Lufthansa adding Wi-Fi; hotel deals for businesses

(Photo by Hady Khandani/courtesy: Lufthansa)

By Joe Brancatelli

THE CONNECTED SKIES

Lufthansa Makes Another Run at In-Flight Internet: Lufthansa was almost alonein mourning the loss of Boeing’s Connexion in-flight Internet service, which ended in 2006 after $1 billion or more in losses. And it’s been searching for a replacement ever since. It may have finally found one.

The German carrier says it will begin using a new service from Panasonic in mid-2010. Unlike Aircell, which uses a ground-to-air system on many U.S. domestic flights, Panasonic uses a satellite-based service. It’s more expensive to install, maintain and use, but it’s the only way to do it over oceans and Lufthansa hopes to re-install what it calls FlyNet on the vast majority of its international fleet.

Pricing and timing have not been announced, but if Aircell’s experience with the 500 or so domestic jets it has wired is any guide, Panasonic and Lufthansa willface the same problem Boeing faced earlier in the decade: Everyone wants in-flight Internet, but no one seems to want to pay for it.

Speaking of which, Virgin America will be giving away in-flight Wi-Fi from November 10 to January 15 to all travelers on every flight. The twist: Google will sponsor the freebie. Meanwhile, American Airlines says that it has completed installation of Wi-Fi on 150 of its MD-80 aircraft. Along with the 15 Boeing 767s it wired last year, American now has 165 planes wired for Wi-Fi.

HOTEL HOT SHEET

Why You May Be Changing Hotels Next Year: Hotels and corporate buyers are deep in negotiations over the 2010 rates business travelers will pay. And guess who has the pricing hammer? With hotel occupancy falling and more and more hotels opening every day, corporate buyers are driving incredibly hard bargains. So hard, in fact, that some hotels are letting long-term customers walk away. “What I’m finding, as usual, is that a lot of ego is involved,” the buyer for a Fortune 1000 says. “I can get the price I want, but I often have to get the price from a different chain. Then I find out the chain I just left gave the deal I wanted to another buyer. They can’t be seen making big concessions to existing clients, but they’ll do the same deal with another account if it is seen as ‘winning new business.’ It’s silly, but that’s how it is.”

And what do the corporate buyers who negotiate where you stay want from the hotels? The sales manager for a big-city luxury propertytold me recently that a big corporate client paid $249 a night in 2008. They negotiated it down to $199 this year. The corporate buyer’s demand for next year? “They wanted to pay $169 a night and wanted the rate guaranteed for two years. I had to let them walk,” the sales manager said. So don’t be surprised if your company tells you that you’re changing hotels next year. It’s all part of the price war between hotels and corporate buyers.