Dateline Monday 5th January 2026

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope you are fit, fine, wonderful, and well, wishing you, your family, colleagues and friends a year of health, wealth, happiness and love.

Whoa we have a wonderful day in London W10 bright, sunny, crisp and cold in fact freezing cold, the heating in the office is cranked up to the max, I hope wherever you are the weather is good

It is hard to believe that the two-week end of year break is over, done and dusted and is just a memory in the book of life, I hope you had a great time and that you are ready for what this year will bring.

This Monday morning e mail will, I hope be a nice distraction from that delete button on your key board as you trawl through two weeks’ worth of spam and junk e mails, but please be careful what you click, there is a lot of dodgy e mail out there, my Monday e mail will also be short as a lot of the world still on holiday as well as a lot of people in this country are not yet back at work. The first week of January is always a bit slow with the world of work seriously picking up by next Monday 12^th January. Having said that Miranda, Joana, Rita and the team at AIM DMC Portugal are already hard at work preparing to welcome a group of 400+ delegates due to arrive into Lisbon next week .

It is clear that President Trump was not busy enough over Christmas and New Year, I guess he was bored so decided he needed to invade somewhere and Mr Maduro President of Venezuela got what was coming to him naughty President Maduro and his Mrs running guns and drugs. While you are at it Mr Presedient Trump now is the time to sort out the rogue state of Iran, the population is rising up against the regime they need help to final topple the dreadful Mullahs in charge.

Such sad news from Crans Montana, Switzerland, every parent’s worst nightmare they say goodbye to their children or young adults tell them to have a wonderful New Year’s Eve time and then they do not return, awful.

MM and Company news update

GERMANY 

Eva and the team at Cornerstone Meetings DMC have told us that Hyatt Hotels has announced the opening of Kennedy 89, in Frankfurt’s Sachsenhausen district, it is a new property within The Unbound Collection by Hyatt. The hotel is situated near the Main River promenade and 15 minutes from Frankfurt International. The property has 180 guest rooms, including 69 suites—the highest number of suites for a hotel in the city—all of which include private balconies and kitchenettes to cater to long-stay business travellers. The hotel has four flexible meeting rooms designed to accommodate small to medium-sized meetings and events. The hotel has dining options including the Eighty Nine Restaurant & Bar, serving Levantine cuisine, and a rooftop bar scheduled to open in July 2026.

FRANCE

Pascal, Enrica, Melanie and the team at NACARA DMC France like to forward plan so if you have clients that prefer Gatwick instead of Heathrow this is good news, because Air France is to launch new direct flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and London Gatwick airports at the start of the summer 2026 schedule. The airline said it would operate two daily flights between Paris CDG and Gatwick from 29 March, using Airbus A220 aircraft. Air France has not flown from Gatwick since the mid-1990s. Flights from Paris to Gatwick will depart at 9.20am and 3.45pm, while return services from Gatwick will leave at 10.30am and 5.10pm.

And that is about it for this Monday, you know as much as I know, wishing you an outstanding day and an awesome week ahead.