The Survivor's Guide to Business Travel [Paperback]

Roger Collis (Author)

Book Description

Series: International Herald Tribune | Publication Date: March 1, 2000

Award-winning travel writer Roger Collis, whose "Frequent Traveler" columns appear in The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, provides all the information and skills needed to survive today's crowded skies and hostile airports. Includes over 100 recently published articles.

Chapters include:
-- Making the most of your travel budget: buy direct or through a travel agent? airlines, hotels, rental cars
-- The Changing Role of the Travel Agent
-- When It Pays to Pay Full Price
-- The Lowdown on Airline Upgrades
-- Airport Hotels: they used to be the dullest anywhere, now they are among the trendiest and best.
-- Driving a Better Bargain: navigating the car rental jungle
-- Mobile phones: unless you know the ins and outs the cost can be exhorbitant
-- The making of a great business hotel

Editorial Reviews

Review

Review of the first edition "If you're looking for ways to make your (business) travel less of a hassle, "The Survivor's Guide to Business Travel" could be just what you need. Written in a breezy entertaining style, the book is a compilation of the author's travel columns for the "International Herald Tribune." The chapters are short, making the book perfect for reading at airports or other places with distractions and frequent interruptions." -- Government Executive "Everything a frequent traveler needs" -- First Class IATA magazine

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Roger Collis, is a well-known writer and broadcaster. His column, ‘The Frequent Traveller’ in The International Herald Tribune has brought him worldwide recognition as a guru on business travel. In frequent demand as a conference speaker, round-table participant and film narrator, Roger commutes worldwide from his home in Antibes on the French Riviera. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Kogan Page; 1st edition (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749430745
• ISBN-13: 978-0749430740
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,071,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Full of errors, May 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Survivor's Guide to Business Travel (Paperback)

I've been a travel agent and travel agency owner for more than a decade, and so started reading this book with a great deal of interest.

I hadn't even finished the first page before I fell off my chair with astonishment at the errors the author was perpetrating - 'a consolidation ticket is normally valid for a year and fully flexible'. This is completely wrong - consolidated/discounted tickets are always highly restricted.

I read on to page two. And major mistake two. 'A good travel agent can often save you more by exploiting IATA fare construction rules allowing you to fly up to 25% more miles between two points either free or for a small surcharge'. Again, dead wrong.

In more than ten years as a travel agent, I have never ever issued a single mileage based fare (such as the author advocates in the preceding paragraph). These days, with most fares being 'route based' rather than 'mileage based' it is exceeding rare to find such fares at good values.

Other parts of the book (which claims a 2000 publication date) are curiously out of date, probably because they have been culled from the author's newspaper columns over many years - for example, 'wait for the new generation of featherweight PCN digital mobiles, allowing people to call you wherever you are.' Excuse me, but featherweight (whatever that means) digital phones have been out there for quite a few years already....

All in all, an extremely disappointing book, full of errors and light on real value. If you're looking for a book like this, I'd recommend either the currently out of print 'Airline Passenger's Guerrilla Handbook' by George Brown or 'Fly cheap!' by Kelly Monaghan.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Women Travelers, August 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Survivor's Guide to Business Travel (Paperback)

If you are a woman traveling alone, do not leave home without the tips Collis offers along with all the other DOS and DONTS. You'll be shocked at all the do's you don't do, and all the don'ts you do. Learn where and what not to eat for happy travel. Look at hotels other women have chosen and get tips for safety, security and peace. Really.

A great plane read!