But Luxury Travel Connoisseur Karen Weiner
Escalera says Value Added Alone Is Not Enough
Karen
Weiner Escalera, president of the KWE Group
in Coral Gables, one of the most insightful thinkers on luxury travel, told an
industry newsletter in an interview that, "Early in 2009, many marketers
thought that offering "value adds" would be enough - i.e. a
four-night stay for the price of three, a resort credit, a free dessert when
ordering an entrée, etc. As the year progressed, it was obvious that these
initiatives weren't enough. The overall rate had to be priced right as
well."
Escalera
continued, "The winning combination is value add and the right rate.
I am not accustomed to seeing such verve from parent
paper Wall Sreet Journal, but editor Tina Gaudoin gave us a treat with her take
on The Changed State of Luxury. My favorite nuggets:
..."Luxury
goods houses will have to rethink the way they appeal to us, the
consumers, in order to survive. In which case, we're talking better value
and maybe even lower prices. But will this approach ultimately devalue the
meaning of the L word?" PS > Editor Gaudoin thinks not.
...‘People
want value for money in every single market, says Chloe' CEO Ralph
Toledano. 'Pricing is a key issue we are working on'.
...
"You couldn't go to a cocktail party and say you just bought a $25 million
dollar apartment. Now you can---as long as you got 30% off'.
...'It's
just a question of time before China will be a luxury car market on par
with the U.S.,' says the VP of marketing for BMW in China
Advertising Age Report of June 29 says "the age of interruption is over." Why? First, the film jury handed its sole Grand Prix to the interactive film Carousel, from Tribal DDB Amsterdam. Next, a PR campaign for Queensland, Australia, broke the record for winning the most Grand Prix in a single festival
To put it bluntly, Cannes was "swept by PR, Integrated, Internet Winners", says Ad Age editor Laurel Wentz.
"The way the world is heading is voluntary engagement", according to David Lubars, president of the film and press juries
The headline said "Guilt trip; Luxury travelers are toning it down, keeping it quiet or canceling vacations to avoid flaunting wealth in hard times". The story in March 6 USA Today was by Jayne Clark, who ‘carried it off' in splendid style. Here's the saucy essence, followed by the link to the full treatment.
"In a time when posh has become a four-letter word, forget about keeping up with the Joneses. It's more socially expedient to stay down with them. Economic turmoil is giving luxury a bad name, it seems, and not just among the private-jet set, either. The desire to tone down consumption is affecting how some Americans vacation -- or at least how they say they vacation." Much of the anecdotal material in this USA Today piece comes from travel agents -worth the trip.
A year that began with warnings about "the end of luxury" is ending
with headlines about "surge in demand for luxury" (Smith Travel
Research) and "Luxury Makes a Comeback" (Fortune Magazine).
Looking forward, we are focused on lessons learned during the Great
Recession by smart luxury travel marketers and experts who shared their
experiences –and their counsel—in LT360 columns and stories during
these challenging times.
Senior Editor Harvey Chipkin and I have used boldface black—a
hopeful color for the coming year—to highlight smart marketer themes,
actions, and adaptations below that will pay large dividends going
forward.
In today's commentary we share thoughts
from a recent conversation with Mary Gostelow, editor of KIWI's online WOW
Report. They don't say "Affluent", but they sure point to a more
sensible, and comfortable travel culture to come:
Everybody was using
luxury for everything. We've been living in a time of growing excess which
was not really necessary. Why should bedrooms get bigger and bigger? Why
should the thread count of sheets get higher and higher? Who cares? Does
anybody even know what thread count means? Why should one hotel's terry
bath towels get thicker and more sumptuous than anybody else's? You know,
it was as though everybody was going for the Guinness Book of Records the
whole time.
Resource Center 
Karen
Weiner Escalera, president of the 
