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On its 100th birthday, and despite the difficulties the chauffeur industry is facing with the COVID pandemic, Chabé has reached a decisive milestone for its international development with the opening of its London-based international hub. The group is now Europe’s largest operator with an employed chauffeur model and direct presence in the UK, France, Switzerland, and Monaco.
Chabé Group CEO Guillaume Connan
“I am really proud on the 100th year of Chabé to announce the expansion of the business into London as a key strategic market and simultaneously the creation of our leading network servicing 100 countries worldwide. We have truly internationalized the business and are now catering to international clients as well as domestic European demand. We are offering to all our clients a truly global service,” said Chabé Group CEO Guillaume Connan.
David Bruce, UK CEO, leads the expansion of Chabé in the UK and has attracted a team that has extensive experience in the industry.
Chabé UK CEO David Bruce
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to build the Chabé business out in London and set up the international trading hub to serve our clients around the world, as well as adding new services specifically for the Financial services market,” said Bruce.
From London, Chabé has developed an integrated network of partners, considered among the best operators in the industry. Chabé selects its partners based on their service capability, their compliance with legal requirements and their commitment to deliver consistent high standards of service. Partners are all bound by a common service level agreement, including COVID-related safety measures and overall duty of care.
Chabé International Operations Director Nivin Salem
Nivin Salem is responsible for all International Operations for Chabé Group and is based in London.
“Chabé’s clients look for a seamless managed service for all their international needs. They can rely on us to deliver international service at the highest standard that Chabé is known for and we guarantee duty of care for every single passenger. We are delivering a service assured, door-to-door international service to all our clients,” said Salem.
Chabé offers ground transportation operators, in particular American ones, a one-stop shop for Europe through its London operations, delivering a high and consistent quality of service, reducing the booking/ monitoring and administrative burden for their teams, all at competitive rates.
“As international travel resumes, we see a strong demand for our international services from existing and new customers. We are ready and willing to support all operators as we all work hard to get business back to its pre-COVID levels, and very much look forward to meeting again in person our friends and colleagues from the industry,” added Connan.
Visit chabe.fr for more information.
[05.11.21]
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Once leading the jobless claims at the beginning of the pandemic, leisure & hospitality (L&H) was the strongest hiring sector in April in a jobs report that was otherwise disappointing. The addition of 331,000 jobs in the L&H sector was offset by the loss of more than 186,000 jobs in retail, manufacturing, warehousing, and professional & business services.
Since January, unemployment in L&H has steadily been dropping from a high of 39 percent to last month’s newest low of 10.8 percent. However, this still exceeds the overall U.S. unemployment rate of 6 percent.
This coincides with a robust return of leisure travel this past Mother’s Day—more than 1.7 million air travelers took to the skies on the Friday before the weekend that honors moms, setting a new record not seen since March 2020. Business travel, however, remains lackluster.
Business travel and transportation organizations aren’t backing down from kickstarting travel. Among the recent advocacy efforts are the NLA’s new On the Road Again campaign, while the Global Business Travel Association directly addressed COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator Jeffrey Zients in a letter urging the opening of non-essential Trans-Atlantic travel.
“Leisure & hospitality is significantly outperforming overall job creation even though travel in the U.S. is only operating at just over half strength,” said U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President for Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes in a press release. “International travel and business travel accounted for 41 percent of all travel spending in 2019, but those two segments remain virtually halted. This disappointing jobs report would have been significantly worse without leisure & hospitality, and we’re missing a huge opportunity to restore jobs by not prioritizing the reopening of two key segments of the travel industry.”
The next jobs report will be released on June 4.
[05.11.21]
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Motorcoach operators will soon be able to apply for the long-awaited Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS) Act as the U.S. Treasury has finally released on May 6 its established guidelines for preparing to apply. The program will be a formula grant, not a competitive grant, and may be issued in waves. The portal is NOT yet open to applications, but is expected within the next several weeks.
The CERTS Act was signed into law by former President Trump in December 2020 as part of his administration’s last COVID relief package, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. This allocated $2 billion to several industries including the motorcoach industry.
The program is open to motorcoach and school bus transportation providers who meet the criteria:
- Are a private sector company, including a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, or sole proprietorship
- Established or organized in the United States or pursuant to Federal law
- Have significant operations and a majority of employees based in the United States
- Have been in operation on March 1, 2020
- Have experienced a revenue loss of 25 percent or more, on an annual, calendar year basis from 2019 to 2020, as a direct or indirect result of COVID-19
- As of March 1, 2020, either
- Have had 500 or fewer than 500 full-time, part-time, or temporary employees and not been a subsidiary, parent, or affiliate of any other entity with a combined total workforce of more than 500 full-time, part-time, or temporary employees OR
- Have had more than 500 full-time, part-time, or temporary employees and not received a loan under the Airlines Loan Program or National Security Loan Program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act1 (or have been a subsidiary, parent, or affiliate of any entity with a combined workforce of more than 500 full-time, part-time, or temp
- At the time of application, have not received Federal assistance provided in response to COVID-19 under the CARES Act, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, or any other provision of law, that when combined exceeds the total amount of revenue earned by the entity during calendar year 2019.
According to the U.S. Treasury webpage: The progam will provide up to $2 billion in grants to eligible companies that certify they have experienced an annual revenue loss of 25 percent or more as a direct or indirect result of COVID. CERTS grant funds are primarily to cover payroll costs, but may also be used to cover the acquisition of services, equipment, including PPE and protection measures from COVID-19 for workers and customers; continued operations and maintenance of existing equipment and facilities; rent, leases, insurance, and interest on regular debt service.
Once the portal is open to receiving the first applications, it will be a four-week window to submit for the funding. Operators are encouraged to get the necessary paperwork together to make the application process quicker and smoother.
For more information, visit the Treasury’s CERTS page.
[05.07.21]