National News

Catering to today’s luxury market

According to Iconoculture, a company specializing in consumer research and emerging trends, luxury travel includes consumers looking for the complete ultra-luxe experience and those searching for a more luxe-rough approach of enjoying luxury experiences but saving in one aspect of their travel. Travelers at both ends of the spectrum have the same desires to surround themselves with luxury and feel like VIPs. Many of today’s travelers are what Iconoculture calls “individualists” who decide what luxury is to them, whether it’s owning the newest “it” item or experiencing a private island getaway. For others, it’s lounging on a plush sofa sipping a rare wine or savoring premium ice cream in front of an HDTV.

The evolving luxury traveler who wants more than just velvet-rope exclusivity, for example, can find an ultra-luxurious experience at the One&Only Palmilla Resort Mexico where guests can choose from a Hummer H2, Land Rover or the new 2007 Mercedes-Benz GL450 to escort them from airport to resort. Or on a less extravagant but still luxurious scale, the Mosaic Hotel in Beverly Hills offers a bathroom minibar with high-end Bulgari products available for purchase at the guest’s whim. Illinois hotels, restaurants and attractions can align their brand with the lush life by delivering on the aspirations and experiences that wrap consumers in luxury at price points across the spectrum.

AAA to offer online list of local gas stations

AAA says its AAA.com online travel-planning tool is the first to provide the locations and fuel prices for approximately two-thirds of the nation's local gasoline stations. AAA recently added data for almost 100,000 U.S. gas stations to its TripTik travel planner. Using data from the Oil Price Information Service, locations are updated weekly and multiple-grade fuel prices are updated four times daily. AAA said the feature will be a big help to the more than 2.5 million motorists who will need emergency fuel delivery this year because their cars run out of gas while traveling.
Source: Travel Advance

For a fee, flyers won’t have to shed shoes

Beginning Jan. 12, a new machine now allows some air travelers to avoid a major post-9/11 hassle - taking shoes off at a checkpoint. Orlando International Airport has started using the ShoeScanner, but only for people who pay an annual fee and pass a background check. Those fee-paying travelers will soon find the machines at Indianapolis, San Jose and Cincinnati airports and in Terminal 7 at New York's Kennedy International Airport. The ShoeScanner detects explosives in shoes when people stand on its platform for 20 to 25 seconds, allowing the machine to shoot radio waves at footwear for a molecular peek inside.
Source: Travel Advance

TIA to lure British visitors with Discover America magazine

To reinforce its new "Discover America" brand, the Travel Industry Association will unveil Discover America magazine for insertion in newspapers when the campaign launches in March. The marketing campaign previously appeared under the "See America" banner. Maintaining its advertising presence in the U.K., TIA has renewed its marketing partnership with Custom Marketing Group, the Atlanta-based company that has designed and implemented the campaign for more than six years. The U.K. remains America's leading source of overseas vacationers, with more than 4.3 million arrivals in 2005.
Source: Travel Advance

UAL wins U.S. bid for new service to China

United Airlines won a four-way contest to provide new service to China, giving it an edge in the burgeoning China market and providing Washington with its first direct flight to that country. United, which already operates four flights to China, plans to launch the route between Washington Dulles International Airport and Beijing on March 25, pending final approval by the Department of Transportation. Demand for travel to China is rising, and flights from the U.S. are typically quite profitable, as they carry many business travelers along with tourists. Besides United, American, Continental and Northwest airlines had submitted proposals. The interested parties have 14 days to file objections.
Source: Travel Advance

U.S. image overseas to get new focus

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the creation of a new annual award to honor a company, academic institution or other nongovernmental entity that does the most to promote the U.S. image abroad through intercultural understanding, The Washington Post reports. The Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy is designed to prod corporations and other nongovernmental groups to play a bigger role in public diplomacy at a time when the image of the U.S. government has been battered by a backlash, especially in the Arab world, from the invasion of Iraq. Rice highlighted the award during a speech at a conference of public relations organizations at the State Department on Jan. 10. During that meeting, the group selected the 10 best ways that the private sector can promote understanding between the U.S. and people around the world.
Source: Travel Advance