Recycling time

Airlines bring on better business-class seats

It’s spring, and airlines are again flirting with upgrading their business-class seats. Air Canada will kick off the season by introducing a lie-flat seat in Executive First across its entire fleet deployed on transoceanic routes. Seats measure 6'3" long, with 43-inch-high privacy screens, and all passengers will have direct aisle access. The airline is also installing new Executive Class seats on aircraft serving North American routes, configured with no middle seat. British Airways, which pioneered the first business-class lie-flat seat in 1996, is investing $172 million in a new generation of Club World lie-flat seats, which will begin to appear in mid-2006. In April, Delta will begin refitting its B767-400s (serving its new international routes) with 60-inch-pitch BusinessElite seats. Installation will take a year to complete. But some of the 767-400s being switched to international service are still outfitted with domestic first-class seats (40-inch pitch)—less desirable than the current BusinessElite seats (55-inch pitch), but better than premium economy (34 to 38 inches).

Know your Hyatts

Growing company swallows more brands

Global Hyatt just got bigger. The Chicago-based holding company has acquired the extended-stay brand Summerfield Suites hotels, which it will convert to a new Hyatt-branded extended-stay product. Last year, Hyatt bought the 146-unit AmeriSuites hotel chain. Those properties will be converted to a new upscale brand called Hyatt Place by late 2006. For those keeping track, 211 hotels and resorts in 43 countries operate under the Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt brands. Hyatt Corporation (U.S., Canada and Caribbean hotels) and Hyatt International Corporation (international properties) are subsidiaries of Global Hyatt. Global Hyatt also owns Hyatt Vacation Ownership, operators of the Hyatt Vacation Club (timeshare and fractional residential product), Select Hotel Group (which owns, operates and franchises AmeriSuites hotels and Hyatt Place hotels) and U.S. Franchise Systems (which franchises Hawthorn Suites, and Microtel Inns and Suites). Now you know why they renamed it Global Hyatt.

Global ambition

Delta pins hopes on overseas flights

Like Madonna, Delta airlines wants to reinvent itself. Delta, operating under Chapter 11, is aiming to become the biggest airline crossing the Atlantic. In order to pursue these more profitable routes, the carrier is reducing its domestic service by 15 to 20 percent and expanding its international offerings by 25 percent. From Atlanta, it will begin new service to Tel Aviv in March 2006 and to Düsseldorf, Germany, in April. The bulk of its new routes will begin in May, when it inaugurates service from New York (JFK) to Budapest; Dublin and Shannon, Ireland; and Manchester, England; and from Atlanta to Edinburgh, Nice, Venice, Athens and Copenhagen. In June, the airline wants to add service from JFK to Kiev, Ukraine. Meanwhile, Delta has also applied with the Transportation Department to serve the burgeoning China travel market with nonstops between Atlanta and Beijing in time for the 2008 Olympics in that city. Delta currently code-shares on routes to China with partners China Southern Airlines and Korean Air.

The classless society

New JFK-London airlines are all business

Some airlines believe business travelers want to stick with their own kind, particularly on international flights. Thus two new all-business-class airlines flying between New York (JFK) and London (Stansted) were born. EOS is trying to emulate the feel of a private jet on narrow-body B757s, with 48 seats that recline 180 degrees in a private “suite,” each with 21 square feet of personal space. It operates two daily flights and recently put a third aircraft into service. Flights are $5,000 round-trip, though the airline ran a two-for-one sale in December. MAXjet, meanwhile, is selling its all-business-class seats for about $1,500 round-trip (no restrictions), which is less than most other carriers’ regular premium economy fares. It flies wide-body B767s configured 2x2x2. Seats have a 60-inch pitch and a 160-degree recline. Lufthansa already offers business-class-only service from Chicago and Newark to Düsseldorf and from Newark to Munich on a 48-seat A319 aircraft, operated in partnership with PrivatAir.

Hale & hearty hotels

Annual rankings include a “healthy” category

Hotels are subject to all kinds of evaluations, rankings and ratings. And this year’s votes have been tabulated. For 2006, Mobil awarded 32 hotels and 15 restaurants its coveted five-star status. (See www.mobiltravelguide.com for a complete list.) AAA issued 2006 Five Diamond Awards to 150 lodgings and restaurants. (See www.aaa.com.) And now Health magazine and AOL have joined forces to identify America’s healthiest hotels, since 85 percent of Americans worry about staying healthy while on the road, according to a Health/AOL CityGuide poll. Criteria emphasized in-room environments, healthy dining options and high-quality fitness offerings. Hotels scored extra points for spa facilities, ecological initiatives and “creative stress-reducing touches.”

And the 12 winners are: Four Seasons, Boston; Topaz Hotel, Washington, D.C.; Westin Times Square, New York; Madison Marriott West, Middleton, Wis.; The Peninsula, Chicago; Mandarin Oriental, Miami; W, Atlanta; Houstonian Hotel Club and Spa, Houston; The Venetian, Las Vegas; The Watertown, Seattle; and Hotel Vitale, San Francisco.

A lofty idea

Starwood creates another hip hotel brand

Not to be outdone by Hyatt, Starwood Hotels & Resorts is designing a new hotel brand: Aloft. Conceived by the W Hotels team, Aloft will “offer urban-inspired, loft-like guest rooms, enhanced technology services, landscaped outdoor spaces for socializing day and night, and an energetic lounge scene.” Rooms will feature nine-foot ceilings, oversized windows, an ultra-comfortable bed, an MP3 docking station and, of course, a flat-panel TV. Bathrooms will include oversized walk-in showers and amenities created by Bliss. A fitness center, a pool and wireless Internet access round out the amenities. Starwood’s first Aloft properties will open in Lexington, Mass.; Tucson, Ariz.; San Francisco Airport; Philadelphia Airport; and Denver, Colo. The hotels begin opening in early 2007, with 500 properties worldwide expected by 2012. The following brands fall under the Starwood umbrella: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton and W, as well as Starwood Vacation Ownership.

How about D.B. Cooper’s parachute?

Airline, hotel memorabilia available online

Ever wish you could take a piece of an airline or hotel home with you? Apparently, some people have done just that, and they’re selling those wares on eBay. For example, $30 started off the bidding for a Canadian Pacific Airlines lighter, though the seller estimated it would go for $70–120. Vintage TWA passenger stationery began at a mere $5. Someone was even selling a Renzo Zavanella sofa from the Hotel San Remo in Italy starting at $15,000. Or—this is a little gruesome—how about a printed pamphlet on an art exhibition supposedly left in President and Mrs. Kennedy’s last hotel room before the assassination (Hotel Texas, Suite 850)? You could even have nabbed a two-page bill from New York’s Carlyle hotel in the name of Mrs. John F. Kennedy (for the dates December 3–6, 1962), with bids starting at $150, though estimated to go for $700–900. Jackie O’s bill only came to $264.85. Like they say: You can find anything on eBay.

In brief

Expect airfares and hotel rates to increase further in 2006, according to American Express Business Travel’s annual forecast. North American domestic economy airfares are expected to rise 5 to 8 percent, while fares for long-haul flights are forecast to increase by 3 to 5 percent. Rates at North American hotels could rise by 3 percent at midscale properties and 5 percent at higher-end hotels. Globally, hotel rates were projected to increase by 1 to 3 percent at midscale hotels and 3 to 5 percent at upscale properties … Remember to stub out that cigarette at all of Westin’s 77 U.S. Canadian and Caribbean resorts. The chain has banned smoking in all rooms, restaurants, bars and public areas. Smokers can still light up on balconies and outdoor areas … If you get bored on a Singapore Airlines flight, pass the time learning a new language. The carrier has doubled the number of Berlitz language courses to 22—they’re available via entertainment systems on long-haul flights. Sample languages include Arabic, Hindi, Dutch, French, German and Greek … Conrad Hotels, the luxury brand of Hilton, will assume management of the former Le Meridien hotel in Chicago, which will become the 311-room Conrad Chicago. Other Conrad properties in North America include the Conrad Indianapolis, the Waldorf Towers in New York City, and the Conrad Miami.

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