Rent a car in France

Property website operator, Rightmove, has sold its holiday rental properties site, Holiday Lettings, to TripAdvisor, the travel website operator. The deal for the country’s largest independent holiday lettings site was announced last week and an undisclosed sum has been paid for the company. Rightmove is a subsidiary of travel giants Expedia.
In March 2007, Rightmove purchased a just over two-thirds stake in Holiday Lettings. It said recently that it intended to declare in its half-yearly report that the company is a discontinued operation.
By securing Holiday Lettings the TripAdvisor Media Group will increase its number of travel brands to 17. The website [...]

Car hire firms across the UAE have reported that business is being helped by an economic climate which is persuading people to stay at home rather than holiday abroad, and to rent vehicles rather than buy them. Where other areas of the travel sector seem to be suffering, car hire companies are actually showing growth. [...]

Troubled British Airways has announced that in order to cut costs it will be launching a new recruitment drive to attract lower-paid cabin crew. The move follows Unite’s announcement that it intends to ballot its members over further strike action. The airline said that newly recruited staff would be based at London Heathrow but would receive the same lower pay and benefits as those based at London Gatwick.
A spokesman for BA said that the move was part of an ongoing effort to make permanent reductions to the airline’s cost base. He pointed out that BA was making record losses and [...]

The FIFA World Cup is proving a huge financial boon for South Africa.
Visiting football fans to the republic have been spending up large, with car rental, hotel and hospitality industries all reaping the rewards associated with the biggest sporting event outside of the Olympics.
According to data released yesterday by Visa, which monitors cardholder spending, international visitors have spent nearly one billion South African Rand, or ZAR, equivalent to £90 million, in the first couple of weeks of the tournament.
Figures released by the card provider showed in the week before the opening ceremony and during the first ten days of games, [...]

The French capital is set to roll-out its new eco-friendly electric car program next year.
The mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, has stated that the new electric hire program, known as Autolib’, could hit the streets by September 2011. City officials are hoping that the scheme will prove more of a success that the Paris Vélib’ rental bicycle program, also championed by Delanoe.
The Vélib’ scheme, launched amid much fanfare in 2007, has fallen prey to widespread vandalism, and in just two years more than half of the city’s 20,000 bikes have been damaged, with 7,800 reported stolen.
This month saw submissions for [...]

Air France has announced that it plans to resume services between Paris and Ho Chi Minh City as part of a code-share agreement with Vietnam Airlines. The Vietnamese carrier was recently welcomed to the SkyTeam aviation alliance, of which air France is a founding member.
Air France plans to start running 13 flights per week from Vietnam to Paris. Seven of the return services will be between Paris and Ho Chi Minh City, and six of the flights will be between the French capital and Hanoi. The services are due to commence in November.
Vietnam’s flag carrier will be taking charge of [...]

A British Airways passenger who claims he felt humiliated by the airline’s policy of not letting unaccompanied minors sit next to single male adults has been awarded compensation. Mirko Fischer was flying home to Luxembourg from London on April 20 last year, when Stephanie, his heavily pregnant wife, asked if she could swap seats with he husband and sit by the window.
This left Mr Fischer in the central seat. British Airways staff asked him to move back to his own seat explaining that he was now sitting next to an unaccompanied minor. Members of the BA crew explained to Mr [...]

A recent survey reveals that top of the list of the things travellers most hate when away from home are service employees who are rude and unhelpful. The survey, conducted by Consumer Reports magazine asked 2,000 people about their experiences with car hire firms, airlines and hotels. The magazine offered a list of things which [...]

Increases to premium tax are set to present even larger bills to UK motorists.
The new coalition government’s announcement of increases for premium taxes means that consumers who purchase motor, travel, home and private medical insurance will all be hit with higher prices.
As it currently stands, a five per cent levy is applied to all households that buy general insurance, which comprises part of the overall insurance premium tax (IPT). However, as of January 4 next year, this figure will increase to six per cent. As an example, a male teacher who drives a Ford Focus and is working in Manchester [...]

ArgusCarHire.com, the leading site for European car rental, has warned of summer shortages.
The advisory warning to customers comes as reports of low availability continue to surface in the most popular European holiday destinations over the busy summer peak season.
Spanish resorts in particular are feeling the pinch, with Argus claiming that there are likely to be severe shortages in Mallorca, Alicante, Malaga, Ibiza, Menorca and Murcia – all traditional hot spots for UK holidaymakers. The low availability stems from the widespread fleet reductions forced upon car rental companies in the midst of the global travel downturn of 2009. Last year saw [...]

Thousands of holidays later this summer are under threat as airline union Unite announces a new strike ballot for British Airways cabin crew. The vote on whether to commence a new round of walkouts will take place on June 29 with the result due on July 27. If the vote is in favour of a walkout then the first strike could take place just seven days later.
If this happens than the disruption caused will be particularly bad news for those who go on holiday with their families during the school holidays. BA has condemned that announcement and described the move [...]

Virgin boss, Sir Richard Branson, has announced ambitious plans to overhaul the company’s in-flight entertainment system. As well as being able to use their mobile phones and access the internet whist travelling, passengers will also be able to watch live television from their seats.
Speaking in Las Vegas, where he was celebrating 10 years of Virgin connecting with the city, Sir Richard said that the airline was always searching for ways of making its in-flight entertainment better. He added that being able to watch live broadcast would certainly be a dramatic improvement.
Sir Richard made that announcement ahead of England’s clash with [...]