Whoa what happened to June?

And May and April for that matter?? Well anyone that works with me knows three weeks without a laptop can make anyone feel completely out of touch - literally and figuratively!

So while I will wonder if The Adjustment Bureau stepped in to make sure I left my laptop on a connecting flight in Philly, I am only now getting a chance to get the latest eXpert insights research out to clients - including the May Business Travel Monitor North America and the Q2 BTM Published Airfares for Asia Pacific - but also to look at them and see what has been going on.

For those of you not on the lucky distribution list, average domestic fare paid by North American-based business travelers last month was up 2% from April and 7% from 2010. International average fare paid was also up 2% and 9% year over year. This translates into average cost per mile was .31 domestic; .45 international.

In the hotel world, average booked rates were up 4% month over month as well as year over year. Domestically that means an average nightly rate of $156; internationally $254.

Finally, some good news in car rental: average daily rate was $70, down 2% from April and 2% from May 2010. Average total cost of rental though was up 1%, tied to 4% growth in the average length of rental at 3.12 days.

So while we will wait until September to issue our official prognostications on expected changes in pricing being paid by the poor road warriors so frazzled they leave their laptops on planes next year, I leave you with this: if you can't do anything about what the suppliers are going to be charging for their services out there, what can you do to help people stay productive?

If travel management professionals are not partnering with their information technology departments on supporting mobile communications and applications... you should be. Now where is my Blackberry??