‘À la carte catering’ pilot

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will launch a pilot project offering à la carte catering on board. Passengers travelling in Economy Class will be able to choose from four dishes on flights from Amsterdam to Bangkok and Taipei, Dubai, Cape Town, Singapore and Denpasar. Orders can be placed when checking in online. The pilot will run until the end of August this year,according to a press release from the airline.

Customers will be able to choose from meals including a healthy Japanese meal; an Indonesian rice table; a Bella Italia meal, Italian dishes, and a Sustainable dining meal of sustainable, organic chicken, vegetables and cheese. The meals can be ordered and paid for when checking in online between 30 and 24 hours prior to departure. They will cost €15 per dish.

“The wishes and choices of our customers are key. We will be testing them during the pilot project. Our aim is to align our products even more closely to what different customers want,” said Erik Varwijk, Executive Vice President of KLM Commercial.

CRME Webinar 1 June

HSMAI’s European members have called for an international Revenue Management Executive certification –also in Europe. We are, of course, only too happy to comply!

You and/or your colleagues may now be the first in Europe to qualify for this certification. In order to make the certification as easy and swift as possible, we have set up a one-hour webinar Tuesday 1 June, costing USD 99 for HSMAI Europe members (members of national European chapters are automatically members of HSMAI Europe) and USD 159 for non-members.

Join us for a one-hour Webinar at 15:00 (UK, Ireland and Portugal time) Tuesday 1 June, presented by Jeff Osborne (CRME), founder and CEO of Intelligent Hotels, Inc (15:00  in the UK is at 14:00 UTC, equal to 16:00  in the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Poland, France, Italy, Germany and so forth, and 17:00 in Finland and the Baltic countries).

To sign up:

For further details, please see this page.

In addition, we have several other offers in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, we wish you a fabulous weekend.

Sincerely,
Ingunn Hofseth
President & CEO, HSMAI Europe

Thon hotel ranks high

OSLO, Norway — Expedia® travelers have ranked Oslo’s Thon Hotel Europa among the world’s best hotels on this year’s Expedia Insiders’ Select™ list, according to a press release from the hotel.

The list formally recognises individual hotels worldwide that consistently deliver excellent service, a great overall experience and a notable value. The full list represents only a small percentage of the world’s top hotels from the more than 110,000 hotel properties offered on Expedia.

“Delivering our guests superior service is a top priority at Thon Hotel Europa,” said Christian Arnet, General Manager. “We are pleased that our efforts have been acknowledged by Expedia travelers and look forward to extending our high level of service to even more guests.”

The 2010 Expedia Insiders’ Select™ list is compiled on the basis of more than one million Traveler Opinions hotel reviews collected by Expedia, combined with a value rating and the local market expertise of more than 400 Expedia employees in local markets worldwide, resulting in an easy-to-browse list that provides travelers with a powerful way to find the perfect hotel using the trusted insight of other travelers like them. The list showcases the diverse selection of travel destinations and hotel properties.

Photo: A room at the Thon Hotel Europa in Oslo.