Posts by Sharon Evers

In autumn, you’re likely to find yourself face-to-face with KLM’s new brand campaign in one of many forms: online, outdoors on billboards, and even on Times Square in New York. Pursuing this campaign, KLM aims to show that a warm, personal approach really does make all the difference between a “pleasant” and a “memorable” travel experience for its passengers.

“KLM cares for me is the essence of the new campaign manifestation. This positioning didn’t simply appear out of the blue. We conducted a great deal of research into our unique selling points. We renamed these as our unique caring points. Passengers are especially pleased with our open and honest attitude, coupled with our personal approach. Not only with respect to our cockpit and cabin crew, but including our ground staff and customer service staff members worldwide as well. This campaign aims to highlight that”, Natascha van Roode, Head of Global Marketing Communication at KLM Customer Experience.

KLMs unique caring points currently in the spotlight include: World Business Class, Economy Comfort, Economy Class, KLM’s network and our extensive 24/7 customer service. By combining its products and services with a personal approach, KLM offers an experience that extends beyond simply being a product or a service. It’s because we care has therefore been used as a central theme in our videos and banners, as well as outdoors in bus and tram shelters.

The advertising material is available worldwide and will be used for several years. Sixty different versions have been created to serve four different regions: Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Different nationalities have been utilised to serve each region, and around 15 different languages have been utilised. The KLM employees in the campaign are not actors, which contributes towards the authentic character of the KLM brand.

RIU Hotels & Resorts has bought a building in one of London’s top neighbourhoods where, following a total refurbishment, it will open a hotel in its Riu Plaza urban line. The building is at 1 Neathouse Place, right next to Victoria Station, Westminster Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.

By the end of 2020, the future Riu Plaza hotel in London will become the chain’s first hotel in the United Kingdom, a country that represents a large proportion of RIU’s clientele in Spain and the Caribbean, and where the chain has spent some time seeking the ideal opportunity to expand the city hotel brand. The hotel that RIU is planning will be 4-star, with 350 rooms, and it will be geared mainly towards guests visiting London on sight-seeing holidays.

Luis Riu, CEO of RIU Hotels & Resorts, explains that “location is very important for all our hotels, but for the Riu Plaza line it is essential that we are located very close to the places of cultural and tourist interest and very well-connected. After years spent studying the best offers in the city, we are very pleased to announce this project, for which we estimate an investment of around 250 million euros to cover the purchase of the building and the refurbishment. The location is unbeatable, the building is in excellent condition and I think that in less than two years we will be able to celebrate the opening of our first hotel in London.”

London Victoria Station is the second-busiest station in the UK, after Waterloo, with an annual footfall of more than 75 million passengers using its underground, train and bus terminals. One of the many advantages of the hotel’s location is its direct connection to Gatwick airport in 30 minutes.

The building was originally constructed in the 1960s and it was fully renovated in 1997. The future RIU hotel will keep the structure and the best aspects of the building, and the interior will be completely transformed, with attention to design and comfort as well as the latest developments in energy efficiency and sustainable operations. Some of the rooms will enjoy spectacular views, and the hotel will also have a bar and restaurant, and an open-air terrace, which is not common in central London.

RIU currently has six Riu Plaza hotels worldwide, as well as two undergoing construction: Riu Plaza España and a second in New York. The first city hotel opened its doors in Panama in 2010 and, since then, it has been joined by the Riu Plaza Guadalajara hotel in Mexico, Riu Plaza Miami Beach and Riu Plaza New York Times Square in the USA, Riu Plaza Berlinin Germany and Riu Plaza The Gresham Dublin in Ireland.

The RIU Group has an ambitious expansion plan for the next five years, with a strong commitment to new destinations, especially in Asia, and large global cities where it plans to open Riu Plaza urban hotels. The hotel chain, which goes back more than 65 years, is characterised by its strong commitment to the destinations where it settles, investing in long-term projects that involve the local community through its purchasing, employment and sustainability policies. RIU is also making a big investment in the development and improvement of an increasingly sustainable operation, and all of its projects are guided by respect for the environments and the local culture and environment.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced industry performance statistics for 2017. Worldwide annual air passenger numbers exceeded four billion for the first time, supported by a broad-based improvement in global economic conditions and lower average airfares. At the same time, airlines connected a record number of cities worldwide, providing regular services to over 20,000 city pairs* in 2017, more than double the level of 1995. Such increases in direct services improve the industry’s efficiency by cutting costs and saving time for both travelers and shippers alike.

This information is included in the recently released 62nd Edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), the yearbook of the airline industry’s performance.

“In 2000, the average citizen flew just once every 43 months. In 2017, the figure was once every 22 months. Flying has never been more accessible. And this is liberating people to explore more of our planet for work, leisure and education. Aviation is the business of freedom,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

*City pairs are counted unidirectionally and only for aircraft with more than 19 seats and at least one flight frequency on average per week.  Connectivity can also be calculated by routes which now total more than 55,000.  Routes are based on airport (not city) pairs and are counted bi-directionally, regardless of aircraft size and flight frequency.  

The Air France-KLM Group has just announced that Ben Smith will succeed Jean-Marc Janaillac as the Group’s Chairman KLM.

KLM President & CEAO Pieter Elbers: “I congratualate Ben Smith on his appointment and wish him the best of success. It is beneficial for the group that, following Jean-Marc Janaillac’s departure in May, we now have clarity on the new AFKL CEO. It is with great confidence that I look forward to working together and jointly tackling the challenges that face AFKL Group in future.”