D/R DOWNLOAD 1.6

What’s Trending

01/ On Google

• “Southwest Rapid Rewards Points site” was up by +4,450% this week due to the airline rewarding 25,000 Rapid Reward points to customers affected by the airline’s thousands of delayed and canceled flights over the holiday season.

02/ With Media

• This week, journalists were interested in honeymoon destinations for 2023, Valentine’s Day getaways, fall festivals in the U.S., where to visit in March, and spring break destinations.

• Vox Media’s new commitment to sustainability bans advertisements from fossil fuel companies and will launch new franchises from Vox and NowThis, including comprehensive packages around Earth Month, the COP28 Global Climate Conference, Climate Week, and more.

• Travel Weekly’s podcast highlighting the travel industry’s notable authorities, high-profile executives, travel advisors, and rising stars, Humans of Travel, will return on March 13, 2023. 

03/ In The Zeitgeist

• The e-commerce company Shopify urged employees to say no to meetings and canceled all recurring meetings with more than two people, meetings that are held on Wednesdays, and required that any event with an invite list of over 50 people can only be held on Thursdays between 11 and 5 pm. The company hopes this will encourage employees to focus on what’s valuable instead of three or four 30-minute meetings per day. 

Industry Insights

• After announcing plans to enter the hospitality industry earlier this year, fashion magazine Elle Magazine opened its first hotel in Paris, The Maison Elle Paris. The luxury 25-room boutique hotel offers guests a spa with a steam room, sauna, and yoga studio and a retail store stocked with a selection of accessories, clothing, bathrobes, and more.

• Food & Wine listed prominent food trends that defined travel in 2022 including: low/no alcohol drink menus, onsite gardens, pop-up tastings, and sustainable offerings like cage-free eggs. 

• TravelPulse noted some major changes will affect travel for Americans in 2023 such as online passport renewal, Europe’s new visitor fees, as well a new Entry/Exit System that registers travelers' fingerprints, facial image, and personal information to replace the current system of manually checking and stamping visitor passports. 

• The Detroit Metro Airport was the first to implement Delta Airlines’ state-of-the-art technology that allows travelers to scan their boarding passes to see one of the large airport flight information screens personalized with their flight information. More than one traveler’s flight information can be displayed at a time, but passengers will only be able to see their own.

• Due to Europe’s record-breaking heatwave this winter, ski resorts across Europe have closed due to lack of snow, forcing more sustainable approaches by offering tree climbing and snowshoeing, or have begun ‘future proofing’ their current skiing arrangements by shifting to solar, wind and hydropower. 

• Delta Airlines launched an in-flight entertainment system, Delta Sync, that provides free WIFI and curated content to passengers on most domestic flights. Passengers will be able to stream shows from Paramount+, read restaurant and travel guides by Resy and Atlas Obscura, play games from the New York Times, and more. 

Health-Related Updates

• The CDC implemented a COVID-19 testing policy for travelers entering the U.S. from China starting Jan. 5 and advised that travelers reconsider travel to China due to the country’s impending strict quarantine policy set to take effect on Jan. 8. 

Best Practices

01/ The Good

• Patagonia closed all of its retail locations over the holidays giving employees the week off along with their normal pay. If customers approached one of the closed retail locations, they would see a small sign on the door that reads: “We believe in quality of life. Our stores will be closed December 25th through January 1.”

02/ The Bad

• The high-end fitness chain Equinox did not accept new members on January 1, stating “We don’t speak January” and “Take your resolutions somewhere else.” The decision drew criticism on social media, with some accusing the company of "shaming" people trying to start the year with healthier habits. Others called it "exclusionary" and "gimmicky."

You might also like…