Thousands of travel managers, suppliers and TMC executives are expected to attend the four day Business Travel Days Forum at the ITB travel exhibition in Berlin next week.
Among the topics to be discussed are safety and security, environmental responsibility, the current state of the business travel market and how control costs but ensure quality.
The event, for which BTE is a media partner, will be opened by Richard Quest, a commentator of business travel for CNN.
Among the speakers are Kirsi Hyvaerinen, a leading analyst of business travel in Germany, Thomas Ansorgue, travel manager for Wella, Uwe Klapka, executive director Germany for Meeting Professionals International, Bernd Ruttloff, head of mobility management at Hochtief and Torsten Kreidt, a consultant with Advito.
The event will be held in Hall 7.1b, Auditorium London 1 in the Berlin Messe from March 5-8.
There will also be a Business Travel Lounge in Hall 8.1, sponsored by the VDR, Germany's business travel association and the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association Germany.
BTE will be reporting from Business Travel Days next week.
Steady growth for UK hotels – PKF
British hotel enjoyed a “steady growth” in January despite wintry weather, PKF Hotel Consultancy Services said.
But the consultants said the growth was mainly due to increases in room rates with occupancy actually dropping from 61.2% to 60.2%.
London hotels had a 3.7% increase in room rates from £86.18 in January 2007 to £89.40 last month. But again occupancy dropped 1% from 72% to 71%.
The regions enjoyed an average 3.4% rise in room rates from £69.97 to £72.34.
But while Liverpool and Leeds saw their room rates rise by, respectively, 1.8% and 4.2%, those in Birmingham and Cardiff fell, respectively by 4.2% and 7.5%.
Robert Barnard, a partner PKF, said: "January was a good month for hoteliers with overall growth seen across the whole of the UK.
"Despite a slight dip in occupancy in both London and the regions, average room rates and average rooms yields have continued to grow."
* see the latest jobs on BTE's recruitment site www.businesstraveljobs.com