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What’s Trending

01/ On Google

• ‘First Cataract Hotel’ trended +850% this week due to the interest and notoriety of the Death on the Nile’s film location in Egypt.

• ‘Travel Boast app,’ which lets users turn travel memories into shareable videos, led search trends with more than +2,250% searches.

02/ With Media

• CNN Travel launched a weekly newsletter, Unlocking the World, which shares news about destinations opening and closing, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments.

• More than 350 Condé Nast employees have unionized in New York, demanding equitable pay and benefits to support the cost of living in the city. The move was inspired by a recent successful unionization of New Yorker employees, resulting in a guaranteed minimum salary of $60,000 at the company by 2023.

03/ In The Zeitgeist

• The Edgewater Hotel in Seattle is giving Beatles Superfans the opportunity to recreate the band’s 1964 World Tour with the “An Icon Returns” package where guests can experience Paul McCartney’s concert with a pre-show dinner, luxe round-trip transportation, and a one-night stay in the Beatles Suite. 

• Queen Elizabeth II and  The Royal Household shared a job listing to find the ideal candidate with a “passion for historic buildings” to provide internal and external redecoration services at the highest level of finish across various Royal residences including The Buckingham Palace.

• Beginning in September, Prime Air, Amazon’s drone-delivery program, is seeking 1,300 test customers from California and Texas to place orders and ship packages via autonomous aerial vehicles. The trial flights have had mixed customer responses and struggle to generate organic demand among testers.

• CNN+, CNN’s subscription streaming service that features both on-demand and live news coverage as well as interactive interviews, launched on March 29. While a bundle might eventually be available, currently the service costs $5.99 a month.

Industry Insights

• Sanctuary Treehouse Resort announced their plan to build the first ever treehouse resort in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. With 130 treehouses on 40 acres of land, there will be amenities for children and an 18 hole golf course. The first phase is underway with the first six treehouses available to visitors in summer 2022. 

• NordicTrack and iFit created a subscription-based app which allows people to participate in fitness activities while traveling using any brand of home workout equipment. 

• Nicknamed the “Ferrari of the Skies,” VistaJet announced the Global 7500 by aircraft manufacturer Bombardier, which is one of the fastest long-haul aircrafts in the world. Passengers can travel to 187 countries on this private jet, including routes like New York to Hong Kong on a single flight. 

• New Italian travel service XpatPal, matches travelers to savvy locals who offer suggestions for families, couples or solo travelers on gastronomy, culture, adventure travel, off the beaten path events, art, history, nightlife, wellness experiences or other interests.

• In partnership with StayOne, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group launched a branded collection of private villas and mansions, Mandarin Oriental Exclusive Homes, located throughout popular destinations in Europe.

• Solo traveling is trending in 2022 as research from MMGY indicates that one in four travelers plan to travel solo within the next six months, particularly Gen Z and Millenials. In light of this, travel companies are catering to those traveling on their own with special deals.

Best Practices

01/ The Good

• In collaboration with world-renowned photographer, Annie Leibovitz, Celebrity Cruises has launched a photography campaign – All-Inclusive Photo Project – that will create a diversity focused images library available to other companies.

02/ The Bad

• Will Smith caused controversy at the Oscars when he struck Chris Rock after the comedian made an insensitive joke about Smith’s wife. The Academy issued a statement saying it “condemns” Will Smith’s behavior and will launch an investigation into the incident.

Covid-Related Updates

• This week a few more countries have eased their COVID-19 travel restriction. South Africa has eliminated pre-arrival testing for vaccinated travelers while showing proof of inoculation; Sweden is lifting its non-essential travel ban on April 1 for non-EU residents, regardless of vaccination status; and India ended its flight ban on March 27 for the first time in two years.

• The CDC has not added any new destinations to its highest-risk travel list for COVID-19, Level 4, this Monday. However, almost 115 destinations remained at Level 4 on March 28, including popular destinations like Italy, the United Kingdom, and Canada. 

• SAPConcur reported that business-related travel expenses have risen significantly in the last nine weeks, due to both COVID-19 travel restrictions lessening and workers returning to offices. Conference centers, airlines, and hotels noted an increase in bookings for business travelers, driven by small and mid-size companies. 

• For the first time in two years, the CDC removed its warning against cruise ship travel due to the current state of the pandemic as well as a decline in cases on cruise ships over "the past several weeks."

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