Booking rail beyond Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels has just got a whole lot easier with Meon Business Travel’s new partnership with Benerail.
Benerail is a one-stop shop that offers ticketing on 17 rail systems in 15 European countries, meaning a seamless booking experience that extends train travel beyond the trunk routes through the Channel Tunnel.
We have always had Eurostar available for Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels but we have so many clients travelling to Europe who want connecting services down through France and Germany. For them, Benerail is now the go-to option on our self-booking tool. Due to increased client demand, we are now working with our partner Benerail to deliver a European rail solution for our clients.
There are lots of good reasons to book rail over air travel. While travelling time generally favours air travel, remember rail travel is city centre to city centre and that in itself can make rail competitive. Another factor is that we are still seeing so many flight cancellations and it’s having an impact on the way people think. If you want proof, our latest figures show Meon’s rail transactions have increased 16% year on year with a near 21% increase in expenditure.
Benerail is a great way to convince staff to switch to using trains. Aside from the sustainability argument, rail mostly dispenses with luggage restrictions, most trains have Wi-Fi and many have dining cars. We also offer sleeper trains on some routes, which means you wake up in the heart of your destination.
In France, domestic flights are being halted, under a government decree, any journey that is possible in less than two-and-a-half hours by train cannot be taken as a flight so that’s forcing more people onto rail and a lot of our clients based in France need to transfer to TGV services; Benerail is the answer. We’ve already seen success with, for example, some clients flying to northern Europe and using Benerail to access a remote location by train from there instead of hiring a car.
Sustainability
Another reason to choose rail is for sustainability factors, which is very high up the agenda, especially with some of our retail clients. We are being asked more and more if we can drive policy that way. Bookings via the new Atriis user interface can be driven by CO2 emissions and we are seeing companies change their travel policy as a result.
In terms of cost of booking, Benerail means there are no GDS charges and there is parity with Eurostar’s direct channel with the same fare content. Loyalty card use is also permitted. It’s also quite easy to change or book someone on another train and to reissue tickets.
It all adds up – sustainability, city centre to city centre travel, the ability to work onboard and now ease of booking – rail is a serious contender for your business travel and with Benerail, it’s so much simpler to book now than ever before.
