WHO says the Guild of Business Travel Agents isn’t trendy?
At its conference in Lucerne last week, speaker Michael Brooks described the profile of the next generation of business travellers.
“They currently listen to the Stone Roses and Oasis,” said Brooks, who is managing director of Travel Research Centre.
“By the way, they’re pop groups, in case you didn’t know,” he told the assembled group, before listing a few more popular bands.
Unfortunately Brooks’ street cred was completely lost when he inadvertently added an extra vowel when mentioning the Manic Street Preachers, calling them instead the Maniac Street Preachers. Even GBTA chairman Don Lunn guffawed at Brooks’ gaffe.
Meanwhile, keeping the drinks flowing proved to be a bit of an uphill struggle for Avis.
It sponsored an evening event during the conference which involved taking a train to the Hotel Edelweiss at the top of Mount Rigi.
Delegates sipped champagne, then clung on to their seats as the train went up the mountain at a near-vertical angle.
Unfortunately, no-one thought to tie down the drinks trolley and delegates heard an almighty crash as champagne bottles and glasses fell to the floor.
Never one to see drink going to waste, Going Places general manager Adam White leapt out of his seat in a desperate bid to rescue what dregs of champagne he could – but to no avail.