The FASHION HEADLINE editorial team began preparations in August for our coverage of the Paris Collection, held in October.

As an online media outlet, Fashion Headline makes full use of online services for business trip reservations. One particularly useful feature is the app, released by Expedia in June of this year. Here's a report on our experience using it.

You can download the app from iTunes or Google Play. Clicking the icon displays beautiful images of countries around the world on the homepage, building excitement for your trip. From there, you can make domestic and international hotel and flight reservations.

■Flight Booking in 4 Steps

First, book your flight. Instantly book flights with approximately 400 airlines in just 4 steps. Reservations are accepted up to 12 hours before departure. Another key feature is the system's display of only available seats.

Search for your departure and destination, and travel period. Select your departure and arrival airports and travel period (one-way flights are also possible). After selecting your airline and flight time, only available seats will be displayed on the screen. Select your desired airline and flight. You can select both outbound and return flights. Prices and travel times are updated with each selection, making it easy to compare flights. For the final payment, enter your guest information and credit card details (credit card payments only). You can also request assistance and choose a window or aisle seat. There are no booking or ticketing fees.

Following this, all flight information, such as ticket number, reservation number, terminal information, and schedule, is recorded in the app. It also features a feature that updates flight status, boarding gate number, and airport access information in real time.

■Hotel Booking in Four Steps

After booking your flight, book a hotel. Instant reservations are available up to midnight on the day of your flight, with over 325,000 hotels in 30,000 cities. Last-minute schedule changes are also possible.

Hotel bookings are completed in just four steps, just like flights. First, click the "Hotels" icon in the upper left corner of the app's homepage. Select your city and check-in/check-out dates, and search results will appear immediately. Hotels ranging from five-star hotels to condominiums are introduced with numerous photos, so you can further narrow down your search by price and rating to find the perfect hotel. As with flights, only available rooms are displayed, making it easy to find.

The app's homepage displays a variety of beautiful hotel photos from around the world, but don't look too far away. Enter "Paris, France" as your search criteria. You can refine your search to display prices and stars, popularity, price, and even maps and user reviews. The hotel overview includes detailed information essential for online media, such as Wi-Fi, breakfast, and language support. Seasonal discounts are also available, so be sure to check them out.

This time, we decided on a hotel in the Marais district, which offers easy access to central Paris and is home to many galleries used as exhibition venues. Finally, it's time to pay. Fill out your guest information and credit card information (payments are by credit card only). There are no handling fees for booking arrangements or ticket issuance.

Both flight and hotel reservations are supported 24/7. Phone support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In the case of our editorial team, the hotel contacted us the next day to say that the payment hadn't gone through properly. We called customer service, which spoke to us in Japanese. We immediately emailed the hotel and successfully completed the payment.

And finally, an essential part of a business trip to the Paris Collection is to contact the hotel in advance. A few days before your stay, invitations and faxes are scheduled to arrive one after another, so send an email asking them to keep all of them safe.

After booking our flights, in September we received invitations from fashion brands planning to hold fashion shows, exhibitions, and events in Paris. There were about 30 of them. We responded to each of them with requests for interviews, and also submitted individual requests for interviews and other coverage to the public relations staff. While continuing our regular work, we were busy preparing for our business trip.

In the second part, we finally departed for Paris. We will report on what it was like there.