More than a mermaid

Copenhagen is an appealing and disarmingly provincial city comprised of block after block of period six-story buildings, church steeples punctuating the skyline. It’s a city that gleams with a contemporary edge, but seems to take you back hundreds of years. Whatever you’re looking for – sleek or cozy, traditional or modern – Copenhagen can provide. It’s even affordable (in Scandinavian terms).

As with the rest of Scandinavia, summer is one of the best times to visit – the days stretch out until late evening, and the city’s many bar and restaurant terraces are packed with natives and visitors intent on soaking up every ray of sunshine.

The sights to see

The heart of Copenhagen is ringed by a series of lakes to the northwest and by the inner harbor to the southeast. The huge RÃ¥dhuspladsen (City Hall Square) lies at the western end of the central area. From here, a series of pedestrianized streets (Strøget) extend as far as Kongens Nytorv (King’s New Square).

Rundetårn (The Round Tower)
In the streets to the north of Strøget is the Rundetårn, the oldest observatory in Europe. Built by Christian IV in 1642, the building forms part of a scholastic complex that also includes a university library (now an exhibition hall) and student church. A spiral ramp leads to the top of the tower 35 meters (115 feet) above the street, for a great view over the old parts of the city.

Tivoli
Most Danes seem to have an almost prenatal attachment to their capital’s amusement park. When it opened in 1843, visitors had a choice of two amusements – a horse-drawn carousel and a rollercoaster. Today, there are 25 rides, as well as games and arcades, two theatres, an open-air stage and a museum. Crowded, pricey and unbelievably kitsch, Tivoli remains strangely appealing, particularly at night when the trees are illuminated with lanterns. Numerous concerts and special events are held here every summer, as well as a Christmas market in December.

Nyhavn (New Harbor)
Brothels and bars serving the visiting sailors once used to dominate this seedy area, but now the multicolored, 17th-century gabled buildings accommodate bustling restaurants and pavement cafes serving traditional Danish food beside a pedestrian thoroughfare and the masts of traditional yachts. Hans Christian Andersen lived at three different houses here and on his birthday (April 2) may still be encountered here, in the form of a person in costume wandering the streets.

Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid)
A pleasant walk from Nyhavn along Bredgade to Churchill Park brings you to where the city’s most famous bronze resident, commemorating the Hans Christian Andersen heroine, lives. Despite being decapitated a few times and being rather smaller in stature than might be imagined, the mermaid remains perennially popular with visitors.

Amalienborg Slot (Amalienborg Palace)
This palace has been the winter residence of the Danish royal family since 1794. The four identical Rococo palaces face each other across the octagonal Amalienborg Slot, where the changing of the guard takes place each day at noon when the family is in residence.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, just off the Rådhuspladsen, was built by the Carlsberg brewer, Carl Jacobsen, between 1897 and 1906. Today, it houses a superb collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, Impressionist masterpieces and Danish and French art by Monet, Gauguin, Renoir, Degas and Cézanne.

Dansk Design Center
Just across from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, the Dansk Design Center showcases Danish industrial design alongside international design trends. The five-story building, designed by senior Danish architect Henning Larsen, features Danish design classics in the basement and imaginative changing exhibits on a variety of design-related topics on the ground floor.

Rosenborg Slot (Rosenborg Castle)
Built between 1606 and 1634, Rosenborg was the chief residence of Christian IV and the main royal palace until the end of the last century. This redbrick, Dutch Renaissance-style palace displays the Crown jewels and other royal treasures. The gardens (Kongens Have) surrounding the palace were laid out in 1606 and are some of the most attractive in the city.

Getting around

Copenhagen is a compact city, easily navigated on foot or by bike. But if you’re worn out, or interested in going further afield, buses and trains run daily 0:500 to 00:30. There are additional night buses from City Hall Square (RÃ¥dhuspladsen) to the suburbs. There is also a harbor boat-bus service connecting the Royal Library’s Black Diamond building on Christians Brygge with Nordre Toldbod, with stops along the waterfront, including Nyhavn. The shuttle operates from early morning until early evening throughout the year (weather permitting) with four departures per hour.

The Metro (opened in 2002) runs from 05:00 to 24:00 from Mondays to Wednesdays, all night on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and then until 24:00 on Sundays. The trains are fully automatic, but that doesn’t mean they are unmanned. A Metro steward is on every train, to check tickets, provide information and help passengers.

Smørrebrød are just the beginning

Eating isn’t cheap in Copenhagen. In particular, beware of the wine prices; the mark-up is often exorbitant, pushing your reaction to the bill from an involuntary swallow to flat-out panic. But with credit card in hand, you’re in for a treat. Various international cuisines have made their mark on the city, most notably French and Oriental. Allied to this growth has been a recent resurgence in Modern Danish, which uses the freshest local ingredients and infuses them with new flavours.

Restaurant Ida Davidsen
Store Kongensgade 70
Proving that there is no such thing as ‘just a sandwich’, Ida takes the Danish smørrebrød (open-faced sandwich) tradition to new heights. Her 200-plus creations include such delightful toppings as smoked salmon, beef tartar and caviar. This is a real Copenhagen institution, with walls bedecked with old family photos.

Peder Oxe
Gråbrødretorv 11, Latin Quarter
Fronting the lovely, tree-lined GrÃ¥brødretorv (Grayfriar’s Square), this stalwart of rustic dining offers wonderful Danish country grub. You’ll be entranced by the solid wood floors, Portuguese tiles and groovy little system whereby you let the waiters know you’re ready to order by flicking on a light above your table. Copenhagen’s oldest monastery was built on this site in 1238 and the restaurant’s wine cellar retains part of the old stone foundations.

Café Europa
Amagertorv 1, Strøget
Inspired by coffeehouse culture from France to Austria to Hungary, this café specializes in organic and “biodynamic� cooking. It’s also got an unbeatable location, tables get set up right on Højbro Plads on sunny days, making it a great place to settle in and do a spot of people-watching.

Madklubben
Store Kongensgade 66
A sleek but unpretentious place with delicious cooking based on pristinely fresh Nordic ingredients – and it’s value for money all the way through. The concept is simple: one course for 100 kroner, two for 150 kroner, three for 200 kroner, etc. You can get a basic steak, but you won’t regret opting for more inventive variations of Scandinavian cuisine. Try a Danish “risotto� based on barley groats (perlebyg) and Danish goat cheese (replacing Italian standards Arborio rice and Parmesan).

Noma
Strandgade 93, Christianshavn
If price is no object, run, don’t walk, to Noma, Denmark’s only Michelin-two-starred restaurant. Here you’ll find an extraordinary array of Scandinavian ingredients (Norwegian horse mussels, Faroe Island langoustines, Icelandic seaweed and halibut, musk ox and berries from Greenland) subjected to chef Rene Redzepis’ careful attention and innovative treatment. The restaurant itself is rawly poetic, with a design that marries oak, stone, leather, water, glass and light.

Shop till you drop

Copenhagen is a shoppers’ paradise, with massive stores and tiny boutiques selling contemporary design pieces and fashion, porcelain and crystal, silverwork, traditional Viking jewelry and amber. Not to be missed are the soft goose-down comforters (quilts or duvets to some), or a sexy piece of streamlined Scandinavian furniture.

Running from near the north-east corner of Rådhuspladsen to the two focal squares of Gammeltorv and Kongens Nytorv, Strøget (said to be the longest pedestrian street in Europe) and its side roads contain some of the best shopping opportunities on the continent, from big names like Prada to the best of Danish design. Silversmith Georg Jensen, glass nirvana Holmegaard and Royal Copenhagen Porcelain, among others, gather together under the Royal Shopping banner (6-10 Amagertorv).

After hours

Copenhagen is a 24-hour party city. For free entertainment simply stroll along Strøget, especially between Nytorv and Höjbro Plads, which in the late afternoon and evening is a bit like an impromptu three-ring circus with musicians, magicians, jugglers and other street performers.

Copenhagen Jazzhouse
Niels Hemmingsensgade 10, Strøget
The city’s leading jazz spot, featuring top Danish musicians and international performers. The music runs the gamut from bebop to fusion jazz, and there’s a large dance floor that usually fills after live gigs on weekends.

Boutique Lize
Enghave Plads 6, Vesterbro
This used to be a clothing store but when it was transformed into this spartan but popular cocktail bar a few years back, it just seemed easier to keep the old name.

“K” Bar
Ved Stranden 20
This tiny cocktail bar features an amazing roster of creative mixed drinks – from lavender margaritas to caipirinhas with carrot, chili and ginger. Their Santa Shot (honey-infused vodka, Cointreau, Campari and beet juice), is guaranteed to warm the cockles of your heart (and just about anything else).

It’s no secret that amid softening global markets the need to control travel expenses is becoming increasingly urgent. What is new is a budding zeal among corporations to curb costs by blending all parts of the travel and expense experience into a single, unified process.

“Nearly half of our recently surveyed clients said they were looking for us to help them integrate travel planning with expense management,� says Louise Miller, executive vice president, Global Business Solutions, Sales & Marketing at BCD Travel. “Combined with the fact that travel managers annually rank cost control as a top priority, there’s little doubt that integrated travel and expense management is something many companies will explore more vigorously in the next year.�

The evolution of expense management and travel

Travel and Entertainment represent most companies’ second-largest controllable expense. Driving compliance and having visibility into these expenses provide a vast opportunity for savings for many companies. However, controlling those expenses has been a complicated and difficult process.

Historically, travel booking and approval and expense management have occurred independently in isolated areas of the company. Under the traditional model, it is typically the travel manager who approves pre-trip bookings while an entirely different department signs off final expenses. There was a divide between planned and actual expenses, often leaving companies with a sizable gap in their knowledge of overall company spend. Moreover, travel patterns that may offer potential volume discounts remain overlooked.

Filling the gap

The latest technology unifies travel booking and expense reporting on a single, integrated platform, which enables unprecedented efficiencies. The key to maximizing results lies in deploying a customized technology solution, supported by expert travel personnel, that fits a company’s unique needs, strategies and objectives.

To address this need in the marketplace, BCD Travel recently launched Source: 360TM, a combination of people, processes and technology that provide an integrated travel and expense platform for North American clients and select multinational targets. Source: 360 allows companies to integrate their travel process from beginning to end and create much greater control over their travel spend. The combination of travel expertise and customized technology are present throughout the process.

Each component of Source: 360 helps companies drive out costs wherever possible. Source: 360 integrates data from online and traditional bookings, credit card and supplier receipts – so virtually all travel spend data on a trip is available upon the completion of a trip. The expense report is automatically generated from the itinerary, matching corporate card charges and receipts with each itinerary line item. The traveler simply adds comments on variances, as well as any cash expenditures. With a better view of spend, combining planned reservation data with actual expense spend, clients can improve negotiations and compliance, making decisions based on current data.

“We now can offer clients a comprehensive view of their travel and expense data and the ability to dramatically improve overall compliance and workflow,� Miller said. “BCD Travel and travel management consultants from Advito can develop the strategy to achieve the desired benefits. We configure the system and workflow for decision-making and continuous improvement—from booking, through fulfillment, documentation, reporting and analysis.�

Coupled with online booking and security & risk management — issues discussed in earlier segments of our mini-series — spend management is a critical piece of corporate travel. Companies integrating previously disparate travel and expense processes will realize dramatic cost savings through streamlined business processes, reduced operating costs, improved internal controls and actionable expense analysis.

Procurement is playing an increasing role in meetings management, Birgit Roeterdink, an independent consultant, said.
She said the move towards globalisation in the business travel was now being followed by meetings management.
“It was unthinkable that procurement involved in meetings management a few years ago. But we all have the same costs and companies have realised that procurement practices can make huge savings
Ms Roeterdink, who works with Inkx Projects in The Netherlands, said procurement focused on value and strategy in an industry which was very de-centralised.
She was speaking at the first joint meeting of the Belgian Association of Travel Management (BATM) and the Belgian chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) this week in Brussels.
She said the increased focus on meetings was leading corporates to adopt a Strategic Meetings Management Programme (SMMP).
She said the important starting point for an SMMP was data consolidation which she warned could take years to collect.
“It is one of the most important things in our industry. TMCs know this but meeting management companies still have to get through it,” she said.
Senior management s asking for more and more back up information about meetings, like the cost of air fares and why such a destination has been chosen, Ms Roeterdink said.
“Without data consolidation, it is difficult to get the sponsorship of senior management and if you don’t have that, forget it, you will not get anywhere,” she said.
Ms Roeterdink told the 90 delegates that procurement departments would use an SMMP to control spend through strategic measuring, strategic buying, improved contracting and automated RFPs.
They would also use their negotiating skills with the consolidated data to get the best price available. They would also align policies and processes to achieve savings.
“You can achieve a decrease in operational costs through using one department, one copy. It is more cost-effective to have the same policies,” she said.

Why airlines lose luggage and how to fix the problem

A record 42 million bags were mishandled in 2007, and experts expect the situation to get even worse. Fortunately, technology offers some solutions – but the cost of introducing them remains a challenge

The sight of lost luggage piling up during the great London Heathrow Terminal 5 opening disaster last month was a familiar story for many business travelers. It was another reminder that when passengers check in a bag for a flight, it does not necessarily appear on the carousel at their destination.

An estimated 28,000 bags were mishandled in the first week of operations at T5. However, this is a problem which strikes passengers almost anywhere at any time. According to WorldTracer, an automated system for tracing luggage used by 400 airlines and ground-handling companies, 42 million bags were mishandled in 2007. That is around two per cent of the 2.25 billion items which were checked in globally.

The good news is that the majority of mishandled bags are reunited with their owners within 48 hours, but one in 2,000 disappears without trace. It is small wonder that a recent passenger survey for air transport technology company SITA found mishandled baggage is travelers’ second greatest source of annoyance (after delays) and that baggage collection is the step in the air travel process which most people would like to change.

What is more, the situation is getting worse. In Europe, the number of bags mishandled by members of the Association of European Airlines rose from 13.7 per 1,000 in 2004 to 16.6 in 2007. That amounts to an extra 1.8 million items going missing each year. In the US, where the figures look different because they do not take into account passengers who connect at international gateways, the figure rose from 3.84 per 1,000 in 2002 to 7.03 in 2007.

According to SITA’s Baggage Report 2008, the growing percentage of mishandled bags is a result of rising passenger numbers flying from increasingly overcrowded airports. Other contributory factors include airlines introducing shorter turnaround times for their aircraft, cost-cutting measures and tighter security arrangements.

Furthermore, where solutions have been introduced, they have not always been consistent. For example, an airline might use one type of technology in the passenger terminal and a different one in the baggage ramp area. SITA concludes the situation will get worse before it gets better.

“Unfortunately, SITA might well be right,� says Rose Stratford, BCD Travel’s senior vice president, Industry Relations Americas & Global GDS. “That is bad news for passengers in two ways. First, the chance they will lose their luggage could increase. Second, each mishandled bag costs airlines an average US$90 to reunite with their owners, adding up to billions of dollars of extra costs and higher fares per year.

“The good news is that technology has some answers to these problems. We hope airports, airlines and other interested parties will work harder together to introduce them and make life easier for all concerned.�

The International Air Transport Association, whose membership comprises almost all the world’s mainstream scheduled airlines, has launched the IATA Baggage Improvement Program to tackle the baggage crisis. The program includes integrating technologies to coordinate the departure control systems of airlines with the baggage systems of airports. Among other important targets are better bar-coded luggage labels to improve automated read rates and better training for airport personnel.

Perhaps the greatest hope for a breakthrough, however, is replacing bar-coded labels with radio frequency identification tags. These speed up scanning rates considerably and also reduce errors. Among the benefits this brings are less mishandling and much quicker location of a bag if it needs to be offloaded because of a no-show passenger.

RFID tags have been around since 1991 but the technological standard only received IATA approval at the end of 2005. They appear to work well. Hong Kong International Airport has introduced them and improved its baggage read-rate from 85-90 percent to more than 95 percent.

The main obstacle is cost: the price for each RFID tag is US$0.20. Manufacturers say this could fall to as low as US$0.05 if more airports introduce them. This leads to a Catch-22 situation, as airports will only introduce the technology if the price drops. Nevertheless, a recent survey found that 50 percent of airports expect to be using RFID within five years.

In the meantime, IATA says travelers can also do more to help. It asks passengers to attach contact details to their bags (BCD Travel recommends only supplying a mobile telephone number for security reasons), distribute weight evenly within each bag and – a recommendation that will not be popular with many travelers – check in their luggage at the airport earlier.

WHAT CAUSES BAGS TO BE MISHANDLED?

• Mislaid during flight connection (49%)
• Failed to load (16%)
• Ticketing error/bag switch/security/other (14%)
• Arrival station mishandling (8%)
• Loading/offloading error (5%)
• Airport/customs/weather/space or weight restriction (5%)
• Tagging error (3%)