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The Business Traveller’s Guide to Berlin

What to do at Berlin’s #appsworld Since opening its doors to the world since the fall of the wall, Berlin has become a bustling, cosmopolitan and hugely popular destination for business and leisure travellers alike. It’s no coincidence that a city with such historical and cultural significance should become a key exhibition hub for industries to showcase their innovations. Few cities in the world have the unique mix of the old and the new with such a vast amount of iconic landmarks and things to do and see if your schedule allows you the time. Apps World (April 20th-21st) is next up on the events calendar. Apps World, Berlin CityCube Berlin, Messedamm, 26, 14055 Berlin How to get there… From Berlin Schönefeld Airport, it will take you about an hour to get to the venue. Hop on the RB14 Towards Nauen Bahnhof, change at Berlin-Lichtenberg for the S5 to Messe Süd. If you’re flying into Berlin Tegel Airport jump on the 109 towards S+U Zoologischer Garten, in 10 minutes you’ll be at Berlin Charlottenburg. From here, get the S5 towards Spandau Banhof, and alight at Messe Süd. Getting around Berlin Berlin is a relatively small city, with great public transport that runs like clockwork. There’s the U-Bahn (underground/subway) and the S-Bahn (above ground train) at times you might switch between the two to get where you’re going. Oh and it runs 24 hours, so no excuses for not exploring the city! And remember: STAMP YOUR TICKETS. At each station, there’s a box that you should time-stamp your ticket at before boarding any public transport. Plain clothes ticket officers may pop up and they will fine you. The nearest station to Apps World is Messe Süd, on the S9 (which the Flughafen Berlin Schönefeld is on too, albeit on the other end) and S75. These are great lines to be on, and can whizz you from West to East in no time. Here’s a handy tube map. You can, of course, use Uber whilst in Berlin. Or download the handily named Taxi App, which works in the same way but also allows you to pay in cash (especially good if you’ve got some extra Euros to use). Berlin in the Distance Fernsehturm Local Eateries and Bar Hotspots House of Small Wonder (Johannisstraße 20, 10117 Berlin, Germany) Climb the twisting staircase through jungle plants and odd paraphernalia. It’s not the biggest café, so make sure to arrive with plenty of time. Foodwise, their Okinawan Taco Rice is delicious and they serve their coffee with a smile. House of Small Wonder Dr. Pong (Eberswalder Str. 21, 10437 Berlin, Germany) No trip to Berlin would be complete without a trip to the local’s local Dr. Pong. It’s gained a bit of a reputation in recent years with travelers, but the core essence remains the same: beer, and a whole lot of group pong action. Any bar near Sonnenalle It’s totally worth taking a little trip to Neukölln of an evening. Take a little walk and peek behind any number of doors and you’ll probably find a dimly lit bar serving beer and 2 Prosecco. If locals are to be believed, Neukölln is the new Kreuzberg, and it’s packed to the brim with bars and restaurants. EAT: Ban Ban Kitchen (Schillerpromenade 32, 12049 Berlin, Germany) Korean Soul Food is totally a thing in Berlin. They’ve got two locations, so whether you’re looking for a quick snack or ready for a proper meal, they’ve got you covered. And simply put, they have the best darn Kimchi Fries ever (yes, they’re a thing!). THEN DRINK: Das Gift (Donaustraße 119, 12043 Berlin, Germany) This has to be the only Scottish bar in Berlin, and it’s owned by Mogwai keyboardist Barry Burns. It’s a dive bar, in the best possible way and one of the only places in around that knows (and appreciates) what cider is! Klunkerkranich (Karl-Marx-Straße 66, 12043 Berlin, Germany) This shopping centre on Karl-Marx-Allee might look like every other mall around. But hop in the elevator and head to the top of the car-park, and you’ll be rewarded with great views of Berlin, a welcoming beer-garden and an ice-cold Fritz Kola. View from the Klunkerkranich Brandenburg Gate Evening Entertainment Lets Go Gaming: IRL or VR? Want to actually get hands on? It’s Berlin International Games Week, April 18th-24th. Head to the achingly cool Urban Spree (Revaler Str. 99, 10245 Berlin, Germany), which is 1700sqm dedicated to art and DIY ideas and just..

Join Your Peers At The All-Ireland Business Summit On April 14th

We are delighted to be exhibiting at the 2016 All-Ireland Business Summit taking place on April 14th at Croke Park where over 500 of Ireland’s top business leaders will gather to learn how to survive the business jungle! The event aimed at Irish business leaders is returning for a second year and will see inspiring international and Irish thought leaders share insights with the audience about how to lead effectively, how to build connections and how to stay ahead of the competition. The day will kick off with a networking masterclass with renowned relationship building expert Kingsley Aikins. He will equip attendees with the skills to network and to engage effectively with their peers. Attendees can use these tools throughout the day and beyond! US-based leadership coach and best-selling author Dr Colby Jubenville will share his expertise on how to survive the business jungle and how to stay different and remain agile so that you can seize opportunities ahead of your competitors. Other exciting speakers include: Pete Smith, a top US Professional Development Expert; Jim O’Toole, CEO of Worcester Warriors; Neil Pakey, CEO, Shannon Group and more. Over 60 businesses from all over Ireland including Roomex.com will participate in the showcase area, highlighting their service offering to attendees. April 14thth will be an action packed day and provide value to all participants, making it one of the must attend business events in 2016. Be ready to be inspired, network and connect with Ireland’s finest businesses and rub shoulders with hundreds of potential clients / peers. For more information on the event and to buy tickets, visit http://www.allirelandsummit.com. We hope to see you there!

Roomex Launches New 2016 Booking Engine at London Business Travel Show

Roomex, the online hotel booking platform for business travel, is launching a brand new hotel booking engine on Wednesday at the London Business Travel Show 2016. Roomex offers corporate rates at over 550,000 hotels worldwide and has saved its clients on average 21% against BAR in the last 12 months. The new booking platform will build on developments in 2015 and result in an even faster and easier booking process. There are 4 Key Pillars to the Roomex platform: Cost Savings Time Savings Live Reporting Policy and Control Roomex has enjoyed rapid growth throughout the UK and Ireland over the last 3 years and now boasts an incredible client list. The overriding principal behind the platform is to make the corporate hotel booking process easier for everyone in the business, from the booker to the traveller, to accounts, to the CFO, HR and Procurement. Roomex does this through an extremely straightforward booking flow and even the sign-up is simple – No Costs, No Contract, No Fees.

Roomex opens new locations throughout UK

Roomex now has offices and local staff throughout all of Ireland and The UK. Our two central offices are in Dublin and London, but we now also have Roomex staff on the ground locally. If at any stage you would like to see or talk about Roomex, and how it can save your business time and money, please don’t hesitate to ‘Request a Demo’ at the top of this page. Our initial demo takes about 15 minutes to do online over the phone, but we’re more than happy to come our and meet with you too. And, since we have no set up fees or contracts, there’s no pressure to buy, we’re happy for you to just try it !

New Roomex website goes live !

We launched our new website today at http://www.roomex.com ! Apart from taking in our new branding and design, we have also re-developed the Roomex hotel booking engine. The new website is firmly focused on our corporate clients and how Roomex delivers value to them. We also launched our new blog which we’d love you to subscribe to or get involved with sharing our blog posts across social media, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook ! If you have any feedback on the new site, we’d love to hear it !

Roomex 2015 – Thank You !

Another year over and we’re delighted to say that 2015 has been our best year ever. We have grown our presence in the Irish and UK markets, created some wonderful new alliances with hotels, added new clients, team members and technology to make our service the best it has ever been. Some of our key achievements in 2015 included Doubling our customer base and working with even more incredible companies both in Ireland and the UK, making their hotel booking process easier ! Saving our clients over 1.7 million / £1.3 million, measured ! Integration with Google Maps, making searching for hotels even easier Increase global supply to over 550,000 Hotels Worldwide Addition of the Premier Inn UK and Travelodge UK chains to the platform Addition of thousands of new hotel contracts through the GDS Introduction of Client Cost Codes into the booking flow Introduction of Profile Intelligence into the booking flow Introduction of Travel Policy & Duty of Care into the platform Recruitment of more fantastic people to work in Roomex, doubling our staff numbers Opening a new office in London as well as branches throughout the UK Attendance, membership, sponsorship and active participation with leading industry organsisations including Exporters Association, Institute of Travel and Meeting, Global Business Travel Association, Chambers of Commerce in Dublin, Cork, London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester Awards – Deloitte Technology Fast 50, Kuehne & Nagle Innovative Supplier of the Year, SFA National Business Awards, Exporters Awards, Travel Technology Awards, tHackathon winners None of this would be possible without the ongoing support of our clients, so a big THANK YOU to all those amazing companies that have made Roomex their default hotel booking service in 2015. We are proud to say that we have retained all of our customers and we very much appreciate the loyalty of each and every one. We have big plans for the year ahead so please follow us on our blog here and look out for our announcements throughout the coming year.

Roomex Saves Over 1.7 million for Business Clients in 2015

One of the biggest benefits of using Roomex for Business is that we provide instant visibility on total hotel spend… and savings ! This allows senior management to analyse spend based on any cost centre they wish, typically by department or project. We access the best rates in corporate travel through our own direct contracting but also by incorporating the world’s biggest hotel systems into our company portals. We recognise that securing the best rate is a key reason for using Roomex and therefore have developed our own instant price-checking technology which compares the price of every reservation made through Roomex against the Best Available Rate at the hotel booked. This ensures that our clients are getting the best rates, that the savings data in our clients reports is accurate and it consistently emphasises the value of the Roomex service. 2015 has once again shown the incredible value that we bring to Roomex Clients – 1,766,630 worth of value on cost savings alone ! That is over 1.7m extra that our 400 business clients in Ireland and the UK would have spent on hotels had they not booked through Roomex. When added to the time savings, live reporting, booking control and Duty of Care, the true worth of the service becomes apparent. Throughout 2016 we will continue to add services which will improve the experience for our valued customers and keep pushing savings higher and higher.

Roomex – Awards for 2015

We’ve had an incredible run of awards and nominations in the last few months, here’s a summary: Deloitte Technology Fast 50, this is our 4th time receiving a ‘Deloitte’ having previously won the Rising Star Award in 2008. Kuehne & Nagel, Innovative Supplier of the Year Award SFA National Business Awards Finalist, Winner and Announcement with the President of Ireland in March 2016 Irish Exporters Association nomination for High Potential Exporters Award ITM Travel Awards Nomination – Best Travel Technology Provider Team Winners of Technology Hackathon #tHackDublin sponsored by tnooz and Skyscanner Thank you !

Should you negotiate a fixed price with hotels?

Many of our customers travel regularly to the same locations and indeed to the same hotels and therefore will have entrusted Roomex to ensure that they get the best possible rate each time they visit. This raises the question as to whether Roomex should negotiate a fixed rate at a hotel for you? And the answer yes, sometimes. Firstly, a client typically has to have at least 100 room nights per annum at a hotel to get a negotiated rate. By agreeing a fixed price at a hotel you can guarantee that you will have access to that rate all year round and there will be no surprises. Often business rates are negotiated to include breakfast, Wi-Fi and sometimes even dinner. When the hotel is busy then this rate will be a guarantee against rising prices. Whilst every hotel revenue manager amends prices to ensure the highest possible occupancy and rate, there will inevitably be times when the hotel is not busy and prices start falling, sometimes below the negotiated rate. The key here is having the data to measure the strength of your negotiated rates against the fluctuating rates of the hotel. Our live price-checking software within the Roomex for Business platform provides this on an ongoing basis. We are measuring and tracking two things firstly, the actual saving, and secondly, the strength of your negotiated rates, tracked over time. Best practice is therefore to have negotiated rates for those hotels where you will have a significant number of room nights, but we must always measure and track the strength of these over time. A very successful alternative often is to have a fluctuating rate with a fixed discount off the Best Available Rate and even though the rate will vary, the average can be significantly better over time!

Corporate Hotel Bookings in under 1 minute!

Roomex, the leading corporate hotel booking service, today announced a major service upgrade which will lead to vastly improved booking speeds. One minute bookings are now very much the reality says Jack Donaghy, CEO at Roomex. For many months, our corporate clients have been able to save their most frequently visited locations, key hotels, contact information and even company cost codes as part of their booking process. The one element that required repeated inputting was credit card information for payment. Now that this can be saved for regular use the whole booking process can be comfortably achieved in less than 60 seconds he continued. The majority of our clients are on monthly billing, whereby we issue one itemised monthly bill for all hotel spend but some clients prefer to pay by credit card and this closes that loop concluded Donaghy. Product innovation has been key to Roomex becoming the most unique and fastest growing online corporate travel tool in the market. Roomex works with over 300 global companies to better manage their corporate hotel booking process. Clients include, Central Bank of Ireland, Musgrave Group, Dairygold, Sisk Group and Laya Healthcare. Cost savings have averaged 21% in the last 12 months, with total savings in 2014 topping 1.8m.

Category: Blog