Tag: economic trends

I recently worked with Walpole, the association for British luxury brands, and VisitBritain to create a luxury hospitality summit in New York City. Walpole, whose members include everyone from Bentley and Harrods to Claridge’s, The Macallan, and Gleneagles, whose new Townhouse is featured above, presented a new qualitative research study that explores the major themes affecting affluent consumers and their travel behaviors. While it focused on the UK, I found the report to be an excellent summation of what all of us are dealing with right now, so I’m sharing the key takeaways with you here. (The full report, produced by the London branding agency Notable, is available for download here.) Wherever you are reading this in the world, I think you’ll find the report’s conclusions important and worthwhile. It identifies…

This isn't your typical "hot places" list From The New York Times and Travel + Leisure, to Architectural Digest and Eater, many publications like to make predictions of the “hot” places to travel. Here’s my list — with a twist. It’s based not on new hotel openings and blockbuster museum shows, but on destinations that exemplify various issues the industry is contending with. They’re all wonderful places to visit in their own right, but they’re “hot spots” in a different sense of the word.   1. Turkey: To go or not to go?  The cataclysmic earthquake in southeastern Turkey last month is bringing up a familiar set of questions: Should people avoid the country while it recovers? Is visiting now going to help or hinder? And do most people know…

Our latest survey results reveal how the wealthy feel about the economy, service, and their next vacation. In early August, I reported on the results of a survey of wealthy U.S. consumers I conducted in partnership with Chandler Mount and his Affluent Consumer Research Company. Among our key findings: Demand for luxury travel was taking off, consumers were splashing out for bigger and further-flung trips, and younger folks use a different set of yardsticks to gauge their satisfaction with a travel brand. Since then, ACRC has been fielding the survey on a continuous basis, asking the respondents — U.S. adults earning $200,000 or more in household income and residing in affluent-dense neighborhoods — for their thoughts about spending, travel, service, and more. That lets us track how their outlooks are changing…