Somewhere in the Skies, Fish Ceviche Is Being Served
Coming up in Singapore Airlines A380 First Class Dining, with World-renowned chef Alfred Portale, served with the ultimate Givenchy china full-set, no less. And the new luxury size stemless wine glasses? A glory to behold. ˜ But not exactly "massclusivity". Joe Sharkey, On the Road - NY Times. Click to continue
Flight Attendants vs. Passenger: Care to Step Outside?
Flight attendant Elliot Hester takes on NY Times blogger Pico Iver, who had asked why U.S. carriers "have far and away the worst ˜ most surly, inattentive, and often snooty˜service in the world". In a spirited defense of the people "who are the face of the airline", Hester, with 20 years of service and 5,000 flights under his belt, makes sure he puts the blame where it belongs. Guess. Click to continue
A Dark, Stormy and Costly Hotel Night
Chris Barnett, a regular columnist for The Brancatelli File, reflects on a dark and stormy January night in San Francisco, searching for a reasonably priced room. The not-so-subtle lesson for business travelers? "Be prepared to dig deep this year for a hotel room in a major city. And don't expect your corporate rates or frequent travel program status to mean much". Happily, Chris throws in a nice compliment for The Benjamin in NY along the way.
The word “package” is not often associated with luxury stays---but at a time when every upscale hotel boasts fancy sheets and an array of butlers, a new one-upmanship tactic in packaging for the affluent appears on the marketing scene.
A recent MSNBC piece on what they call “quirky” packages unearthed a few eye-catching examples. Whether guests actually take advantage of these packages or they are used as “positioning statements” has been a longtime question in the business. But creative ones definitely attract attention; consider these:
When a guest books a $60,000 “engagement dinner” at the James Hotel in Chicago, chef David Burke of davidburke and donatella restaurant fame prepares the meal for the couple while a quartet from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays for the duration of the meal, and a 1.5 carat Van Cleef & Arpels diamond comes “at no extra charge.”
A 2007 Snapshot: The Affluent & Luxury Markets-A Media Matters Report from The American Associaion of Advertising Agencies, Prepared by MMR Inc. and based on the Mendelsohn Affluent Survey. Click here to view a chart of the top 20 Luxury Magazines.
Luxury Goods Annual Retail Sales Soar to $220 billion.
Global millionaires reach 9,500,000 in 2006; double a decade ago.
What Insights for Luxury Travel Marketers in U.S. and Beyond?
In From the Media we provide highlights from mainstream business and travel publications that have particular relevance for all high-end travel marketers. We enjoyed the lively presentations from senior writer Peter Gumbel. Here are a few nuggets—
"…Luxury is no longer reserved for the spoiled rich.
Increasingly it is the domain of the global middle class on an ego
trip…prepared to pay a premium for the thrill of owning something that
makes them feel special..."
What does luxury mean if everyone is doing it? Wall Street says RELAX. Luxury is a "giant pyramid", where anywhere looks good. Fortune quotes Louis Vuitton CEO Yves Carcelle to the effect that confusion does not exist in the marketplace. "Consumers are much more intelligent than one imagines."
A note from the Hotel Side: Big interior revamping at Plaza
Athenee in Paris –why? COO Francois Delahaye says it’s an attempt to
bring in a younger affluent crowd to pay those $950 a night rates for a
standard room. "The sons and daughters of our guests" he says, "are
fed up living with Louis XV style."
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