millennials Archives - TravelSkills

Seriously: An airline for Millennials

July 21, 2017

Air France’s new subsidiary will target younger travelers. (Image: Air France)

Last fall, Air France said it was working on a new subsidiary that it tentatively called Boost – but it was extremely short on details.

Now the concept has emerged from the developmental haze, and its name has changed to Joon – an airline designed to appeal to Millennial travelers.

The idea of creating products designed for Millennial tastes is not new in the travel industry; hotel giants have been doing it for years now with a plethora of new brands targeting the younger set. Example: Marriott’s AC brand, which Chris recently tried out in Atlanta. Here’s his report.

But as far as we know, this is the first airline to be created specifically with Millennials in mind.

In fact, the fledgling carrier’s new name – Joon – is phonetically similar to the French word “jeune”, which means “young.” — No word yet on whether Joon will check IDs at the gate 😉

Air France said that Joon will start flying this fall on medium-haul routes out of its Paris CDG hub, followed by an expansion to long-haul markets in the summer of next year. But it hasn’t yet said exactly where Joon will fly. It is expected to have a fleet of A320s, A340s and A350s.

Joon’s fleet types. (Image: Air France)

The company was careful to note that unlike the new subsidiaries of other legacy carriers, like International Airlines Group’s (British Airways, Iberia) new carrier Level — which offers low-fare transatlantic flights out of Barcelona in competition with Norwegian – Joon “will not be a low-cost airline as it will offer original products and services that will reflect those of Air France.”

And what would Millennials (18- to 35-year-olds) likely look for in their preferred airline? Air France said Millennials’ lifestyles “revolve around digital technology,” so Joon is designed “to meet their requirements and aspirations.” Again, no details. It notes that Millennials are “epicurean and connected,” and “opportunistic in a positive sense.” Huh?

Image: Air France

Otherwise, Air France would only say that Joon will be ”a lifestyle brand and a state of mind,” and it will have a “visual identity…based on an electric blue color code symbolizing the airline’s dynamic attitude, as well as the sky, space and travel.”

Ummm. Stay tuned.

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Trip Report: What’s a Marriott AC Hotel like?

June 19, 2017

Some but not all AC hotels are built new from the ground up, like this one in Atlanta (Chris McGinnis)

AC Hotels is one of Marriott’s newest brands. It started out in Spain in 1999, spread throughout Europe, and is now making a move on the U.S. where there are 19 hotels open.

Last week I stayed at the new AC Hotel Atlanta Buckhead, located adjacent to the city’s tony Phipps Plaza shopping center on the northern edge of Buckhead. My midweek rate was $185 per night plus tax. Parking in the underground deck was $20 per night.

Here are notes from my stay and a walk-through with Jamie Krueger, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing:

Like the rest of the hotel, the check in desk is clean, austere with a hip designer look (Chris McGinnis)

This Buckhead property opened last August. Atlanta will get two more AC Hotels this year– one downtown and another in Midtown. There are other AC hotels in Boston, Chicago, New York, Irvine, Phoenix, San Jose among other cities. (See all locations.)

Some, but not all AC Hotels are built new-from-the-ground-up like the one in Atlanta. Some are conversions from other hotels, so design and features can vary. (For example, its recently opened Atlanta downtown hotel used to be a Holiday Inn.)

The brand is aimed squarely at the millennial market and the design is super minimalist. Rooms have gray faux wood floors, white sheets, some beige wood and leather furniture. This baby-boomer would describe it as somewhat cold and austere, but I know there are travelers out there who like those clean lines and functional design.

The view from my room on the 6th floor looking south across Phipps Plaza toward the Buckhead skyline (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Rooms are clean and cool with all white bedding, wood and leather trimmed headboards and built-in benches, faux wood floors (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Bathrooms clean and functional, no tubs, but only sliding glass doors separating them from the room (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

There are 166 rooms in this six story building fronting the Phipps Plaza Parking lot. It’s located at the corner of Peachtree Road and Wieuca Road. The hotel gets 4 out of five stars based on 78 TripAdvisor reviews.

The only carpeting in the hotel is in the hallways. The lobby and rooms have faux hardwood floors. It has a gray and brown color palette throughout. Bathrooms do not have traditional doors– instead you’ll find sliding glass panels, which are not sound or light-proof, which may cause disturbance when there’s more than one guest in the room.

Cool feature: Windows are “self tinting” which means they turn bluish in direct sunlight. This helps cut the air conditioning bill and will help the hotel get its LEED certification later this year. Regrettably, none of the room windows open to the outside, which is a turn off to me.

There is a small, square indoor hotel pool, not set up for laps, and appears more like a big hot tub.

In a nod to its Spanish roots, shaved jamon Iberico served at breakfast (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

An impressive and robust selection on the breakfast buffet feels very euro (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

I was very impressed with the robust selections at the breakfast bar. The sliced meat, cheese, muesli, warm quiche, loaves of bread, croissants, espresso and especially the shaved jamon Iberico made me feel like I was in Europe.

Breakfast is the only meal served at the hotel. During lunch or dinner, there’s a light-bite tapas style menu. Plus there are many restaurant options in the surrounding area and adjacent mall– and a free hotel shuttle for rides within a two-mile radius.

Hotel business center located adjacent to lobby area includes art, books and business equipment (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Marriott AC Hotels, creamer, half and half, cream

Always a good sign: When a hotel provides half and half for in-room coffee (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

AC Hotels offers its own designer soap– smells great, but it’s like trying to wash your hands with a golf ball (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Like other Marriotts, basic wifi is free. Higher speeds run $5 per day unless you are gold or platinum elite (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

This looked like one of those irritating motion-sensing thermostats that turn off in the middle of the night. However, A/C blew softly and cooly throughout the night (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Standard weekday rates run about $249 per night, and $189 on slower weekends. (But as we all know, rates can vary significantly based on demand.)

The hotel bar is the nerve center of the hotel– bartenders are (of course) mixologists and have created an unique menu of craft, signature and barrel aged cocktails to choose from. Guests can order tapas such (which are likely enough for a light meal) including bruschetta, mixed salads, nuts, olives, aioli potatoes, etc.

Read more about the AC Hotels chain here.

On summer nights, the hotel has a live DJ and when it’s not too hot, guest can sit indoors or outdoors. The bar and lobby space doubles as special events space, so you could find yourself in the middle of a party when you go down for a drink.

Overall, for a one-night stay, this was a nice, easy and efficient hotel at a decent price in an excellent location. I’d prefer a warmer ambience, but that might just be me.

Have you stayed at an AC Hotel? Would you? Please leave your comments below.

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Gimme better wi-fi…or else!

July 15, 2016

Passengers are getting more demanding about Wi-Fi quality. (Image: Virgin America)

Have you ever moved your business away from one airline to another that had better in-flight Wi-Fi service? According to a new survey, an increasing number of travelers are doing just that.

The poll of more than 1,000 U.S. air travelers, conducted by Honeywell, uncovered a growing dissatisfaction with current Wi-Fi service, and rising expectations for faster, more reliable in-flight Internet connections.

“Passengers are serious about getting the best in-flight Wi-Fi experience possible. To avoid losing passengers and revenue, airlines need a connectivity service that is reliable all the time, no matter where they fly,” said Carl Esposito, vice president, Marketing and Product Management, Honeywell Aerospace, which supplies airlines with wi-fi systems.

Among the findings:

Almost three out of four passengers said they would switch airlines to get a better Wi-Fi link – and 21 percent said they have already done so, giving up on their preferred carrier for another with better service (up from 17 percent in a similar 2014 poll).

Only 22 percent said their in-flight Wi-Fi was “extremely reliable” over the past year, compared with 27 percent who said so in 2014.

What kind of quality are travelers looking for? Eighty-three percent said in-flight Wi-Fi should be fast enough to stream video content from sites like Youtube and Netflix; 90 percent feel they should be able to get a reliable Internet link throughout their flight anywhere in the world; and 84 percent said they want a Wi-Fi signal that is as good as what they have at home or in their office.

As you might expect, in-flight Wi-Fi quality is more important to Millennial travelers (born between 1982-1998) than their older counterparts, with a larger percentage of Millennials (27 percent, vs. 15 percent of older flyers) reporting that they have switched carriers for a better experience, and requiring speeds fast enough for content streaming (89 percent vs. 77 percent).

Readers: Rate your overall inflight wi-fi experiences over the last year in the comments!

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Hilton unveils a new brand

January 26, 2016

Not your grandpa’s Hilton: Part of the public area in a Tru by Hilton hotel. (Image: Hilton)

Several major hotel companies have come out with new brands in recent years that target the growing market of millennials and their high-tech, social media lifestyles, like Starwood’s Aloft, Marriott’s AC Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group’s EVEN Hotels and Best Western’s Vib. And now Hilton is doing the same with a new brand called Tru by Hilton.

Hilton said the brand will fill what it calls “a massive void” in the midscale lodging category in the U.S. and Canada. (In the amorphous world of hotel branding, “midscale” falls in between “economy” and “upper midscale;” in any case, Hilton’s announcement of Tru emphasizes terms like “value” and “affordability”.)

The brand’s new website (www.trubyhilton.com) says Tru properties will appeal to leisure and business guests of all generations as long as they have “a Millennial mindset,” which Hilton defines as “a youthful energy and a zest for life.”

(Image: Hilton)

All the Tru by Hilton properties will be newly-built (no conversions of existing hotels), and all will be franchised. The company says it already has signed contracts for 102 new Tru hotels, with 30 more in the approval pipeline. Locations mentioned include Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Nashville and Portland.

The Tru properties will all include guest rooms with all-white platform beds, 55-inch TVs, eight-foot-wide windows, lots of power outlets and spacious bathrooms, Hilton said. The lobby area (designated “The Hive”) will have four zones, for “lounging, working, eating or playing.” (The Play Zone will offer table games and a big TV with DIRECTV service and tiered seating.)

Just sayin’: Tru looks a LOT like the EVEN hotel we just reviewed in NYC

The Command Center (read: front desk area) serves up a “social media wall with real-time content to foster engagement among guests” and a 24/7 market with snacks, single-serving wine and beer, and “healthy light meal options.”

Of course there will be a fitness center, along with free Wi-Fi as well as mobile check-in, room selection and Digital Key (available via the HHonors app). The first one is expected to open by year’s end.

Readers: Have you stayed in any of the new hotel brands designed for Millennials? (Would you?) If so, what did you think?

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Want more business trips?

October 30, 2015

Millennials would like to travel more on business; Baby Boomers, not so much. (Image: Delta)

Would you like to travel on business even more than you do now? If that seems like a chilling prospect, you’re probably getting on in years, according to a new study by the Global Business Travel Association and American Express.

The online survey of some 845 U.S. road warriors about various aspects of business travel found that Millennials (which it defines as those age 34 or younger) are almost twice as likely as Baby Boomers (age 55 and up) to want to add more trips to their schedules — by a rate of 45 percent to 26 percent.

Thirty-six percent of the respondents in all age groups said they’d like to travel more on business, while only 16 percent wanted to stay in the home office more often. Almost half — 48 percent — said they were traveling just about the right amount.

You might think that tech-savvy Millennials would be happy to meet with colleagues or clients via Skype or videoconferencing instead of flying somewhere to see them, but the research found that 57 percent of younger business travelers are big believers in face-to-face meetings. That’s not to say technology doesn’t affect other parts of their experience, though — e.g., 46 percent of Millennials said they use social media to meet up with friends on business trips, compared with only 17 percent of Baby Boomers.

Asked about eight different aspects of the business travel experience, the respondents rated hotel stays as the most satisfying part of their trips (78 percent), while going through airport security was the most frustrating, garnering only a 45 percent positive rating — down 10 points from the previous quarter. Airplane travel ranked second from the bottom at 55 percent positive.

Maybe because they’ve never known any other way of doing it, Millennials were less likely to have a problem with airport security than their older counterparts (35 percent vs. 59 percent for Baby Boomers and 56 percent for Gen Xers).

One thing the generations seem to agree on is that they’d rather not have to put up with fellow passengers talking on their phones while in flight. Two-thirds of the survey respondents said they were opposed to this, vs. just 9 percent who thought it was a good idea.

Are you a millennial traveler or boomer? Agree with these findings? Please leave your comments below!

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Even if you are not 18-34 years old…

April 6, 2015

Lobby at the brand new Residence Inn Boston Seaport is a blended, communal space (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

…the millennial generation is going to change the way you eat, drink, relax, connect and collect rewards on the road. Big time.

These young whippersnappers (aged 18-34) are into sharing, community, social media and technology– so much in fact, that they value a good wi-fi connection more than a good meal. That’s pushing hotels to invest more in technology than in food and beverage. It’s why we see hotels spending heavily on big, bright, communal lobbies full of plasma screens, electrical outlets, work/play/network furnishings and tapas instead of full service bars, restaurants and room service.

Millennials would rather bring their own devices than use the ones provided by airlines or hotels, thank you. Which means airlines could be less likely to invest in seat back systems when folks would rather “BYOD” or bring their own devices.

And it’s why hotels are shuttering or converting old-school “business centers” into community space.

They are less influenced by rewards programs, and very few profess to be brand loyal. This likely means that they’ve not been traveling long enough to develop strong loyalty, so providers are eager to sign them up. That’s why nearly every big travel brand has ads, giveaways and social media campaigns targeted to this generation.

They also love information displayed graphically, which is why you seen a lot more infographics like the one we’ve posted below. It’s provided by SACO, and provides a interesting look at what millennials are all about– and how they are shaping everyone’s travel experience.

SACO is a provider of serviced apartments in the UK.

–Chris McGinnis

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