Where the Road Warriors Are

Everyone in the travel industry is suffering these days: airplanes are taking off partially full, hotels are sitting on countless empty rooms, and conferences and conventions are being scrapped or kept low-key. The decline of the number of business travelers--especially those deep-pocketed folks who pay thousands to sit at the front of the plane and who sleep on 1,000-thread-count sheets in luxury properties--is seen as a big reason for the industry's troubles.

In this atmosphere, it might seem a strange time to be launching a blog devoted to business travel. But it's precisely because of these problems that makes this blog worthwhile and relevant. With this post, Portfolio.com launches Itineraries--a blog that will be both a service tool for executives who double as road warriors and a chronicle of the business of travel.

This is a new beat for me, but it's not a new topic of interest. I think of myself as a child of business travel. After World War II, my dad first worked in the hotel business at a resort in the Virgin Islands before he became an airline executive. My mom was a young woman from a small town in southern Ohio who wanted to see more of the world, so she went to work for the Navy in Guam and then for the State Department in Chile. My parents met when they were both working in Tokyo, where they got married and where I was born. From Japan, we moved to Hong Kong, and they finally brought us back to the US when I was starting third grade.

When it came my turn to venture off, I chose journalism as a career. My first business trip was three days in Toledo, Ohio, tracking the trail of a serial killer. Soon, I became a political reporter, and made trips to all but three states (the Dakotas and Alaska were the holdouts) as well as to Russia and Ukraine. I've flown commercial, charter, and on Air Force One. I've stayed at five-star resorts, and budget motels off the interstate.

Now I'm at Portfolio.com, where I'm deputy editor and oversee business travel content. One of my duties has been editing Joe Brancatelli's weekly Seat 2B column, and it's from my work on that this blog was conceived. Better than anyone I know, Joe captures the big picture and digs deep into the trends that affect business travelers and move the travel industry.  But Joe can't usually get to news as it happens, or offer up a quick tip or observation with his weekly column.

Itineraries is designed to do several things--report daily news about the travel industry, post interviews with travel executives, offer survival tips for the business traveler, post hot deals, and offer stories of life on the road. I'll also be relying on other colleagues in my corporate universe--from Conde Nast Traveler, BizJournals, Golf World, GQ,  Jaunted, and Hotel Chatter--for items the Portfolio audience can use. Plus, I'm hoping readers feel comfortable sharing a story or two about their own travel experiences.

Most of all, Itineraries is a chronicle of transition--of industries adapting to troubled times, of businesses adjusting to economic realities, and of travelers moving from place to place. Thanks for coming along on the ride.