PA Life talks to Michelle Maré, Sales Development Manager for Eurostar for Business about her 24-year career journey within the company and what Eurostar offers to business travellers today…
Michelle joined Eurostar at the contact centre in 2002 when things were a little different, and Eurostar didn’t have a website yet! She has seen a lot of change and improvements since then and is very much looking forward to what the future brings. When she’s not at work or travelling, you might find Michelle baking a mess in the kitchen or out exploring with her camera.
What destinations are proving most popular with business travellers?
We have seen a strong growth on our London to Amsterdam route with passenger numbers increasing by +18.3% in 2025. The opening of our new Amsterdam cross-channel terminal has enhanced the customer experience while tripling our capacity on this key route. Beyond our Dutch route, Paris and Brussels remain popular destinations for business travellers, benefiting from direct city centre connections that help reduce overall journey times and carbon emissions.
What feedback do you hear most often from assistants who book Eurostar for their teams?
The feedback we hear most often is how easy our Eurostar for Business booking tool is to use and how seamless it is to confirm a reservation; it takes the friction out of the process. EAs and PAs also consistently highlight the visibility it gives them, with a full overview of all bookings available on their dashboard. The ability to extract reports is a real advantage, making reconciliation faster, simpler, and far less time-consuming.
For regular travellers, it becomes even more valuable as their details can be saved within the business profile including their Club Eurostar number, ensuring they always receive their points with no extra effort.
Overall, it’s designed to save time, reduce admin, and give assistants complete control, which is why so many teams quickly make it their go-to booking solution.
How does Eurostar help businesses manage travel budgets effectively?
We help businesses manage their budgets effectively by offering our Eurostar for Business booking tool, which is free to sign up. The tool enables the travel organiser to centralise all their Eurostar business travel in one place and download the transaction reports. The EAs & PAs can book on behalf of their employees or enable the team to arrange their own travel, whilst still having a full overview of all spend.
Are there special travel benefits for companies that travel regularly with Eurostar?
Companies that travel regularly can earn free tickets or upgrades once 15 return journeys have been completed when using our Eurostar for Business booking tool. Once the organisation reaches a threshold of £50k in a 12-month period, we offer discounted rates for travel in Eurostar Plus and Premier class and other exclusive perks, including extra flexibility and price cap guarantee.
How can organisations balance sustainability with efficiency and cost when planning business travel? In planning business travel we have found that arranging travel as soon as meetings and events are confirmed is key. With Eurostar, our trains are available up to 12 months in advance and if plans do change our tickets are exchangeable with no fee and refundable with a mere £25 segment fee per person in Eurostar Standard and in Eurostar Plus, while fully flexible and refundable in Eurostar Premier. On board, time on the Eurostar can be both productive and relaxing,allowing travellers to catch up on work or enjoy some downtime so they arrive rested at our city-centre stations.
Travelling by Eurostar can reduce Co2 emissions by up to 96% compared with flying on key routes. All Eurostar for Business customers can have access to a co2 journey report and from early next year this will be visible on their dashboard for easy reporting. We will also have the function to set their own travel policy on the account to ensure bookings are aligned with Travel and Expense policies.
How does Eurostar see its operations change for the opening of its key routes to competitors in 2029/2030?
We are focusing on our growth and expansion with new international routes: London-Frankfurt, London-Geneva and Amsterdam/Brussels – Geneva. We have invested €2billion in a new fleet of up to 50 trains to support this future growth to arrive in early 2030.
For more information, visit Eurostar for Business.
Eurostar for Business offers discounted conference fares too.
