a touch of the turbo boost button; drive itself and spoke in an oddly condescending voice.

It’s possible to recreate episodes of the show with this gadget. Although it lacks the ability to jump, or do anything other than go forwards, backwards and turn, it does have a miniature version of the famous front scanner.

Solar Powered Plant Pot
£19.95
Well here’s something that you thought you’d never be able to find. It seems so obvious now, but solar powered plant pots have not existed for long. Sticking to the gadget maker’s policy of innovation not invention, what we’ve got here is the combination of solar power (currently in vogue), plant pots (timeless) and LEDs (the gadget bit). Essentially what we’re looking at is a plant pot that glows in the dark, either white, or in a succession of ever changing hues that can turn a simple plant into a modern art installation.

The pot is powered by a small solar panel, attached by a three metre cable to the pot. In the day it generates energy and lights the LEDs, giving a glow throughout the night. They are perfect for the garden, roof terrace, or outdoor area of any kind, making a striking feature out of something commonplace and turning your garden into something from Close Encounters.

Microsoft Wireless Mouse 6000
The life of a left-handed person is a constant up-hill struggle against prejudice, small-mindedness and scissors which are a little bit awkward to use. So when a company like Microsoft releases a product which is supposed to make life easier – a wireless mouse which is so powerful that it can operate a computer 30 feet away and has been ergonomically designed to snuggle comfortably into the hand like a smooth and tactile pebble – it comes as little surprise to the world-weary left-hander that it’s not for them. Trying to use this mouse with the left hand would result in at best a painfully slow working method, and at worst a broken wrist. To be fair, Microsoft isn’t obliged to produce versions of its products that cater to the elite left-handed market, and other left-handed mice are available. But it still hurts that even Bill Gates and Co. care more about making a quick buck than providing their cack-handed brethren with tailor-made computer peripherals.

Biodegradable Picnic Wear
£14.95
At first glance, biodegradable picnic wear might seem like a good idea; there’s nothing worse than hiking to the top of a massive hill, looking upon the unspoilt vista, and then spotting an empty crisp packet and the remnants of a scotch egg at your feet. Cleaning up after yourself is, along with closing gates behind you and leaving the sheep alone, an essential part of the Country Code. And that’s why biodegradable cups, plates and cutlery might not be such a good idea. The fact that they rot away to nothing after a month or so is very commendable – but surely that will just serve as a litterbugs’ charter? The overwhelming temptation to leave all of your rubbish behind because it is ‘made from cassava’ will probably be too much for some, and what follows will be anarchy. Just because something is made from a vegetable doesn’t mean that you can just leave it lying around anywhere, as anybody who has ever slipped on a banana skin will tell you.

Look the business

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The suit is a powerful tool; not only can it give the impression of Schwarzenegger shoulders, it can also help seal the year’s biggest deal. The bold structured lines of expensive tailoring – often in intimidating dark shades – hold a high and mighty corporate status giving first-appearance power when walking into meetings. It is also a common office rumour that, Mr or Mrs Most Professionally Dressed is more likely to get promoted over colleagues. Anyone fancy an investment trip to the tailors?

What makes such a boring and basic blend of horizontal seams be the bane of our professional existence? The answer – conforming. If we all look the same, then not one of us would stand out form the crowd for any other reason than for our mental style (our brains). Take school uniform for example, it makes sense as it helps prevent the rich kids picking on the poor underprivileged kids for not having the ‘in’ jeans. But as we grow older, we start to develop personalities, which can be shown through the way we dress. So what purpose does it fulfil that all business people wear practically the same?

Within the workplace, it is imperative that as a businessman or woman, you are taken seriously. Therefore the suit, derived from the French suivre meaning ‘to follow’, is the compulsory dress for the majority of city slickers due to its safety net of connotations. But, in actual fact, conforming with what you wear, could imply that your ideas are conventional as well. And nobody wants to listen to conventional ideas.

So, what can you do about it? Well, you don’t need to turn up to work in a flaming red cocktail dress or tuxedo to proclaim yourself an individualist. The texture, the tone and the fabric of the suit, the stiffness of a shirt, and the proportions of a skirt and jacket are all reliable indicators of the wearer’s personal business style.

These days, it isn’t imperative to stick to Savile Row standard tailoring for the bee’s knees of business wear. If you’re required to smarten up five times a week but don’t want to be another tailored two-piece on the payroll, here’s what you do…

Find the right fit for your figure, an ill-fitted suit can sometimes look worse than wearing ruthlessly ripped jeans and an ‘I hate my boss’ emblazoned t-shirt.

Women
(Petite) [Pencil skirt and ruffle blouse dress Wallis, £55]
If you are petite, avoid wide-leg trousers as they will make you look shorter. Go for a slim-fit pinafore style dress and make the most of your petite-ness. Wear a black jacket over the top to give the impression of a suit – make sure it is a single button jacket that stops at your waist, as this will elongate your body.

(Pear-shape) [Black high waisted pencil skirt Vivienne Westwood Anglomania, £136 / White ruffle blouse Vivienne Westwood Anglomania, £180]

Pear-shape women should add volume on top e.g. puff sleeve blouse to balance out your bottom half. A-line and flared skirts work best for your shape as it gives the allusion of slimmer thighs. Vivienne Westwood Anglomania collection contains the perfect cuts for this shape, launching this autumn.

(Slim) [Brown wool high waisted, wide leg trousers Principles, £45 / Oyster silk blouse Cacharel, £151]
To give the illusion of curves, slim women should go for high-waist cut trousers, there is a great range coming to Principles in the autumn. Team with a plain white blouse/shirt and a swing jacket: think Marlene Dietrich-high waist skirts work just the same.

(Tall) [Brown wool blazer Paul & Joe, £366 / Blue silk blouse Paul Smith, £360]
If you are tall, go for below the knee pencil skirts. A longer style jacket works well if you want to play down your height; Paul & Joe does this longer style jacket perfectly smart enough for a meeting. A high-neck detailed blouse works wonders under this, Paul Smith do a beautiful blue number.

Men
Short [Black skinny tie Burton, £7]
If you are short, avoid longer suit jackets as it makes your legs look shorter. Don’t wear fat ties and wide lapels, keep it slim. Look taller by paring down; a belt can make you look shorter. Shoes should be kept slim rather than chunky. Get skinny ties from D&G, J Lindberg and Burton.

Tall [Grey two-piece suit Paul Smith, from £550 / Red patent round toe lace-up shoes Paul Smith, £260]
Tall men should avoid suits with over-sizing liked padded shoulders, as they will only increase the appearance of frailness, not muscle. A two-button suit works great on tall men, as long as the suit has relatively high-cut lapels, try Paul Smith for slim-fit styles. Opt for a tie with a bit of width, as this won’t elongate your torso, Etro and Aquascutum are good places for these.  

Large [Selection of white shirts Ede & Ravenscroft, from £65]
If you’re a large man, avoid wearing a roomy suit; they don’t make you look slimmer, just sloppy. Wear a simple, elegant shirt by Savile Row or Ede & Ravenscroft. Wear a pocket square as it brings the focus to your chest, not your tummy.

Athletic [Dark brown leather brogues Hudson, £80]
Athletic men are the lucky few able to wear narrow cut trousers, so enjoy them. Low-collar shirts work well with a thicker neck. Try on a pair of Hudson brogues for size, they are not too chunky yet not too flimsy.

So, there you have it. It isn’t actually that hard to get the business look- if you know what suits you. But beware, there is a way to ruin a good suit: the wrong shoes. A nice tailored suit with a pair of clumpy rubber monstrosities is a definite no. If the suit is slim, so should the shoes be; if the suit is on the bulky side, a pair with buckles or some kind of heavier detailing will do the trick. In all cases, whatever the weather, the suit chooses the shoes, not you!

Stockists
Burton: www.burton.co.uk
Cacharel:  www.my-wardrobe.com
Ede & Ravenscroft: www.edeandravenscroft.co.uk
Hudson: 0207 729 2113
Paul & Joe: www.my-wardrobe.com
Paul Smith: 0207 379 7133 www.paulsmith.co.uk
Principles: www.principles.co.uk
Vivienne Westwood Anglomania: www.my-wardrobe.com
Wallis: 08451214520

Chartering is big business… with big business

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Here, it’s worth taking a tip from the celebs such as Rod Stewart and the  appropriately-named Tom Cruise, who rent rather than buy. Wealthy though he is, canny pop millionaire Stewart, for instance, always charters. He doesn’t believe in splashing the cash for a superyacht, just to see it bobbing at anchor in an expensive marina berth. And there are many more like him, saying: “Ownership? Who needs it!“

Chartering guarantees luxury and total relaxation, along with flexibility and fabulous destinations – but without the hassle. Yacht Charter Guide reports there are 4,973 charter companies around the globe, offering 11,115 models of yacht in 691 sailing areas. So you can choose between Australia’s magnificent coral reefs, dancing to a reggae beat on a Caribbean isle, exploring the glamour of the Mediterranean coast or enjoying the stunningly beautiful islands of the South Pacific.

It’s not just the leisure market enjoying the attractions of chartering. Corporate hire is also big business – and getting bigger. It’s easy to see why. There are a host of sound business reasons for booking a corporate function afloat.

To the romance of the sea, add flawless on-board service, luxurious accommodation, spectacular lounges and meeting areas and first-class cuisine. The perfect way to set the scene for any business meeting.

In addition, a completely customised travel experience with carefully selected destinations make a luxury yacht charter the ultimate escape.

An increasing number of CEOs and senior executives see a yacht charter as a key element in corporate bonding sessions and a charter yacht offers high levels of security and privacy.

Superyachts, which can cost as much as £90,000 a day to rent, are the equivalent of five-star-plus, self-contained private resorts, complete with business and conference facilities plus entertainment and relaxation amenities.

Mind you, as some unfortunates trying to trim costs have found, the actual chartering can be a highly technical and logistical matter – and one best left to the experts. In the top echelons of the yachting world, Edmiston is one of the major players promising to gauge the personal requirements of every client from  offices in London, Monaco and Los Angeles.

Another highly-regarded operator is the Nigel Burgess Group, a large vessel specialist founded in London in 1975, which also has offices in Monaco, Miami, Moscow and Seattle.

Moody, based in Golfe-Juan, between Cannes and Antibes, specialises in Med charter, particularly conferences in Cannes such as MIPCOM, the audiovisual  trade show, and MIPIM, the international market for property professionals, along with the Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Grand Prix.

The No 1 charter operator for the Caribbean is the Ed Hamilton company, started in 1972 and now based in Maine.

Founder Ed Hamilton, who sailed from England to Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, to become one of the early managers for The Moorings, says charter boats are very popular for team-building exercises.

“Some companies want to put their managers in a different environment to help bond the group – and a sailing yacht can be an excellent venue. We even had one charter where the team-building instructors threw an employee overboard and told the others to rescue him. Most are not nearly that drastic but they all provide a venue where staff and managers can see each other in a new light.”

Formal or casual, adventurous or sophisticated…these companies promise to match clients’ aspirations with their yachts and programmes. And they usually do…

Paris in a spin

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A revolution takes place on the streets of Paris as the city launches Europe’s biggest bike-sharing scheme. More than 10,000 “free” cycles will are available at self-service stations across the French capital in a bid to transform Paris into a clean, green 21st-century utopia.

Anybody with a bank card will be able to borrow a bike: simply turn up at one of 750 stations (you will never be more than 300 metres away from one, it is claimed), swipe your card and type in your Pin. If you return the bike within half an hour, it’s free.

Cycle-share schemes have been tried before, without success. In Amsterdam, the bikes were left unlocked – before long, most had been stolen or tossed into canals. But the Paris scheme, called Vélib’, is more sophisticated: bikes are parked securely at kerbside stanchions and fitted with alarms. When you borrow one, a €150 deposit (about £100) will be held on your card. If you don’t return it to one of the stations within 24 hours, you’ll be billed.

Vélib’ is the latest attempt by the socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, to persuade Parisians to kick their addiction to cars. It’s a bold scheme. By the end of the year there will be more than 20,000 bikes and 1,400 stations – all funded by street-level advertising. Other administrations are watching closely. If Vélib’ is a success, the idea could be aped across Europe.

Paris is slowly becoming less hostile to le vélo. Thanks to Delanoë’s enthusiasm for ripping up its roads, the city now has 370km of dedicated cycle paths and bike-friendly bus lanes. Signage is improving, and every Sunday, roads and bridges along the Seine are closed to motorised traffic, and swarm with cyclists and skaters. So, to test the waters, I spent last weekend pedalling around Paris – and got a sneak preview of the Vélib’. The bike itself is sturdy and comfortable, with a wide saddle, chain guard (no need for ugly bicycle clips), basket, bell and dynamo-powered front and rear lights. The hard tyres are virtually indestructible and the three-gear Shimano hub should cope easily with the city’s modest slopes. At 22kg, it’s not built for speed, but it is undeniably stylish, finished in pearl grey with a discreet multicoloured logo. I think Parisians will ride them with pride.

Now, the costs. After the first free half-hour, rental rises steeply: €1 (70p) for an hour, €3 for 90 minutes and €7 for two hours. There is also a fixed daily charge of €1 to use the scheme. This means if you plan to rent a bike for a full day, Vélib’ isn’t for you. But if you want to nip from cafe to shops to museums and back, it’s ideal.

The benefits of cycling in Paris extend beyond the environmental. On a bike you are free to create your own narrative and let caprice be your guide. Plus, of course, there is the deep satisfaction of knowing you are no longer subsidising the world’s rudest taxi drivers.

If you ride regularly in London, or just about anywhere else in urban Britain, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the relaxed pace over there. Parisians pootle along sedately, like Oxford dons in 1950s films, determined not to work up a sweat. And perhaps because they don’t have a sliver of hard steel slicing into their buttocks – when it comes to saddles they favour something large and padded – they deport themselves with relative grace, not bellowing at pedestrians or punching cars.

On the other hand, they’re notoriously bad at paying attention to traffic signs. They jump red lights, ride on pavements and routinely go the wrong way up one-way streets. Until now, drivers and pedestrians have been surprisingly tolerant of this kind of behaviour, but with another 10,000 cycles appearing on the streets overnight, that could change.

So where should you start? If it’s a Sunday, head to the Seine, otherwise you may need to do a little homework. The city publishes a free map that shows the official cycle routes, but I found it more fun to explore unknown neighbourhoods.

Céline Esperin, who leads cycle tours of the city for a company called Paris à Vélo C’est Sympa!, says the key is to avoid the big roundabouts like the Place de la Bastille and the Arc de Triomphe. She recommends the historic streets of Le Marais, lined with fashionable cafes and boutiques.

I followed Céline through Le Marais, stopping in the gardens of the Place des Vosges before heading west past the Pompidou Centre into Beaubourg and Les Halles. Miraculously, we managed this without encountering a single busy road. And who would have guessed it was legal to cycle around the gardens of the Palais Royal and the courtyards of the Louvre?

For skinflint tourists, the real fun will come in dashing around the city looking for Vélib’ stations before the 30 minutes are up. In theory, there is nothing to stop you parking your bike at a station then hopping straight back onto another, so it should be possible to spend an entire weekend riding around without paying more than a euro a day.

If you venture out of the city centre you’ll find some great rides, such as the 4½km Promenade Plantée, a former railway line converted into a footpath and bike track. Straight and flat, it cuts a sylvan swathe through the eastern suburbs, taking you from the Bastille all the way beyond the Périphérique to the Bois de Vincennes, a vast wild park of woods, streams and boating lakes.

In the 10th arrondissement, you can cycle along the banks of the Canal St-Martin, gazing up at footbridges and peering into the windows of houseboats. Once you reach Place de Stalingrad, head right to one of the city’s most beautiful green spaces, the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, a fairy-tale park of lakes, cliffs and wooded paths. From there, I cruised downhill through the former villages of Belleville and Ménilmontant, both fascinating and gritty districts rarely seen by tourists.

Handing back the bike was almost as painful as hailing a taxi to the Gare du Nord. “What do you think about Vélib’?” I asked the driver. Barely able to contain his rage, he flecked the windscreen with spittle and declared it “ une catastrophe”. How very wrong I hope he proves to be.

Winter wonderland, summer paradise

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There’s something very special about the French alpine resort of Val D’Isère. With 90 ski lifts and 300 km of ski runs, it’s truly a wintersports’ paradise.

What’s more, thanks to its neighbouring Pissaillas glacier, you can actually ski in the area for 12 months of the year.

Not that there aren’t plenty of other things to do when the winter snows recede, with mountain biking and road cycling, hiking, bird watching, horse trekking and other activities drawing hordes of outdoor lovers to the area right through the languid summer. And the crowds are never heavier than when the sun-bronzed athletes of the Tour de France roll though town.

Since first figuring on the route of ‘La Grande Boucle’ in 1947, neighbouring Briançon – the highest city in Europe – has been a Tour host some 22 times.

This July, the ninth stage ran through Val d’Isère, crossing the Col de L’Iseran pass, one of Europe’s highest, the Col du Telegraphe and the starkly beautiful Col du Galibier before a breakneck 37 km downhill rush into Briançon.

One of the key figures behind the world’s greatest annual sporting challenge is Jean-Claude Killy, a native son of Val d’Isère and, in his youth, reckoned by many to have been the greatest skier in the world.

Today, the resort’s massive Espace Killy wintersports’ playground is named in honour of the man who took three gold medals at the 1968 Grenoble winter Olympics.

Here beginners and experts, skiers, snowboarders and telemarkers are all spoilt for choice, whether their taste is for marked runs, off-piste or freeride – and the truly adventurous can experience specially created big-air, half-pipe and other rails.

The quality of snow allows sensational powder skiing and many are especially attracted in springtime.

Local hero Louis Bonnevie was French national skiing champion as far back as 1906 while in 1948 Henri Oreiller won two medals at the St. Moritz winter Olympics. Since then, other hometown heroes have included the Goitschel sisters, Patrice Bianchi, Ingrid Jacquemond, Pierre Paquin, Audrey Peltier and seven times snowboard world cup winner Mathieu Bozzetto.

After all that activity on the piste, Val d’Isère really knows how to party. There are pedestrianised arcades with a host of cosy tea-rooms, intimate little bars and elegant hotels and eateries for all tastes, from quick food to gourmet, often featuring the superb local Savoyard specialities – as at La Table des Neiges where chef de cuisine Jérôme Labrousse creates a truly gastronomic experience based on the freshest local ingredients. The boutique shopping is great too.

Early forecasts for heavy snows at the start of this coming winter are being made by Piers Corbyn, founder of Weather Action, who predicts that the very jet stream that has brought the wet weather that’s ruined our summer, will go on to create a great winter for the Alpine resorts.

In Val d’Isère it will all kick off in November with the Critérium de la Première Neige World Alpine Skiing Cup event. In January, spectacular firework displays and torchlight descents upstage the sporting side of things until, in February, Val d’Isère becomes the unofficial freestyle capital of the world.

In March and April there are music and film festivals and the season closes in early May – and that’s when the summer visitors plan their arrival.

The piste makes a truly exciting alternative to the golf green as a place to seal business deals and Val d’Isère has conference facilities as well as being a favoured choice for incentives that truly sparkle.

Huge growth in Corporate Social Responsibility

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In just over two short years since the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) introduced Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a major industry initiative, the number of travellers and companies embracing environmental awareness has more than doubled. A joint ACTE/KDS industrywide survey indicates that 59 percent of respondents companies now have CSR charter, and that the same percent of their travellers (59 percent) look to these charters in making environmentally sound travel decisions.

Speaking at a joint ACTE/KDS press conference at the Business Travel Show in London on 5 February 2008, Susan Gurley, ACTE Global Executive Director, said, “CSR is establishing new levels of what is environmentally acceptable to the global business travel industry. Ten years ago, this was the farthest thing from anyone’s mind. That fact that it has become core business component for 59 percent of this survey respondents clearly indicates that a growing majority of organizations have incorporated CSR into their business DNA.”

“This major industry shift clearly indicates companies and their travellers support Corporate Social Responsibility,” added Gurley, pointing out that in 2005, less than seven percent of the association’s membership supported CSR. “Those figures grew to 14 percent the following year and now up to 20 percent for 2007. CSR has quickly become a fundamental in the business travel process.”  

“Travellers are becoming increasingly eco-conscious and their travel booking behaviour is starting to impact corporate travel management,” said Stanislas Berteloot, marketing director of KDS. “With an overwhelming majority or corporations now using a self-booking tool (69 percent) the communication of sustainable travel guidelines is facilitated. Travel managers now need to think of using online tools to not only control costs, but also to travel smarter and greener.”

Looking beyond the travel program, survey respondents were also familiar with their respective company’s overall approach to CSR. This included neighborhood educational activities, emission offsetting, and carbon reduction at production plants. Fifty-one percent believed their company was doing the “right” thing, while
39 percent believed more could be done. (The remaining 10 percent was divided on their companys’ CSR performance, but rated it as insignificant.)

The joint survey revealed that cost reduction and traveller security were given an equally high priority for 2007. Yet corporate social responsibility climbed in priority to the top spot in for 29 percent of the respondents, up nine points from last year.
                                                
“This is a very good report card for the CSR concept,” said Gurley. “Travel departments are now increasingly tasked with reporting on travel related carbon emissions, showing a 15 percent increase over last year. This is significant as it shows CSR is beyond the tipping point with companies and will continue to grow as a corporate initiative.”
 
Among ACTE’s current CSR initiatives for 2008 are a white paper, which is being written in collaboration with the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, on Global Sustainable Travel, and a partnership with Verkehrsclub Deutschland, a major transport and environmental organization in Germany on the Green Business Travel Project, which will be used to create guidelines for environmentally friendly business travel processes and alternatives to business travel.

In addition, Gurley noted, “Interest in CSR as an educational must has continued to build at five of ACTE’s global education conferences in the past two years.”
 
At ACTE’s Global Education Conference in Washington, D.C., 18-20 May 2008, CSR will be the topic of two sessions: Green Taxes vs. Cap and Trade, and Light Green, Dark Green – What Color is Your Company?

The ACTE/KDS survey also drew a much larger field of participants this year, with the number of respondents growing by 127 percent (263). Participants hailed from Africa, Asia Canada, Continental Europe, Eastern and Central Europe, Ireland, Middle East, Northern Europe, South America, The United Kingdom, and the United States. According to Gurley, this increase indicates the significance the industry attaches to CRS and ACTE’s efforts to promote it. The diversity of respondent origin reflects ACTE’s global presence, which now extends to 82 countries.

Noted Gurley, “Through championing the CSR cause, ACTE has helped to move it to the C level at more and more companies. We’ve made tremendous strides in the promotion of sustainable travel, but there is still much work to be done; although 59 percent of companies have CSR charters, only 34 percent promote sustainable travel.”