Skift Business Traveler: InterContinental Gives You A Reason To Work Out

What to Know Now

Credit where due: United will now start serving Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat ale on a portion of its flights. The airline teamed up with Chicago’s home-team brewer for a kickoff party at the Goose Island facilities last Friday, which was unsurprisingly well-received. Now if they could just get their in-flight experience up to the same level of quality we’d be in business.

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Top Story

There’s a new hotel brand on the block, and it’s uncomfortably better looking than the other kids. Intercontinental hotels (home of Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza among others) launches EVEN hotels in Norwalk, CT and Rockville, MD this month, a brand dedicated to keeping travelers fit on the road.

Core to the hotel design are centralized workout facilities and better in-room fitness amenities. EVEN hopes that this design will motivate and attract like-minded, fit-focused travelers.

For my part, I’m looking forward to the snack bar with somewhat-healthy options over the typical soft drink and ice cream selection — I’ve never been much of a hotel gym sort of guy. But for those who are, you may now have a new home on the road.

EVEN has several more hotels planned for the east coast through next year. Keep an eye out for them at ihg.com.

SOCIAL QUOTE OF THE DAY

@united to offer @GooseIsland’s 312 “craft beer” on flights worldwide & in UA Clubs starting July 1. $3 in clubs, $8(!) in economy. #PaxEx

 –  ‏@AirlineFlyer | Jason Rabinowitz Aviation and Travel Writer

Airlines

Analyst Downgrade Shows United Is Still Paying Price for Botched Merger: An airline analyst downgraded United Continental on Thursday, saying it has not capitalized on lessons learned from other mergers in the industry and that it still lags its industry rivals. Read more at Skift

Air India Becomes First Indian Airline to Join a Global Airline Alliance: National carrier Air India will become the first Indian airline admitted to a global airline alliance on July 11 when it is slated to officially join the Star Alliance. Read more at Skift

United Airlines to serve Goose Island’s 312 Urban Wheat: United Airlines will soon debut a hometown brew: Goose Island’s 312 Urban Wheat Ale is coming to the Chicago-based airline’s worldwide flights and its U.S. airport clubs on July 1. Read more at the Chicago Tribune

Airports

Adding Up the Costs of Global Entry and TSA PreCheck for Consumers: Benet Wilson is one of the 2.5 million Americans who have paid a yearly fee to skip security lines at airports and thinks it’s worth every penny she paid for a five-year membership in the Global Entry program offered by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection department. Read more at Skift

Direct Rail Connection Between LAX and Downtown Approved: Los Angeles County transportation officials on Thursday approved a new train station designed to allow a rail connection with Los Angeles International Airport, capping decades of discussion and complaints over one of Southern California’s most infamous planning problems. Read more at Skift

Delta, Alaska Airlines Go to War Over Seattle: Longtime partners Alaska Air Group Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. are slugging it out in a battle for Seattle that is turning into one of the U.S. airline industry’s nastiest turf wars in years. Read more at the Wall St. Journal

Tech

Global Travelers Willing to Trade Privacy for Smarter Transit Tools: Today’s travelers are more willing to exchange their personal data for smarter travel tools than expected, according to a new report published by MasterCard.  Up to 67 percent of global travelers are willing to share data for a service that chooses the quickest public transit route for a specific journey or recommends the best time of day to travel. Read more at Skift

Why Airlines and Airports Alike Need to Embrace Free Wi-Fi: You’re going to be able to access the internet everywhere some day soon, without having to pay for it. Read more at Skift

Newest airport perk: Robot valets to park your car: Passengers flying from Germany’s Dusseldorf Airport can now take advantage of what’s sure to be one of the world’s most-unique airport perks: Parking by robot valets. Read more at USA Today

Hotels

Inside InterContinental Hotels’ New Health and Wellness Themed Brand: While some people are able to maintain a healthy lifestyle while traveling, many others are often distracted from eating the right food, getting enough sleep and finding the energy to exercise.  InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) launched its new EVEN Hotels brand this month in Norwalk, CT and Rockwell, MD for people in both the first and second groups, but mostly the second. Read more at Skift

French Minister Criticizes Plan to Hike Hotel Taxes: French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has blasted plans to raise by more than five times hotel taxes paid by tourists, saying the move would be dangerous for tourism and France’s stumbling economy. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

A very happy birthday to travel writing legend Don George, who celebrated his 38th birthday, give or take a rounding error, in San Francisco last week. See you on the road Mr. George.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to [email protected] and @grantkmartin. We publish the Business Newsletter twice a week on Monday and Thursday.

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