The Savoy after renovations in 2010. Image via weareprivate.net

When Duran Duran released its lush, ten-minute comeback video “Girl Panic!” in November, the real star wasn’t the band or the five 1990s supermodels (Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen, Eva Herzigová and Yasmin Le Bon) who played the roles of the vintage new-wave rockers, but a sixth show-stealing beauty: London’s Savoy hotel.

In the part-mockumentary, part-music video created by director Jonas Åkerlund (whose previous musical mini-movie, the sexy, stylized Lady Gaga-Beyoncé collaboration “Telephone,” has nearly 136 million YouTube views), the pedigreed models wake up in an elegantly appointed (but slightly trashed) suite, seduce female groupies outside the hotel’s iconic entrance, rock out in the ballroom and have to be wheeled back to their room in a bellman’s cart.

To the public, the video is pure eye candy. To hospitality industry insiders, it’s a stroke of marketing genius.

Hotel with as character

“Girl Panic!” is just one example of the emerging trend of hotels appearing as “characters” in short, subtly branded films. As TiVo and Netflix make the 30-second ad spot a thing of the past, such co-pro “advertainment” is quickly filling in the gap.

For the Savoy, that meant a handshake agreement with the filmmaker in which the hotel offered to host the 300-member crew for a whirlwind 48-hour shoot; the payoff was a priceless piece of publicity that will live online forever.

The Savoy, managed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, reopened its doors in 2010 following a three-year, 220-million-pound renovation. In Europe, the 10.10.10 launch didn’t just make the newspaper travel sections, it made the front pages.

The historic hotel on the Thames is the stuff of legend, the place where Oscar Wilde carried out the affair for which he was later tried, where a young Princess Elizabeth first appeared in public with suitor Prince Philip, where Maria Callas performed an impromptu concert in the ballroom and where Bob Dylan stayed while filming “Subterranean Homesick Blues” in an adjacent alley.

For more than a century, celebrities have danced and drunk and sometimes behaved badly under the Savoy’s sparkling chandeliers and behind its heavy chintz draperies. It was the first hotel in London where women could dine in public – and later smoke. But rather than sweeping its vices under the rug, the Savoy readily embraces them.

“Not many hotels would have done this,” says Savoy director of communications Brett Perkins. “But the Savoy is a sexy hotel. It’s often said that we’ve done events for royalty and rock royalty.”

Luxury hotel brands with historic properties in their portfolios like to speak of “hotels as destinations” whose storied personalities beckon visitors as much as their locations.

With this music video, the Savoy played its character – regal, with an edge – to perfection. Aside from showcasing the interiors, brand recognition was facilitated by a lengthy establishing shot of the hotel entrance and signage, as well as a title screen indicating that the video was “Shot at the Savoy hotel, London, 6th of June 2011.”

The publicity didn’t end with the video release. The world premiere at the Harper’s Bazaar UK Women of the Year awards ceremony was followed by a cover and 22-page shoot in the magazine with hands-on styling by Dolce & Gabbana.

The result? More than 5.3 million YouTube views and, according to Perkins, countless phone-in requests from guests, media and event planners to use the spaces seen in the film.

The next generation

Luxury Collection by Starwood Hotels and Resorts, the elite tier of the company that runs Sheraton and W Hotels, among other brands, took a slightly different approach to its foray into filmmaking.

Here is a short film conceived by Indo-American actor Waris Ahluwalia (along with friends actress Tilda Swinton and artist Sandro Kopp) after he became the Luxury Collection’s brand ambassador.

This time the film was created solely for use by the hotel group and has its own branded microsite. Ahluwalia has said the concept was inspired by the brand’s slogan, “Life Is a Collection of Experiences. Let Us Be Your Guide.”

In the 15-minute short released in January 2012, we find another supermodel, this time England’s Agyness Deyn. Styled like a Hitchcock classic of the 1960s (all tailored clothing and Technicolor palette), the story follows the platinum-blonde heroine as she’s led by a series of clues on an elaborate scavenger hunt to three of the brand’s most illustrious American properties, the Equinox in Vermont, the Phoenician in Arizona and the Royal Hawaiian on the island of Oahu.

Deyn navigates through the most spectacular aspects of the properties: the Equinox’s British School of Falconry and its bucolic lakeside setting; the Phoenician’s enormous mother-of-pearl pool and vistas of the pink Camelback Mountain; the Royal Hawaiian’s Royal Beach Tower and its lush tropical grounds.

Actor Agyness Deyn at Equinox’s British School of Falconry. Image by Alessio Bolzoni.

Ahluwalia describes the hotels as characters in the film. “I picked three properties that seemed intriguing, that seemed to tell a story, that seemed to cover the landscape,” he says in the film’s behind-the-scenes video.

Behind the scenes is also where we find other big names: actor-musician Jason Schwartzman created the score; celebrity costume designer Heidi Bivens styled the wardrobe, including dresses by Versace and Yigal Azrouël and jewellery by Ahluwalia’s own line, House of Waris.

Luxury Collection created advance buzz by allowing Starwood Preferred Guests to bid on a chance to see the exclusive premiere and stay at the Chatwal, a Luxury Collection hotel in New York.

Fashion and luxury-brand writers then blogged and tweeted the 31-second trailer ahead of the film release. (Starwood wouldn’t release the number of hits received on its microsite but the video on YouTube has just under 200,000 views).

The result has been increased brand awareness for Starwood’s top-shelf properties, and engagement with the next generation of luxury hotel guests. As Melanie Brandman, founder of the New York-based high-end travel PR firm, the Brandman Agency, told Luxury Daily, “I believe their vision was to showcase these properties in a narrative way that would entice prospective guests to visit and build a new audience – younger, savvier, more artistically inclined – that may have not considered these properties before.”

With most new luxury hotel openings focused on ultra-modern interiors and amenities, these competing historic properties have upped the ante by drawing on their cultural cachet. Through these videos, hotels that once hosted Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly are showing a new generation that they’re also the choice of the glitterati of today.

Retailers aren’t just tapping into the past on baby boomers’ behalf – they’re playing on a generation’s nostalgia for a time they never knew.

While some brands are cashing in on their own rich cultural cachet (see: Coca Cola or Adidas), others are hopping on the retro bandwagon, providing eager young buyers with faux (but fashionable) relics faster than you can say Lana Del Rey. But this instant aura of authenticity may ultimately be their downfall.

“The ironic fate that extinguishes so many trends built on suggesting and exploiting authenticity is that their very popularity extinguishes that which made them popular,” argues Nathan Jurgenson in the online sociology journal The Society Pages.

Jurgenson adds that faux-vintage photos made through Hipstamatic and Instagram serve “to highlight the larger trend of our viewing the present as increasingly a potentially documented past.” (And this was written before Facebook Timeline became standard.)

For posterity’s sake, here are some of my faux nostalgia finds in the world of fashion, film and more.

Fauxtography

A Harcourt portrait of actor Jean Dujardin

The tweeted photo: a quiet, snowy street scene. The comment: “It was so beautiful I didn’t even need Instagram.”

We’ve gone from grainy, faded polaroids to disposable cameras to crisp digital photos to… grainy, faded digital photos. The new mantra: When in doubt, add a filter. That way you’ll place “yourself and your present into the context of the past, the authentic, the important and the real,” according to Jurgenson.

But if you want to be really original, you’ll take a photo that can’t be Photoshopped. On a recent trip to chic Parisian department store Franck et Fils, I happily paid €10 (one tenth of the price of my last digital camera) for a single picture from a photo booth.

Developed by legendary photo studio Harcourt, the booth debuted at Cannes and produces bright, flattering headshots that are a far cry from the stark portraits made at your local DMV.

Vintage reinvented

Banana Republic’s Mad Men capsule collections aren’t just cashing in on a sexy, award-winning series set in the 1960s – they’re appealing to men who collect bowties and women who long for the days when Marilyn Monroe’s voluptuous figure was the standard of beauty (whether these days even existed – just try nailing down Marilyn Monroe’s dress size, I dare you – is another matter).

The first collection, created in collaboration with Mad Men costumer Janie Bryant, was promoted through an online casting call that let fans reenact and upload scenes from the show.

Banana Republic's Mad Men clothing launch. Image via PSFK.com

In a nod to (or a swipe at) the copycat series Pan Am, the second collection launched on a branded Virgin America flight from JFK to LAX, with a suspicious number of fashion bloggers on board.

The cinched waists and tailored tops are accessibly retro, whether you’re a Peggy, Joan or Betty, but never stray into kitschy costume territory. And no girdles required. Can Debenhams’ Downton Abbey line be far behind?

Classic cocktails

Singapore Sling, from Fairmont's "Everyone's an Original" website

Forget alcopops and molecular mixology. Old-school spirits are front and centre in hip bar and hotel menus like Fairmont hotels’ Classic Cocktails program, which lets guests order a Singapore Sling, Boxcar or Brandy Alexander at any Fairmont property in the world.

Not only is Fairmont appealing to a prohibition party-throwing, Boardwalk Empire-watching crowd, each drink serves as an intro to the hotel brand’s illustrious history. e.g. The Jazz Bar at The Peace Hotel in Shanghai, or The American Bar at The Savoy in London, former home to bartender Harry Craddock (who created The White Lady and published the seminal Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930).

Fairmont is also using the program to send fans to their social networking microsite – Everyone’s An Original – for recipes and tips.

Found footage

Popularized by 1999’s The Blair Witch Project (or, if you must, 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust), the found-footage genre is running strong in movies such as Cloverfield, The Devil Inside and the Paranormal Activity franchise.

With less of an air of manipulation than a mockumentary, found footage gives viewers an “authentic” alternative to scripted scenes and slick CGI. In the case of recent teen comedy Project X, the goal is “simply to look like the wildest viral video of all time,” wrote The Globe & Mail’s Andy Nayman.

And while early faux footage films may have strained audiences’ credibility – what kind of person would keep the camera running with her life at stake? – in 2012, it’s all too believable that someone would document every waking moment of her life, assuming it will interest someone else (see also: Twitter updates).

Even more believable? That in the future, all footage will be found with iMovie’s Aged Film effect already applied.

Did I miss anything? Live performances of podcasts? Joysticks for your iPad? New albums on vinyl? Mobile phone attachments that look like rotary handsets? Feel free to weigh in with your favourite old-school-inspired goods.

Original photography in top image by Yu Tsai.

Image by darkroom productions, via Flickr

When I landed at the Luxury Travel Expo (LTE) in Las Vegas this winter, I noticed a few grim faces on the trade show floor among the showgirls, hula dancers and baby kangaroo in attendance.

While travel advisories and tornado warnings are par for the course for most tourism boards, tour operators and travel agents, 2011 seemed especially fraught with travel catastrophes.

Whatever your views on the ethics of “disaster tourism” (vacationing in a site recently hit by a natural or political disaster), there is no getting around the fact that with disaster comes devastating financial consequences for an industry reliant on foreign dollars.

A month after last year’s magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami, Japan experienced a 62.5 percent decline in tourism, according to reports, while Egypt’s minister of tourism recently announced a drop of 3.7 billion in industry revenues for 2011.

The long-term effects of the Jan. 13 Costa Concordia accident on the cruise industry have yet to be measured. Though Bloomberg news reports no notable drop in bookings in the wake of the tragedy, parent company Carnival Corp. has suspended broadcast, digital and direct-mail advertising “for the time being” and the loss of the ship will cut the company’s earnings by up to $95 million.

From civilian unrest to natural disaster, here are just a few of the problems presented – and some of the solutions proposed – at the conference.

Crisis: Political turmoil
Solution: Be the experts

It turns out the very same reasons luxury tour operators are sought out by discerning travelers are their strengths in times of political crisis: teams on the ground with strong ties to state departments, embassies and locals in-the-know, from concierges to car services.

The same brands which promise five-star hotels, charter flights and insider experiences are the ones that can access safe havens, flights abroad and first-hand information.

It also helps that luxury travel clients often seek out adventure and remote locations that might turn off less-experienced tourists. Rather than ask for a refund as soon as their tour stop shows up on CNN, they’ll follow up on the headlines with in-depth research, or simply place a call to their tour provider directly – not really an option when you’re booking last-minute at an all-inclusive resort.

The bottom line: Crisis can flare up anywhere. “All you can do is provide good, accurate information,” said Scott Wiseman, president at Abercrombie & Kent, USA, during a panel discussion titled Handling Challenge and Change. “In the end, customers make the final decisions.”

Crisis: Natural disaster
Solution: Make a deal

"ANA 787" Advertisement displayed in Haneda Airport following the tsunami. Image by Infradept, via Flickr

When there were rumours that the Japanese government was going to be handing out 10,000 free plane tickets to Japan in the wake of the earthquake, any fears international travellers may have had about travelling to the country were quickly quelled (just look at the giddy reactions to this piece in the Guardian).

The plan was later dropped for budgetary reasons, but the idea behind the promotion is sound: If you discount it, they will come.

As Wiseman pointed out, a good deal can outweigh even health and safety concerns: “When we put [trips to] Cairo at 20 percent off, no one was interested. At 30 percent off, same thing. But at 50 percent off, everyone was suddenly interested. More were prepared to travel there in 2012 than the year before, without the same concerns.”

Other panelists noted the same trend in the U.S. after September 11, when seemingly insurmountable safety concerns were lessened thanks to the power of the price cut.

Crisis: Global recession
Solution: Sell memories

This is one point where everyone in attendance was in agreement (perhaps unsurprisingly, as most luxury operators offer one-of-a-kind experiences, from after-hours tours of the Vatican to artist studio visits in Beijing).

Image by luisvilla, via Flickr

Rather than turning travel into a dream out of reach, the financial crisis may have actually elevated the value of vacations.

People with (relatively) diminished budgets want to be travellers, not tourists, said Tauck CEO Dan Mahar. They want to spend money on experiences rather than trendy goods, and they would rather come home with a story than a shopping bag.

They also want to spend valuable time with family and friends, and 2012 predictions included the continuing popularity of destination weddings as well as the rise of destination-based family reunions.

Crisis: The apocalypse
Solution: Have fun with it

Image by AmateurArtGuy, via Flickr

There’s no doubt that Mexico’s tourism board has had to balance a lot of negative press with promises of safe, serene getaways far from border towns and violence… but, on a lighter note, how do you put a positive spin on doomsday?

“Everyone says 2012 is going to be the end of the world,” explained a tourism rep for Mexico during LTE, “but we believe it is simply the end of the Mayan calendar – a time of hope and renewal.”

And they’re backing it up with a series of happy-go-lucky events and projects, including a countdown clock in Tapachula, a gathering of shamans and spiritual leaders in Cancun, and the opening of new archaeological sites to tourists.

The Mexican tourism board predicts an extra 30 million people will travel to Mexico in 2012 – and, with any luck, they’ll return in 2013.

Nobu Restaurant, One&Only Cape Town

The greatest hotelier/chef partnership in history was the one between César Ritz and Auguste Escoffier. Back in the late 19th century the duo were responsible for opening London’s Savoy Hotel and Paris’ Ritz, among other properties. Unfortunately, the next 100 years were pretty much a steady decline from those lofty heights.

Hotel restaurants, rather than the grand temples of gastronomy that they once were, became grim, depressing refuges for the most rubbery of chicken and the saddest pasta primavera, their existence entirely dependant on the captive audience of unfortunate guests.

Recently, however, hotels have begun to see their restaurants as something more than a way to squeeze a few more dollars out of their clientele and are once again turning to the world’s most celebrated chefs to run restaurants of real ambition and culinary sophistication. Combining beautiful public spaces with luxurious rooms, exquisite food and impeccable service, a new generation of restaurateurs and hoteliers are joining forces to create brands that are greater than the sum of their parts.

The same core values

These days travellers can often visit a city’s hottest and most fashionable restaurant without even having to leave the hotel. Indeed, being a guest of the hotel is sometimes the best way to secure a reservation, and it’s not only travellers who benefit from this state of affairs. Ideally, the property becomes a draw for locals as well, further establishing the brand’s connection to the community.

I recently visited the luxurious One&Only Hotel in Cape Town. When the property first opened they spared no expense, bringing international celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in to open his first restaurant in Africa. The partnership never took off, however, and he was eventually replaced by a relatively unknown local chef by the name of Reuben Riffel. The young chef’s commitment to local produce, suppliers and knowledge of the local market has translated into a hotel restaurant that’s as popular with the locals as it is with visitors.

David Burke Kitchen and The James Hotel Lobby

On a trip to New York last month I stayed at The James in New York and was impressed by how independent the restaurant seemed from the hotel. It has its own separate entrance, in addition to one seemingly just for hotel guests.

Where the hotel lobby exudes a kind of plush, Scandinavian minimalism, the restaurant resembles a chic country barn. Sims Foster, vice president of restaurants and bars at Denihan Hospitality Group, says that such considerations are fundamental in creating a strong partnership. Foster says that, when done properly such an arrangement “should only increase the value of both brands. It’s about matching the right chef/operator with the hotel brand. They should have the same core values and approach to hospitality, and the brands, while hopefully unique unto themselves, will play to the same strengths.”

A three-legged stool

Four Seasons luxury hotels have always done a good job of incubating talent within their own restaurants, but even they are starting to branch out by adding bold-name chefs to their properties. Their partnership with Daniel Boulud at the upcoming Toronto property is their biggest foray into this arrangement to date. Chef Boulud will be opening a branch of Cafe Boulud, (the third in addition to New York and Miami) and will operate an as-yet-unnamed bar in the same property.

Chef Daniel Boulud

“The selection of the chef is always a collaboration between the owner of the property, ourselves as operators and the chef themselves,” says Guy Rigby, Four Seasons’ vice president for food and beverage in the Americas. “It’s a three-legged stool if you will. The relationship has to work for all parties.”

As Foster points out, a popular chef at a successful hotel restaurant can end up becoming the face of the hotel, so hospitality brands need to choose their partners wisely. But if it’s the right fit, these celebrity chefs can be powerful brand advocates.

“The chef should be encouraged and rewarded to be independent in thinking, marketing and getting the word out,” he says. “Two strong independent brands that complement each other well [are] powerful.”

On a recent flight to Istanbul I nearly did a Champagne spit take when I looked over and saw a fully uniformed chef (white jacket, poofy toque and a little blue ribbon tied around his neck) roaming about the business class cabin handing out mezze-style appetizers.

Fine dining and airplanes are rarely considered in the same sentence, but some airlines are thinking of creative ways to bring the two elements together.

Flying chefs

Turkish Airlines introduced their “Flying Chef” concept in the summer of 2010 on their New York to Istanbul flights. They’ve since expanded to their Hong Kong route and plan to roll the concept out to Chicago and Tokyo in the near future.

Although it might seem a little gimmicky, these chefs are not just glorified flight attendants. All of the Flying Chefs were trained by the Viennese inflight catering firm Do & Co and they actually do the cooking for the business class cabin on board.

The chef on my flight also served as something of a Turkish cuisine ambassador, explaining to guests what borek are (cheese-filled pastries) and what the secret ingredient in shepherd’s salad is (it’s mint). It’s not a stretch to say that some of the best Turkish food I had on that trip to Istanbul was on the plane.

There are numerous challenges in creating quality food at cruising altitude. An airplane galley is a far cry from a professional kitchen and we actually respond to food differently at altitude than we do at ground level.

A groundbreaking study in 2010 from the University of Manchester and Unilever determined that background noise (think jet engines) dampens the taste of food and diminishes our capacity to appreciate salty and sweet flavours.

Turkish Airlines was one of the first to introduce inflight chefs onto their planes in business class (Asiana also has them), but they are by no means alone in using food to support their brands.

Cultural ambassadors

During a flight to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific a little while ago I dined on stir-fried prawns with X.O. sauce while crossing above the North Pole and ate wonton noodles in soup somewhere over Mongolia.

At Cathay Pacific City, the massive corporate headquarters for the airline beside Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong, I met with Alex McGowan, General Manager Product for Cathay Pacific Airways, to ask him about how Cathay is using food to reflect the brand’s values and status as cultural ambassador.

Haute cuisine in the air, photo courtesy of Cathay Pacific Airways

“HK is renowned for having the best Chinese food in the world,” he told me, “so we always look to have the best Chinese food in the air. We do that either through initiatives with local restaurants or our own endeavours. I think that being able to deliver food that’s a good representation of Chinese food but equally appeals to the international passenger base that we carry is an important part of that proposition.”

Flag carriers

The airline’s latest partnership is with luxury chain Swire Hotels to offer inflight dishes like black miso pork belly and Iberico chorizo with prawns and tzatziki.

Photo by Franschhoek Wine Valley, via Flickr

Cathay is unique in partnering with restaurants instead of specific chefs, but McGowan said that was intentional. “We don’t do celebrity chefs,” he explained, “because that gets controversial in the sense of, wheredoes their personality begin and the airline’s personality end?”

One airline that has found the balance between its own brand and that of its country’s top chefs is South African Airways. On the long haul between Johannesburg and Washington I was presented with a menu partially created by Reuben Riffel, the chef of Reuben’s in the One&Only Hotel in Cape Town.

Not only does Riffel use local ingredients like pickled kingklip and South African lamb, but the airline supports his cuisine by working with a panel of local and international wine experts to create a stellar wine list. Not surprisingly, the focus is on South African wines.

Whatever flag the plane is carrying, one thing that all of the haute-cuisine offerings of these various airlines have in common is a welcome glass of French Champagne. That’s one business class tradition that will always be on brand in my books.

Burberry Acoustic

It’s February 21, 2011 and Burberry’s Autumn/Winter womenswear collection has just been revealed to 1,000 attendees at Kensington Gardens in London. Simultaneously, it’s streamed live to 150 countries, at 40 events, and on a 32-metre digital screen in Piccadilly Circus – a world first.

Shoppers are invited to click to buy products on Burberry’s website up to a week after the show, allowing Burberry to earn revenue and access direct customer feedback months before the collection hits stores.

Luxury brands like Burberry define themselves and their products with words like “authenticity,” “timelessness,” and “iconic.” By building their reputation around tradition and history, these brands achieve a level of hyper-exclusivity that keeps them off-limits to the general public.

So how does this translate to a 140-character world where networking, sharing, and the open exchange of ideas, thoughts and emotions are the norm?

Burberry goes geeky

Technology has to be dynamic. It needs to enable the process of designing, and enable the consumer to get close to the brand.

–Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Officer, Burberry

Luxury brands today need an online presence, but the virtual world is trickier for them to navigate than most. Not enough presence, and brands risk losing potential customers and revenue opportunities; jump in head first and they risk demystification.

Furthermore, a luxury brand’s online image has to remain consistent with its offline values, which can be challenging given the emphasis on history and tradition.

At the helm of Burberry’s technological revolution is Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey, who has been heralded as a digital pioneer in the fashion industry.

Since his arrival at Burberry in 2001, Bailey has made strides to revive the 155-year-old British brand, once famous primarily for its trench coats. Thanks to Bailey’s efforts, the brand has become a streetwise global leader on the digital frontier.

Burberry boasts almost nine million Facebook fans and Bailey personally updates the company’s Twitter account, posting behind-the-scenes photos and re-tweeting mentions from followers.

“It’s about an experience as well as buying a product,” Bailey told Vogue last year. “The more we entertain, the more we allow people into our brand. Then maybe one day they’ll buy. And then … who knows?”

In 2009 Burberry launched the hugely popular Art of the Trench, a social networking site where users can share their trench looks from around the world.

It’s also launched Burberry Acoustic, a website featuring up-and-coming British bands, complete with its own Facebook page and YouTube channel, and which has quickly become the MTV for the British fashion scene.

In the meantime, Burberry’s corporate website features countdowns for product launches and fashion shows, in addition to an online shopping portal.

Technology is now part of the brand’s DNA, and Burberry continues to look towards the future: its most recent retail opening in Beijing featured virtual image technology, animated footage, and holograms – all streamed live on Burberry.com. It even launched official accounts on four Chinese social media platforms to honour the occasion.

Burberry's Art of the Trench

Hermès’ digital stumble

Luxury whispers and cannot be loud or too colourful.

–Cem Boyner, Chairman & CEO, Boyner Holdings

While Burberry’s reinvention as a thoroughly digital brand has been applauded around the world, Hermès’ digital forays have been seen as major missteps. When a brand veers too far from its original values, customers take notice – and quickly.

In 2010 Hermès launched J’aime mon carré, a street-style inspired micro-site featuring ‘It Girls’ from New York, Paris, London, and Tokyo. Through the use of photos, videos, and guides, the girls showed visitors the many ways they wear their Hermès silk scarves.

Within days of the launch the blogosphere was ablaze with comments. Visitors noted the site’s lack of interactivity compared to Burberry’s Art of the Trench; there was no way to upload pictures or leave comments.

But what was really jarring to existing and would-be Hermès customers was the acute departure from Hermès’ much-lauded brand values.

Hermès is widely considered to be the last genuine luxury brand, in part because of its discreteness. Hermès has never used splashy marketing campaigns or engaged in the now ubiquitous celebrity-endorsement deal. Instead, it has chosen to remain truly exclusive, with customers gladly waiting up to a year to purchase one of its coveted Birkin or Kelly bags.

The girls featured on J’aime mon carré were young and beautiful – meant to show the masses just how cool wearing an Hermès scarf can be. But Hermès is not for the masses; within months of its launch, the site was shut down.

Out with the branding, in with the content

People are no longer being communicated to, they choose what they want to see, when they want to see it, and how they want to see it.

–Jefferson Hack, Editor-in-Chief, AnOther Magazine

Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) is one of the world’s largest fashion conglomerates. LVMH’s portfolio includes a myriad of luxury brands with a range of online properties, from the simple lookbook-style of Celine’s website, to e-commerce and dedicated microsites at Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.

Blurring the lines between editorial and promotional content, LVMH launched NOWNESS in February 2010. The site’s content is generated by an international team of editors who produce photo slideshows and videos about art, fashion, photography, architecture, and design. Users can provide editorial direction by tagging a post as “Love” or “Don’t Love.”

Excellent curation and exclusive content is a powerful combination, and with no product to sell and no obvious links to LVMH on the site (the site also features brands outside of the LVMH group), NOWNESS has taken on a life of its own.

NOWNESS attracted 300,000 members and more than 10,000 visitors within the first month of its soft launch, and now boasts more than 35,000 Twitter followers.

Keeping the brands’ values and the brands valuable

Luxury brands are still figuring out where they fit into the digital landscape. But it’s becoming clear that while they can’t afford to sit out of the social media revolution, they need to engage people in ways that respect their existing customers and reputations.

Hermès initially stumbled in the online space because it forgot what made it successful in the first place. Burberry and LVMH, on the other hand, knew who their audiences were, and then created content and communities especially for them.

For both brands, establishing an online presence that held true to their brand values allowed them to push their brand forward into the digital market, and also to attract a new generation of digital-savvy shoppers.

Yet these kinds of partnerships have created some of my most memorable and pleasant travel experiences. In the newest kind of transumer brand coupling, leading hotels are now bedfellows with transportation hubs around the world, creating their own custom waiting lounges and service packages for their guests.

W Resort and Spa Vieques airport lounge

Grounding Airworld

Even a wonderful trip can be undone by a horrific journey through that “nation within a nation” Airworld – a term coined by Walter Kirn in Up in the Air to describe the generic series of taxis, lounges, cubicles and anonymous rooms travellers cycle through.

Airport greeting service, courtesy cars and convenient airport hotels have long been a part of the top-tier Airworld experience, because no matter how charming the airport (the informal lending library of bookshelves at MQS on Mustique’s Island retreat or the tiny thatched-roof hut in northern Maui’s HNM come to mind), their humble charms and amenities wear thin, considering the long wait times imposed by modern travel.

Hotel-branded airport lounges extend the hospitality experience of the accommodations themselves. The W Welcome Lounge in VQS on the island of Vieques, just off the coast of Puerto Rico, was designed by Milan-based Patricia Urquiola, the same designer behind the hotel chain’s Retreat & Spa.

W’s patented “Whatever/Whenever” services apply while luggage and Jeep transfers are sorted for the short drive to the resort, with treats like fruit and fresh-squeezed juices, pastries and chips, and chilled towels to refresh travellers.

Similarly, arriving and departing passengers at RAK in Marrakech who are guests of the prince’s palace-turned-hotel, La Mamounia, can stop in at the hotel’s own lounge, decorated in the same vein as the recently renovated property with plush design by Jacques Garcia and bespoke scent by Olivia Giacobetti.

Whether it’s a WiFi connection or sweet Moroccan dates you’re jonesing for, you’ll find it here.

The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, on Hawaii’s Big Island, has a lounge in KOA Terminal 1 that rivals the creature comforts of the luxe 51-suite resort: bar, flat-screen TV, refreshments, magazines, newspapers, and of course, WiFi and charging stations for computers, mobile phones and PDAs.

La Mamounia airport lounge

“Having our airport departure lounge allows us to extend the resort experience just a bit longer, and provides our suite guests with added comfort and value on their way home,” says Brad Packer, an L.A.-based director of public relations for Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.

Hilton serves three different premium brand platforms from an arrivals lounge at the Trans Maldivian Airlines’ seaplane terminal, a 10-minute shuttle from MLE in the Maldives. Guests of the Beach House Maldives: A Waldorf Astoria Resort and the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island share a large space; Hilton Maldives guests have a separate waiting lounge.

“In order to reach our resort, guests have to transfer by seaplane and there can sometimes be a wait before the flight is ready,” the Conrad’s PR manager Katherine Anthony says. The lounge provides not only great take-off and landing views for plane nerds, but perks like an on-site spa, showers, a playroom, free WiFi and computer stations.

Though the lounge is complimentary during the day to Hilton guests, anyone can pay US$80 to use it in the evening, when it will save you from airport-food dinner and paying an additional day-rate at your hotel while awaiting late flight departures.

Yabu Pushelberg, the world’s leading designers of hotel, restaurants and hospitality spaces, are working on Viceroy Hotel’s airport lounge in the Maldives. “This is a growing trend, especially for remote resorts,” says Glenn Pushelberg. “The boat or car ride should be an extension of the hotel experience… people travel so far now to get to their paradise destinations that you should provide the experience from the moment they get off the plane.”

By Water, Rail… or Helipad

Hotel Verta in London

Smart hotel brands have also extended their hospitality into the often inhospitable realm of other transportation hubs. For instance, I was greeted by a uniformed Four Seasons staffer in the intimidating arrival hall of Tokyo Station after arriving on the Narita Express train, and guided through the intricacies of hefting bags, converting money and navigating my way to the nearby (but not easy to find-is anything in Tokyo?) Four Seasons Maranouchi.

My 30-minute boat trip to Como’s Parrot Cay resort on the eponymous private island in the Turks and Caicos was smoothed by a short wait in its private seaport; a cedar-shingled wooden pavilion that’s an oasis of cold towels, rum punch and apothecary jars of cookies and nuts. (On your way back, you can pick up the Como Shambhala spa products you forgot to buy at the resort.)

At the Tides Sugar Beach in St. Lucia and at the Hotel Emiliano in Sao Paulo, I was comforted to know that if weather or traffic intervened, both hotels have their own helipads.

London even has its first heli-hotel, the Hotel Verta adjacent to the London Heliport.

Transumer-friendly brands – from restaurants and coffee shops to newsstands – have long recognized the importance of creating a consistent, familiar but locally relevant customer experience at every touchpoint across their networks.

Hospitality brands are uniquely capable of providing this sense of comfort and service to travellers, not just within their hotels, but anywhere their very mobile customers may be.

This year I experienced a kind of brand transliteration when I sailed on the Silver Spirit, one of the small, agile cruise ships of Monaco-based luxury cruise line Silversea (regularly named the best cruise line in the world).

When I slipped through the etched-glass doors of Le Champagne restaurant, the warm, mahogany-lined interior felt familiar, even though it was my first time on board. As I slid onto the banquette under a crisp-white-linened table, and felt the curve of the Riedel stemware and saw the gleam of gold-rimmed porcelain plates, it was apparent before I even saw a menu.

I was emotionally back in some of my favourite restaurants – the shuttered Lumière in Vancouver or Per Se in New York. Turns out the only Wine Restaurants by Relais & Châteaux at sea are on board Silversea’s ships, forming an interesting case study of what happens when one very terroir-based brand meets a brand that rules the water.

Making a big world small

Hospitality brands are often defined by borders, however invisible those borders might be. Airline brands, aside from ground-side lounges, don’t dabble much in bricks-and- mortar hospitality.

Tropical Tea dessert from Per Se in New York City/Photo by roboppy via Flickr

Hotel brands are terrestrial but they mostly strive to replicate consistent brand values around the globe. Restaurants, in this era of local eating, rely on a distinct sense of place to define their style and cuisine. Nimble brands like Virgin that industry-hop from retail to airlines to hotels are notable precisely for crossing those borders.

R&C includes 475 of the finest hotels and restaurants in 55 countries. All of the properties are independent, each of them defined by its unique local setting, character and hospitality.

Silversea, on the other hand, makes a big world seem small with ships so well appointed you barely feel the need to go ashore. So how have these brands fared since partnering at sea a decade ago?

Regional to the voyage route

R&C Grand Chefs workshop aboard a Silversea cruiseliner/Photo via etravelblackboardasia.com

In many aspects, it’s a lovely match. Several Culinary Arts Voyages featuring R&C Grand Chefs sail every year, providing cooking demos, market trips ashore, and food and wine pairing instruction for Silversea guests.

Global wine regions and cuisine are showcased in six-course R&C menus in the ship’s Le Champagne restaurants, of a quality and ambition that outrank any other cruise offering.

It’s very likely that devoted R&C followers who trace a route de bonheur through its establishments around the world are the very same affluent globetrotters who choose to sail with Silversea.

Yet the challenges are formidable: Local ingredients define the cuisine of Jonathan Cartwright, the Sheffield, UK-born chef at the White Barn Inn in Kennebunkport, Maine, one of five chefs who sailed on a 12-day New World cuisine-themed World of Relais & Châteaux cruise from Nice, France to Southampton, England.

At his own restaurant Cartwright proudly sources New England cheeses and fresh-caught lobster, Maine shrimp and fish in season, adhering religiously to the East Coast rule: “Oysters from this coast are best when there is no ‘R’ in the month.”

At sea, he instead follows Silversea’s philosophy of world cuisine, embracing diverse ingredients and styles.

“We try to create menus that we believe are regional to the voyage route,” he says. “Produce is sourced as fresh and as close to major ports of call as possible. On certain ports of call specialty items are purchased so cuisine can be created regionally.”

He adds that Silversea’s impeccable standard of food storage, hygiene and equipment are key to achieving high culinary standards.

Wine selection at Le Champagne/Photo by Josh Friedman Luxury Travel via Flickr

Any bottle anywhere in the world

If his home dining room is full, Cartwright might serve leisurely multi-course dinners to 120 guests a night. On the Silver Shadow there could be three times that many in total, dining at various restaurants in a narrow window of time every evening.

And because guests are on board longer – anything from a 10-day sailing to a 115-day world cruise – menus must constantly change to surprise and delight them.

“A land-based restaurant features a menu based on the seasons and might change its menus every three months. We turn around all the menu cycles on a daily basis,” says Rudy Scholdis, Silversea’s culinary director.

Scholdis scoffs at the old adage that a good claret has to sail around the world once to be a great wine. “To be perfectly honest, I do not really agree with this logic. Wines age differently at high altitude, but at sea as well.”

He says Silversea’s surprisingly deep and diverse wine list is carefully managed to avoid too much on-board exposure to the elements that could affect its flavour. Through a shore-side cellar and high-tech logistics, they can get any bottle anywhere in the world in a day.

“This quick delivery method prevents us from having a great bottle of Château Pétrus visit the entire globe before it finally gets to be enjoyed by one of our guests.”

But the biggest challenge is consistent bread and pastries, says the Belgian-born Scholdis, who describes a fresh, crisp baguette as “a sponge” after a few minutes of sailing in hot, humid Southeast Asia or the Amazon. And Cartwright brings up one more personal obstacle for R&C chefs going aboard: “In strong seas, to be in the galley and not feel seasick!”

Silver Shadow docked in Victoria, British Columbia/Photo by quaelin via Flickr

Lifting both brands’ boats

Based on the Transumer’s R&C culinary experience on Silversea, the successful land-sea partnership is a rising tide that lifts both brands’ boats.

R&C’s Grand Chefs bring a local, familiar style of hospitality with deep roots in terroir to the mobility brand of Silversea, enhancing the cruise company’s commitment to providing authentic regional experiences – not just generic luxe – to its guests.

The additional X-factor, as Chef Cartwright points out, is the deliciously exclusive transumer experience that can make even ordinary airline food taste great at 30,000 feet with a bird’s-eye view of the Atlantic out your window.

“The ports of call, and regions of the world that they sail to, alongside the unique views into the horizon from each of the dining rooms, are what make [Silversea ships] an ideal venue.”

The Sawyer Glacier (Alaska) as seen from Silver Shadow/Photo by Jonathan Caves via Flickr

“The ethical process isn’t as difficult as people think.”

That’s what Sharon Wauchob, creative director of Edun insisted in the November 2010 issue of American Vogue. But Edun, Bono and Ali Hewson’s clothing brand which aims to promote trade in Africa, brought Wauchob on board last year because the company was going through a very difficult period indeed.

Edun belongs to a rapidly growing market sector known as “sustainable luxury.” The term, which first emerged in 2004, essentially refers to luxury brands that produce high-end ready-to-wear and couture clothing using ethical and fair trade practices from start to finish.

Sustainable luxury is a tall order: Companies must remain transparent about their production processes and the environmental and social impacts they have, while still maintaining the quality and desirability that consumers and buyers expect within the luxury sector. Then there’s the whole issue of growing a business, which is where the Hewsons ran into some challenges.

Pride (In the Name of Love)

Edun’s story is emblematic of the inherent challenges of sustainable luxury. A for-profit, ready-to-wear line with A-list celebrity backers, Edun got noticed immediately when it hit the market in 2005. Barneys and Saks Fifth Avenue even agreed to share an “exclusive” to sell the brand’s first collection.

At the time, the brand’s story was simple: All the clothes were produced in Africa. Sustainable luxury looked easy, and cool.

But Edun quickly ran into problems with sourcing and shipments from Africa continually ran late. In September 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported that Edun was being carried in just 67 stores, down from hundreds in 2006.

Ron Frasch, president and chief merchandising officer at Saks (who dropped the line several seasons ago) told the Journal that “Sustainability of the product doesn’t have any value unless the fashion is correct.” In other words, Edun was failing at the “luxury” part of sustainable luxury.

LVMH "Core Values" campaign via seasonfive.typepad.com

Mysterious Ways

In 2009, Bono and Ali Hewson sold a 49 percent stake in Edun to luxury brand conglomerate LVMH for $7.8-million. Days before the debut of Wauchob’s first collection in September 2010, it was reported that only 15 percent of the line was produced in Africa, with the other 85 percent manufactured in Asia and Peru.

The Edun camp quickly began to reframe its story. Rather than produce the line in Africa, it now said it promoted economic and sustainable initiatives on the continent.

Retailers, buyers and everyday consumers became wary of Edun’s lofty claims, and while its most recent spring 2011 and fall 2011 collections were lauded in the press for their extreme wearability, people still weren’t convinced of Edun’s so-called good intentions.

LVMH fought back with a slick “Core Values” marketing campaign in 2010. A dedicated website, Louis Vitton Journeys, presents a multimedia narrative of the land, the people and the communities that Edun supports.

In an audio segment, Ali Hewson explains that “Edun aims to raise awareness of the possibilities in Africa and encourage the fashion community to do business there.” She stresses that Edun offers “business, not charity,” and that “the more successful Edun is the more we can support people in the areas we work.”

With or Without You

And it’s clear that Hewson means business. She recently told The Toronto Star that Edun is “trying to be very thoughtful about everything we do, but we are also trying to become a big, global fashion brand. Chinese production helps make that happen, but the principle remains the same.”

The question is whether the Hewsons can have it both ways. In other words, can luxury, sustainability and big business really go hand in hand?

Classic luxury brands like Hermès and Christian Louboutin keep production small regardless of demand and encouraged sustainable practices before the term “sustainable luxury” came about. (The majority of production takes place in France and Italy).

Both of these brands are still family-owned and have resisted million-dollar buyouts by fashion conglomerates like LVMH and Gucci Group. They’ve remained exclusive by playing it relatively small.

Even Better Than the Real Thing

A handful of sustainable luxury brands have popped up in the last few years that seem to understand the delicate relationship between supply and demand. Collections are small and produced in limited quantities in order to maintain the exclusivity – and sustainability – of their brands.

Since 2007, supermodel Liya Kebede has employed traditional weavers in her native country of Ethiopia to create a collection of handmade women’s and children’s dresses, skirts and accessories known as LemLem.

Similarly, film director Max Osterweis teamed with designer Erin Beatty to launch Suno, which produces 70 percent of its line in Kenya, all beading and embroidery work in India, and the rest in New York.

Like Edun, Osterweis and Beatty are finding doing business in Africa a challenge. Frequent electrical outages grind production to a halt, while cell phone and Internet service is unreliable at best. Meanwhile, the fashion industry continues knocking on their door for orders.

However, Beatty says Suno is determined to keep things small. The brand’s goal is to develop local economies by nurturing talent within each region they set up shop in. The team travels to Kenya and India several times a year to help cultivate new skills.

“There is no reason that you can’t feel good about what you do,” said Beatty in the March 2011 issue of American Vogue. “It might be a little harder, but ultimately it’s more gratifying.”

With this new crop of luxury designers keeping it small, the Hewson’s vision of creating a global fashion brand feels somewhat at odds with what sustainable luxury has become. Today’s designers are going beyond questioning their own company’s environmental and social impacts; they’re beginning to challenge the sustainability of big fashion itself.

Once upon a time, the commercial aviation world was populated by so-called flag carriers, massive government-owned airlines that served their countries’ inbound and outbound flying needs.

Today, in a market of widely diverse business and leisure travel airline offerings, a few flag carriers still roam the earth – some of them more nimble creatures than others. Here are some takeaways from two recent flights.

Air Tahiti Nui: the fresh bloom of youth

As I boarded the Air Tahiti Nui plane, the cabin crew handed me its beautiful brand ambassador: the Tahitian tiaré flower. I tucked the small, white bloom behind my ear, where its gorgeous gardenia scent lasted the eight-plus hours of the flight to Papeete from Los Angeles (the airline’s North American hub).

The tiaré shows up in some of the cabin interior’s upholstery and lends its name to the airline’s frequent flyer program (Club Tiaré). Its scent even infuses the refreshing moist towel that precedes meal service. This simple, organic amenity gives the airline a powerful symbolic and physical brand and provides the customer with a sensory memory that lasts far beyond the flight.

More than 60 percent owned by the government of French Polynesia, Air Tahiti Nui has only been in operation since 1998, and still has the glow of youth about its offerings. Its modern Airbus fleet is named for islands of French Polynesia, like Bora Bora, where I was headed this past spring to stay at the Four Seasons Bora Bora.

Welcoming aircraft interiors are decked out in the aquas and blues of the Pacific. Flight attendant uniforms resemble resort wear more than airline staff togs: colourful, loose floral-printed dresses and shirts that put the largely leisure-travel customer base in immediate vacation mode.

On this relatively small airline I was delighted to find seatback entertainment even in economy class, where half a dozen recent Hollywood movies complemented more culturally tailored audio selections, including Tahitian, French and Japanese channels of music.

The bilingual English-French Air Tahiti magazine made a good portal for my journey, with its articles on Polynesian cultural traditions and an emphasis on the airline’s own commitment to sustainability and local communities – important features in a region this small and environmentally fragile.

Upon arrival in Papeete’s open-air airport we were greeted with live Polynesian music, ocean breezes and another fragrant tiaré flower. The only elements that took the bloom off my experience were pre-flight: For LAX embarkees, online or self check-in and advance seat selection weren’t available. And since many Papeete-bound passengers had boarded in Paris the aircraft was largely full, leaving me at the back of the Airbus for the long flight.

Though the airline’s online service features are a bit limited, it uses social media like Twitter and Facebook to promote packages, deals, media coverage, aviation news and local events. (For instance, this past June, it tweeted to reassure passengers during a short-lived strike.)

Royal Air Maroc: missed opportunities

My international trip on Royal Air Maroc – from Montreal to Marrakech, then return from Casablanca to Montreal – was no short hop, at around eight hours each way. Unfortunately, the inflight entertainment experience didn’t quite match the richness of the culture of origin.

Created after Morocco declared independence in 1957, RAM can be credited as a force in opening up African routes over the years and for its continuing innovations. (Recent announcements position it as the first airline in Africa to offer self check-in kiosks.)

The airline, of which over 95 percent is owned by the Moroccan government, shows its colours in cabin crew uniforms in blue, with delicate embroidered motifs evoking the red and green of the Moroccan flag and jacket tailoring reminiscent of a djellaba, the traditional North African robe.

Outbound, the J-class cabin’s audio feed didn’t work, rendering a mainscreen showing of The Joneses mute; on my return the mainscreen in my economy cabin remained stubbornly dark the entire flight.

At least the outage was a good opportunity to check out the trilingual (English, French, Arabic) inflight magazine, which promoted a (heavily edited, one would suppose) version of Sex and the City 2. Curiously, it failed to mention the film was largely shot in Morocco as a stand-in for Abu Dhabi. Why wouldn’t a flag carrier want to tout a Hollywood blockbuster’s affiliation with its country?

Even had that rusty old mainscreen IFE system been working, offerings are somewhat limited: A couple of Egyptian movies and channels of Arabic and Andalusian music do little to brandish its North African credentials.

Royal Air Maroc’s hub is the rather rundown Mohammed V (CMN) in Casablanca, where a feral cat stalked across the Executive Class check-in red carpet. The stunning Marrakech Ménera airport (RAK), with its canopy resembling a giant mashrabiya screen, is a much more pleasant and on brand passenger facility. Hospitality brands like the luxury hotel La Mamounia seem to understand that Morocco’s  brand is a selling feature and have opened their own arrivals lounges at RAK.

Photo by Markhillary via flickr

Online the airline misses an opportunity to promote its own customer-friendly features. For instance, only by asking at check-in did my companion and I discover the steal-deal of a $600 one-way Executive Class upgrade between YUL and CMN – normally around a $5,000 price difference. Given what it has to work with, Royal Air Maroc is leaving money on the table.

Flag Bearers

It’s a weighty responsibility for a flag carrier to be a cultural ambassador for its nation. These two flights demonstrated the potential for national airlines to use technology, marketing and good old-fashioned service touches to drive successful customer diplomacy missions.

In the last decade, forward-thinking hoteliers have re-invented the category known in the industry as select-service, commonly dubbed motels by road warriors.

Ever since automobiles hit the freeways en masse in the 1950s, North American tourists have demanded the convenience of a door-side parking lot, quick food and drinks and a no-frills place to lay their heads for the night. Often located near busy airports, new generation select-service hotels can be comfy and design-savvy retreats. And they’re no longer limited to the American roadside. Here are three of our favourites:

Indigo girl

Nearly a decade ago I stayed at the first Indigo hotel in Atlanta, an offshoot of the Intercontinental Hotel Group, which arguably started the select-service revolution (IHG has in its portfolio Holiday Inn, the original select-service chain). The clean, reliable and family-oriented motel of yore is now a “hip, cool lifestyle hotel,” according to the brand’s website.

I recently checked in to the location near YYZ in Toronto and found the same beach-y scent and vibe – from the blue-and-white cloudscape behind the check-in desk to the cool, calming lighting – that I remember from the flagship Indigo. The chain’s logo sometimes looks like a seashell, sometimes like an aircraft turbine. Large sepia-toned murals in the lobby and on each floor celebrate the glamourous age of air and train travel.

But this new-school motel is more than a decor scheme. My online booking request for a quiet room on a high floor away from the elevator met, I found a pleasant nature motif carrying through the experience: an autumn-themed haiku on my keycard jacket invited me do download “music of the season” and the lamps, bedspread and headboard in my room were fresh bamboo-green. The hardwood-look laminate floor, terrifically powerful glass shower and Aveda amenities made me feel like I was on holiday, even though I was on a layover.

In the morning, the bill was slipped under my door so a quick cup of in-room coffee and a fast press of my trousers got me out of the room and to the free airport shuttle on time (No time for the gym, though there was one).

On the downside, before the airport curfew kicked in the landing and takeoff noise in my room was substantial. But Indigo is a far cry from a roadside motel and I’d check in again.

Aloft party

When I book on its website, the W Hotels’ little sister uses groovy, casual language that sounds totally laid back – but I like that I have the credibility and reputation of Starwood behind this brand (and can use my Starpoints). Still, it’s my first cue that an Aloft stay is best enjoyed by the young, or the very young-at-heart.

The lobby in the Indigo near PHX in Phoenix looks like a more colourful W, with tons of windows and natural light in place of W’s dark sexiness, vibrant mid-century-inspired furniture and an inviting view to an outdoor pool. On the check-in desk, a note about drink specials is embedded inside a kitschy snow globe.

Very young, very friendly staff check me in as I look around the lobby, where a large self-serve food area has drinks, snacks and amenities for sale (I score a small tube of toothpaste and a big chocolate cupcake). In the morning I’ll discover they serve inexpensive hot breakfasts from a diner-style pass-through window.

My room has the pleasant, efficient design of a ship’s cabin: a built-in wardrobe with open shelving, lots of vanity space and a brilliant electronics master panel on the spacious work desk for hooking up my own laptop/MP3/PDA to the big wall-mounted flat-screen.

If this is the modern-day motel, I’ll check in…every night. At just over US$100, my Aloft stay was a steal. But the cons – blaring retro music in the lobby, a rowdy amateur sports team that dominated the lounge space and pool – might be deterrents for more conservative travellers.

Radisson Blu

Radisson is one of the most American hotel brands, founded in Minneapolis in 1909. It recently took over the European chain of SAS hotels that the eponymous airline so successfully branded in Arne Jacobsen’s mode of cool Danish design, renaming them Radisson Blu (a brand that the company is now, incidentally, bringing to North America).

You’ll find properties in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. I checked into the Belfast location recently, a hip brick-encased building a few minutes by foot from downtown and a short cab ride from the airport.

Now, Radisson Blu dubs itself a “full-service luxury” hotel chain, but the hallmarks of select-service are there: a surface-level parking lot right outside the door, limited facilities (no gym on site) and in-room amenities (ironing board, coffee station – with biscuits!) that aren’t typical of most European luxury hotels.

Blu aspires to more than select-service but doesn’t necessarily deliver. Its Italian restaurant, Fillini, shows gourmet ambitions but served me a soggy, cardboard-tasting pizza. But if I look at it as a design hotel experience for a motel price, Blu – with its efficient, cab-hailing doorman, a fair currency-exchange rate at the front desk and North American-style creature comforts – makes me feel happy indeed.

Continental Drift

Indigo and Aloft have proven that, in North America, this venerable hospitality genre is ripe for reinvention – now chains like Super 8, Red Roof Inn and even the Holiday Inn are getting brand makeovers. Overseas, Radisson Blu shows that even at the European design-hotel level, travellers love the convenience – and price – of select-service.

Some hope to make an international impact by launching splashy high-tech or eco-friendly initiatives; others have invested in local projects that will generate goodwill with Vancouverites long after the athletes leave town.

Many other brands are just looking to expose their products and services to the millions of viewers, visitors and spectators who will be transported into the Transumer headspace by the global excitement around the Games. Here are a few innovative examples.

Open House

Most Vancouver hotels have been booked for months, if not years; some are taken over entirely by TV crews and heads of state. So during the recent real-estate blip, one developer got creative. The new downtown residential tower Level turned from proposed rental apartments into an extended-stay residential hotel, suddenly the only one in town with Olympic vacancies. It will also temporarily host USA House during the games. That high-visibility gig could be a big-time launching pad; Level Furnished Living hotel has already housed some visiting Hollywood film crews.

Style and Substance

Compare the plans of official sponsor Omega, which opened a classy pop-up watch boutique for the duration of the Games in the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver; and of renegade eyewear brand Oakley, which will have its Rolling O product and technology lab-on-wheels in the more populist locale of nearby ski hill Grouse Mountain. Each approach smartly targets the brand’s core audience.

Official clothing sponsor Hudson’s Bay Company and its red mittens has a shining presence at the Games, but there are plenty of other sportswear brands ready to grab some limelight. Victorinox, makers of Swiss Army travel gear, have a pop-up temporary store in Whistler for the Games. Red Canoe Heritage Brands also recently opened a permanent Whistler store. How many tourists will happily purchase these Canadiana-hip clothes in place of “official” gear?

Meanwhile, hometown Yoga-pant guru Lululemon got wrist-slapped for its cheeky “Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 & 2011 Edition” clothing line. The IOC called it ambush marketing; we call it clever positioning.

The Bay's Olympic superstore in downtown Vancouver (by susan gittins via flickr)

Easy Being Green

Eco-friendly products are becoming an easier sell with consumers, but a marketing boost during the Games could be a green launching pad. Official sponsor Coke is using the Olympics to unroll new clean, green cooling technology for 1,400 vending machines around Olympic sites—a first in Canada. Greenpeace (founded in Vancouver in 1978) has been working with Coke over the last several years to popularize the new technology; Vancouver 2010 could be the global “tipping point.”

Good Will Hunting

While some brands are going straight for their customers’ dollars, others are winning over their hearts and minds. Official sponsor GE partnered with the province of BC to revitalize a beloved local playground, the delightful Arthur Erickson-designed skating rink at downtown’s Robson Square.

The rink showcases GE lighting and cooling technology—and a great deal of corporate goodwill. The $2-million project will have a lasting legacy for locals after the Games.

Likewise, official sponsor Bell is hosting the Bell Ice Cube, a 3,000-square-foot downtown celebration zone that will showcase Bell technology, sure—but will also have talk shows with athletes and live music for the crowds.

Night skating at GE Plaza in Vancouver's Robson Square (by susan gittins via flickr)

Screening Room

This is being called the first Twitter Games, with dedicated social media newsrooms popping up around the city. No other Olympic Games has been such a platform for new technology of every kind.

Official sponsor Panasonic will debut its home 3D HD plasma TV, and is sponsoring athletes to blog using Panasonic video and online technology.

Samsung scored a coup by making its Omnia the official Olympics cellphone, though the local media has been reporting that disgruntled VANOC employees are using their personal iPhones and Blackberries on the sly.

There’s even an official Olympic video game, by Sega, to win over the eyeballs of the young male and extreme-sport demographic.

Medal Ceremony

But our favourite branded promotion of the Games is by Urban Barn, which has uniquely combined a bricks-and-mortar appeal to locals and visitors with an online gimmick bound to attract even broader attention.

The furniture retailer is moving one of its employees into its Howe Street location 24/7 during the games, making it a public living room—and a high-profile showcase for their products. Store manager Robbie will Tweet, update a Facebook page and generate a live Big Brother-style feed that will be broadcast in 10 Urban Barn locations across Canada.

Step up on the Sparksheet podium: we give you the Transumer engagement gold medal.

I kept a diary of my outbound flight and kept my brand sensors receptive to all likely Transumer touchpoints. Ultimately, what surprised me is how innovative the brand engagement was online, and how little of that experience was reflected in flight.

Ground Trip

My journey starts long before I board the plane in Vancouver for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (via Frankfurt). About a week before takeoff I scan Lufthansa.com and am intrigued by the array of programs. I offset my carbon footprint via the Climate Care program (to the tune of U.S. $79 for the 15,582-mile return flight), satisfied by the thorough explanation of projects funded via partner myclimate.org.

I select my Special Meal from among 21 options (including something unappetizingly called Bland Soft). I download and view the A340 seat map, which is not as detailed or user-friendly as Seat Guru’s, but helps me avoid a seat near the busy washroom. I find out there will be laptop power at my seat, but no FlyNet WiFi until at least 2010. Not only can I review the inflight audio and video entertainment, I can request a song—and could even make a dedication, if it were far enough in advance of my flight.

Virtual Flight

As someone who practically lives on my laptop and iPhone, I am impressed to see that Lufthansa goes a few steps beyond the industry standard electronic boarding pass and online check-in. I sign up for SMS notification of changes to my flight, departure time and gate. I install an iGoogle widget that offers the same function at a glance on my laptop’s home search page. But the killer app is MySkyStatus, which promises to liaise with social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to send travel updates to my contacts.

Lufthansa’s mobile site proves disappointing, though—single-click access to online check-in, timetables and other airline basics are augmented with lame extras like branded wallpaper and the corporate song. The enticing invitation to “set a special mood with moving images” turns out only to be a corporate screensaver.

My favourite feature: I have a blast navigating Lufthansa’s online map, which has great interactive features for locating direct and connecting flight paths at a glance and instantly calculating mileage—a mileage-hoarder’s dream tool.

Inflight, Not So Entertained

Lufthansa doesn’t operate lounges in Canada and has a low-key presence at Vancouver airport, where I take off, so my pre-boarding experience consists of a stop at the Travel + Leisure store to pick up an adapter and a quick peek at the Olympic Store—smart Transumer targeting.

I fire up the seatback entertainment system and though a handful of recent Hollywood movie releases had looked promising from landside, 20 minutes each of the leaden Coco Avant Chanel, Cheri and The Time Traveler’s Wife convince me I should have packed a fat book.

Fortunately, nearly hidden among a selection of three-year-old episodes of Entourage and How I Met Your Mother is some great TV: the documentary Signé Chanel: La Collection and Stevie Wonder’s Live at Last concert at London’s 02 arena. The same is true of the audio, where a jazz program by Branford Marsalis and Dave Matthews Band albums mask much more interesting music by Malian lute player Bassekou Kouyate and a smart club mix by Cologne DJ Piet Blanc.

Pre-film commercials on the seatback screens are limited to one (mercifully, since German glass and solar-energy company Schueco is of minimal interest to international travelers). I find the absence of other paid advertisers odd—BMW and Mercedes, I’m thinking of you—but also wonder why some of the more fertile inflight offerings—Berlitz language courses, great aviation and fleet information and even Soduko—aren’t promoted onscreen instead. Lufthansa does a good job of hiding its rich content.

The pages of Magazin inflight magazine yield an unintentionally ironic piece on Buddy Holly’s widow—he died in a plane crash, after all—and a fun words-and-pictures feature on some unlikely denizens of Tokyo. But the needlessly detailed and complex route maps in the magazine pale to those online and the German-English bilingual layout is occasionally confusing.

Magazin lacks the essential ingredient that still keeps print inflight magazines relevant: a juicy, engaging, literate read.

Miss(ed) Connections

Paradise for the long-haul flyer is a clean, well-stocked lounge with showers. Such is the Senator lounge in the B concourse of FRA’s Terminal 1. It‘s extremely busy, but I find a seat and wait about 45 minutes for a hot shower, amusing myself with wonderfully strong coffee, continental breakfast and the International Herald Tribune (the only English-language reading material on site).

I log in via TMobile’s paid-WiFi hotspot and discover that MySkyStatus alerts (“…is now flying over Iceland on Lufthansa. Powered by myskystatus.com”) did indeed post to my Twitter stream. Several friends direct-message me to comment on the coolness of this feature.

I’m surprised how few brands are available to the frequent-flyers and premium-class travellers in this lounge. There are even generic amenities in the showers, where I’d expect to find a Dr. Haushka or Nivea onslaught. There’s a fee-for-service T-Mobile charging station, Hugo Boss and Bogner leather promos and a handful of rather dated Dell-equipped workstations. Non-stop onscreen promos for Miles & More play on lounge screens and I count five different WorldShop catalogues. Isn’t that preaching to the choir?

The last nine-hour leg of my flight is uneventful and mostly spent sleeping. (Note to self: really, pack that fat book next time.) Though I have to give Lufthansa props for all 34 large boxes of our group’s equipment, supplies and luggage arriving without difficulty at ADD.

In total I was able to amuse myself for fewer than half of my 24 hours in transit: proof that brands are seriously under-utilizing this space and time to connect with their very best customers.

I’m thinking about going to Dubai or Capetown…for my next pedicure. I’m only half kidding. Earlier this year at the One&Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, I got hooked on the Reverence de Bastien pedicure, available only at One&Only resorts and a handful of Paris spas. As a travel writer, I can conceivably plan my next several trips around natural, baby-soft feet.

It sounds a bit ridiculous, but many frequent travellers I know tell similar stories about the powerful loyalties they’ve developed to goods and services while travelling. Take the emotional rush I get drinking a French 75 cocktail; it’s not just the champagne bubbles or the memory of the silver fox who once ordered one for me at a Lower East Side speakeasy, but an alchemic memory of both. These strong loyalties and emotions help set the Transumer apart from the jet-setting shopper.

Their wants and tastes fueled by global lifestyle magazines like Monocle and Wallpaper, Transumers aren’t satisfied with garden variety items from the shop around the corner. Though Montreal-based magazine editor Claude Laframboise must nose dozens of new fragrances a month, he relies on trips to New York to buy the Krizia cologne he’s worn since the 1980s from its flagship store on Madison Avenue. Exclusivity has always meant cachet, but a product that a discerning consumer not only deems valuable but self-defining? That’s priceless.

Toronto power-publicist Ann Layton flies frequently to London for clients and cashmere, which she buys only at Ocabini. The hand-knit, hand-died garments are imported directly through the owner’s sister in Kathmandu. In an era of cheap Chinese cashmere, Layton could buy a poncho anywhere, but she seeks out the most authentic, ethically-produced goods. Sure, she could order online, but I’d say her carbon footprint is lighter walking over to the boutique while in the city on business. And eBay wouldn’t provide her with Nepalese anecdotes to share over drinks at the Dorchester.

Spafax editorial director Arjun Basu often gets asked on Twitter and Flyertalk about his distinctive eyewear, which he gets from Ottico in Vancouver. Basu lives in Montreal—roughly 3700 kilometers (2300 miles) away. Here’s a personal, recurring Transumer relationship created by one chance visit to fix broken eyeglasses on a business trip. “Our optician Anita has a photographic memory for faces,” says Dr. Brad McDougall, the store’s co-owner. “Now, when he needs glasses, we just send him a selection.” The clinic also draws repeat visits from actors and their families filming in Hollywood North, which McDougall attributes to hotel-concierge referrals (a strategy the practice has focused on) and highly personal service.

Sometimes there is not only a qualitative preference but a quantitative difference in these relationships. The Transumer seeks out the best and most efficient services and “trip chains” them on to existing travels, the way a soccer mom lines up dry-cleaning and kiddie drop-offs. Vancouver writer Neal McLennan packs brogues that need a good working over when he returns to his former lawyering base in Calgary, a corporate town with a “disproportionate amount of good shoe shine stands,” he says. Spafax’s Raymond Girard swears by the world-class toothsmithing he gets from a Harvard-trained dentist while he’s on business trips in Santiago, Chile—at a fraction of the going rate in Toronto, his home base.

So how do brands get in touch with this border-blurring demographic? Client databases and e-mail lists are a first step in establishing where your far-flung customers might be located, how to keep in touch with them, and what will bring them back. Tools like Backtype can help track in real-time who’s buzzing about your brand across a vast swath of the online world, what social media monitoring company Radian6 calls “finding your brand evangelists.” The next step might be partnering with travel applications like Dopplr or TripIt, customizing promotions, or even syncing CalTweet-ed events with peak travel periods.

Online travel and lifestyle information is a powerful tool in cultivating a nomadic following, but think, too, of these high-flying consumers as you drop your URL or IATA code onto your packaging or ads. A shopping bag on a plane might just be better than a business card in hand to reach this transitory tribe.

©istockphoto.com / blackred

A few years ago, a colleague told me about a small airport in an exclusive enclave in South America where it’s still the glamorous, golden, jet-set era of aviation. Everyone was bronzed, smoking, sipping generous cocktails and there was no security lineup in sight. Those times are long gone, but I still love airports for what they represent: a taking-off point with limitless potential, a limbo-zone between the known and unknown and a glamorous gateway to future adventures.

In reality, what they often truly are is a bad food court, a mediocre shopping mall and a land of lineups and rudimentary—if not downright rude—service. Here are a few features of my favourite airports that show a true understanding of the needs of the Transumer, plus some ideas I haven’t experienced, but would love to see.

Golden Green Gate

Challenge When I’m purchasing my airline ticket, I’m usually focused on value and, I’m ashamed to say, unlikely to tack on an extra cost for carbon offsets.

Spark The new carbon offset kiosks in the international terminal at SFO in San Francisco have the green-flyer equation right. Once we’re behind the security line, trip hassles behind us, the excitement of a trip at top of mind, the Transumer midset prevails and green is an easier sell.

Health and Happiness

Challenge I maintain that the reason most travelers are grumpy and discontent is…indigestion.

Spark Offer us clean, fresh, unprocessed food at airports and everyone will be happier. My mouth is watering at news that the San Jose-area farm C.J. Olson Cherries has opened a kiosk selling its wholesome cherries, dried fruit and nuts in Terminal B at SJC. Amsterdam’s AMS has long been one of my favourite airports because of the fully stocked Food Village Supermarket at Schiphol. Why aren’t there more boutique grocery stores within airports? Whole Foods, we’re looking at you.

Quiet Please

Challenge The clever “cell phone zone” waiting areas offered by many airports have eased up the queues of cars at arrivals level. Now can airports please ease up on my ears with cellular-free quiet zones that demonize public cell-yell the way most public buildings have done with smoking?

Spark Many of us would pay for quiet-zone access, as the nominal but successful $10 entry fee program for B.C. Ferries‘ quiet Seawest Lounges proves. Why don’t the folks at Bose open pay-per-use, noise-cancelling headset equipped quiet zones at airports?

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

Challenge With the hassles of full-day car rental, insurance and gas top-up, I usually can’t be bothered to hop into a set of wheels and explore the local area on a layover.

Spark The rental companies won’t like it, but I’m a car-sharing devotee who would rejoice at airport Zipcar locations. Holding me hostage in the terminal doesn’t make me spend more; it just makes me hostile!

Shop and Fly

Challenge Where are stores like Monocle and Flight 001 when I really need them—that is, in the airport terminal?

Spark I’d love to see more co-branded retail stores in airports, run by the brands Transumers have already come to trust. The first outpost of a planned chain of Travel and Leisure stores (in Vancouver’s YVR) has a good mix of luggage, travel gadgets, maps and guides and other reading material. Roots, with its sturdy leather bags and comfy gear, is also a great fit at the airport.

Paperless Planes

Challenge People lose things at airports because we’re juggling too much stuff—boarding pass, mobile, identification, hand luggage…

Spark The new SKIP system at 24 Japanese airports lets you do paperless mobile check-in, payment and seat selection using bar-code technology. Cell-phone-pay vending machines, transit passes and other conveniences have been de rigeur in Asia’s top cities for years; it’s time for the rest of the world to catch up!

Paging all Airplane Geeks

Challenge Plane-spotters are a largely unrecognized group of aviation fans that could easily be converted into airport Transumers.

Spark Facilities like the observation decks at Sydney’s SYD and Tokyo’s HND put plane-spotters in the centre of the terminal action. Frankfurt’s FRA offers guided behind-the-scenes airport tours which often stop at the runway intersection that’s best for plane-spotting. Tours are a great way to get aircraft aficionados into the terminal instead of cowering outside runway fences, where they can pose a security risk—and don’t contribute anything to the Airworld economy.

For the first time in eight years airports stand to regain some of their onetime stardust, through cultural phenomena like Wired’s Terminal Man, pop-philosopher Alain de Botton’s Heathrow Diary and George Clooney’s upcoming adaption of Walter Kirn’s seminal AirWorld novel “Up in the Air.” Are they ready for their closeup?

Blank Check-Out

Challenge While the rest of the world moves 24/7, most hotels still cling to a dated 19- or 20-hour day concept with rigid check-in and -out times and nightly rates that penalize the fast-moving transumer.

Spark Top hotels, like GHM’s The Setai in Miami, The Peninsula in Beverly Hills and Raffles hotels have offered the courtesy of flexible in and out times; many more offer late check-out – for a fee. Airport hotels can learn from the “by the minute” practices of long-distance and cellular companies and charge guests for the number of hours they stay. By-the-hour business models like the Yotel capsule accommodations at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports and MetroNaps sleep pods at YVR in Vancouver show that the demand exists for something between a full-night hotel stay and snoozing on an airport lounge bench. The Fairmont hotel within YVR in Vancouver also offers short-term nap rates for stays in “Quiet Zone” rooms that offer comfy respite for connecting travellers.

Outlet Shopping

Challenge The frequent business traveller can develop rug burn from crawling under hotel desks in search of enough outlets for charging multiple devices.

Spark Hotels need to start by installing more, and more accessible, power outlets. Rooms geared to business travellers should showcase the latest in docking and charging stations. The devices could be placed in rooms through partnerships (with tech brands like Monster or Belkin, or design-conscious brands like Lessiv or Bedford). They could even become a potential for-sale item (think: the pre-WiFi internet cable) as part of in-room boutique offerings. Better yet, make the device solar (like iSun or Solio models) and make it an integral part of the desk design – but off the hotel’s power grid.

Savings and Loan

Challenge Attempts to travel light can be easily foiled by just one or two tasks that require more than your smartphone or PDA – not to mention what happens when that device doesn’t work well, or economically, overseas.

Spark In-room and loaner iPods are already common at boutique hotels; loaner cell phones should be de rigueur at business hotels (Fifteen Beacon in Boston has them), along with hotel switchboard call-forwarding to your temporary local number. Extend the service to having hotels provide loaner laptops, the way that Air Canada and IBM did on some flights a few years ago. It’s an opportunity to partner with brands that want to expose travellers to their latest and greatest technology.

Brand Muscle

Challenge An indoor fitness centre, no matter how well appointed, is never as good for you as getting out of the hotel and exploring a new locale.

Spark Hotel programs providing route maps and stylish loaner bicycles (like Jorg & Olif city bikes at Opus Hotel in Vancouver, Bianchi Nyala cycles at Four Seasons Marunouchi in Tokyo and BMW models at Fairmont) prove that this trend has legs. The Wynn Las Vegas has top Callaway loaner clubs for its golfers; Four Seasons Whistler will outfit you in Prada or Spyder ski gear. How long will it be before a savvy retailer opens something like Nike’s innovative Runner’s Lounges in a hotel near Central Park or Hyde Park, along with a retail store specializing in sporting goods for people on the go?

Scentology

Challenge A hotel room just can’t quite feel like home when canary-coloured shampoo and watery body lotion are the standard amenities.

Spark In a world where travel restrictions on liquids and gels mean bringing your own full grooming kit isn’t possible, more hotels are adopting top-end creature comforts: just witness what in-room placement with Four Seasons has done for L’Occitane en Provence’s Aromachologie Volumizing Shampoo and Repairing Conditioner, now a cult favourite product that L’Occitane sells as part of a popular travel set. Recognizing that scent creates powerful memories, hotel groups from Shangri-La (with its exclusive Essence of Shangri-La scent) to Starwood (which has unique “scent logos” for each of its brands, from Sheraton to St. Regis) are creating custom fragrances. The Intercontinental Montelucia in Scottsdale went local and unique, using the essence of a rare night-blooming cactus for the signature Joyambrosia scent for its spa. But One&Only Palmilla won my heart with the most personal touches of all: local agave-rich suds and a bespoke sewing kit with hand-wound thread to match the colours in my wardrobe.

In the hotel industry “the box” is insider jargon for a typical room. Which makes it especially apropos and exciting for transumers to imagine more hoteliers thinking outside of it.

©istockphoto.com / blackred

As a travel writer and editor, I’m on the road – or, more accurately, in Airworld – at least 100 days a year. I should be the ideal transumer, ready and eager to spend on goods and services that will make my travels more comfortable and memorable. But I rarely find them (notable exception: Emirates High Street shopping, especially its On the Move section, is like a transumer wish list). Why is this, when there are so many inspiring products passengers would love to sample, if only they were exposed to them? Here are a few ideas for airlines to better cater to travellers like me:

Pillow Flight

Challenge Untold dollars have been spent on chiropractors and massage therapists to correct what I call Painful Airline Seat Syndrome: head pitched forward, neck bent and cramped, lower back unsupported and sore. Sure, I’ve seen those inflatable pillows and seat liners that make airline seats more comfortable for sleeping or working, but why should we have to pack anything extra?

Spark A kiosk service, similar to InMotion’s DVD rental centres, could rent high-quality back-support cushions (we’re looking at you, Obus Forme) that travellers return at their destination airport. Better yet, why doesn’t an airline collaborate with a seating-design specialist, such as Herman Miller, to create truly ergonomic seating? We’d pay a premium for that kind of comfort.

Premium Coach

Challenge Long flights leave passengers in the back of the aircraft feeling bereft of the amenities, sleep and comforts of the front cabin. Most airlines already have the infrastructure to manage onboard sales, yet curiously few inflight or duty-free selections appeal to the long-haul passenger’s immediate needs.

Spark All the little creature comforts of a first-class experience can be sold as luxury-for-less perks to coach passengers, from amenity kits (containing useful items like antibacterial gel, cleansing wipes and an eye mask) to premium noise-cancelling earbuds or spa-quality personal care products. A wellness lifestyle company like Dove could create whole-aircraft campaigns – lavatory products, amenities for sale, a relaxation audio channel, its enlightening “real beauty” commercials (content in their own right) – around its brand in this way.

Skybrary

Challenge Airport bookstores are often glorified bestseller racks, offering little to the discerning leisure passenger or business traveller who lacked the time or foresight to pack a book. When I do find an airport bookstore gem, I often end up leaving it at my destination so I don’t have to lug it home.

Spark Audiobooks and e-books should become a standard offering on airline IFE programs, perhaps brought to passengers by natural partners like Amazon or Audible.  Content could be available on seatback screens, or ideally downloadable to passengers’ own devices. Inflight magazines wary of this kind of competition should take a hard look at their own pages: Why are we largely giving curious readers small morsels of destination and travel information in print, when what they crave on a long flight is a satisfying literary meal?

Marketers need to realize that an airplane is more than just a vehicle– it’s a unique and powerful medium through which brands can connect with and truly serve the savviest of travellers.

Next month: The Transumer looks at what hotels can do to satisfy the consumer in transit.