Revised Travel Regulations Would Make The Graduate a Plastics Mogul Today “Plastics.” I knew I should have listened to that single word of career and investment wisdom whispered to Dustin Hoffman as young Benjamin Braddock 40 years ago in the unforgettable film, The Graduate. Seduced by the, ah, seductive Mrs. Robinson (the late, lovely Anne Bancroft), mother of his fiancé, Benjamin, in one of the great moments of American cinema, ignored the utterance. Had he taken it, he might have been manufacturing the one-quart, re-sealable plastic bag that the embattled Transportation Security Agency now allows travelers to carry on as sort of a see-through DOP kit for up to 3-ounce containers of goos and gels, toothpastes and other liquids that qualify as toiletries. Plus, they must be removed from carry-on luggage, like a laptop computer, and screened separately at security checkpoints. Just think. Hoffman, instead of being forced to play aging hippie daddy in tripe like Meet The Fokkers, could showcase the enormous range of his artistic talents as a modern-day Willy Loman, a traveling salesman schlepping through airports at a snails pace and suffering the time-wasting indignities that are now part of life on the road in this age where terrorism and air travel and transportation are intertwined forever. For a full rundown of the latest security regs for all travelers—business and leisure alike, visit. www.tsa.gov. “Intuitive Service”—A London hotel executive says that phrase should be the luxury hospitality industry’s mantra. He should know. As VP-sales and marketing for the Maybourne Hotel Group, dapper and charming Paul Reynolds advances the flag of The Connaught, Claridges and The Berkeley, long a trio of London’s finest and five-star throughout. Maybourne is the successor to the Savoy Group which owned (and sold) the Savoy, Savoy Theatre and several other hotels. The Connaught, built in 1899, is being closed for a full restoration and expansion and will open early next year with 33 new rooms, a spa and a pool (an old staff house next door was acquired and incorporated into the hotel). The hotel’s restaurant, Menu, is headed by chef Angela Hartnett, who comes out of the Gordon Ramsey culinary empire. Ramsey’s first hotel restaurant is in Claridges and it is still extremely popular. The Berkeley’s signature restaurant, Boxwood, was, when I was there several years ago, exceptional—smart though a bit sedate. Looking for a quiet place to meet with a client or a prospect? Afternoon tea at Claridges gets stellar rankings. Fine, but let’s talk service. Reynolds says Maybourne’s emphasis on “intuitive service” means the hotel will call guests well before they check in to ask for special requests. Example: “Ms. Smith, you dined at Ivy last time you were with us. Would you care for a reservation there or would you like to try dinner at Joel Roubichon’s (London’s white-hot, Michelin starred-restaurant at the moment). Reynolds freely admits he checks into hotels worldwide looking for “best practices” in five-star guest treatment and carries his digital camera to capture the best ideas. Hotels he’s “visited” so far include the Four Seasons George V and the Plaza Athenee in Paris, the Bel Air in Los Angeles, St. Regis in San Francisco and several hotels in Dubai. Maybourne Hotels’ staff doesn’t need much training. They know one longtime guest wants his razor set at a 45 percent angle in the bathroom, wants his humidor filled with a particular brand of cigars. “People want individuality,” he says. “Our longtime guests traditionally have had servants at home and they came to us as their home with all the modern conveniences. Today, they have conveniences at home but no staff and they come to us for that caring, personal, intuitive service.” www.maybourne.com. Getting Pricier so Shop: American Express Business Travel Monitor confirms our worst fears. Q206 reports U.S. hotel fares up 3 percent to average $139 while average international fares jumped 13 percent to $237 over like quarter a year ago. Car rentals up 4 percent to $67 daily. Domestic airfares were hiked double-digit, 13 percent, to $247 one way from $218 one way. Internationally, average airfare grew 6 percent to $1,709 and legacy carriers were up 9 percent to $1,150. Painful enough, even if you have a deep expense account, but entrepreneurs and self-employeds who foot their own bills must shop for travel bargains like they do for their investment portfolios. Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines, famed for its business class seating, has pared back fares recently, and extended its route network. Visit www.midwestairlines.com. Midwest isn’t a member of any of the alliances but the service is generally superb. United On The Block? As we go to press, Wall Street says United Airlines has hired investment bankers to shop it. But to whom? Continental is probably the only U.S. airline strong enough to buy it without sending the Justice Dept. into orbit but even that pairing could quickly be deemed anti-competitive. American merging with United? Haul out your prayer shawl and worry beads. It’s a crime that all the money that United management has lavished on itself and sucked out of its line-employees and this once-world-class airline is being piloted to oblivion. One frightening rumor: In a merger United would be the surviving flag—incredible since it has scant if any brand equity and goodwill among business travelers. Start unloading those Mileage Plus miles…Travel fare watchdog Terry Trippler says AirTran, Southwest, JetBlue and American have some bargain fares this month that must be purchased by October 20. New Urban Intelligence: Most guidebooks are rehashes of city attractions, hotels, restaurants and amusements aimed at vacationers. Dow Jones, The Economist and Financial Times all took a fling with guidebooks for business travelers; they were excellent but short-lived. Now a San Francisco business traveler/entrepreneur named Alan Davis has ventured into the treacherous publishing waters with a series of hip new tomes called Night + Day Guides. They dig into a city finding film festivals, the best dance clubs, all-in-one-evenings, dinners at dawn, unusual museums. Already out: SF, Paris, NYC, Washington, D.C. and Amsterdam. Coming this year: London, Las Vegas, L.A., Miami, Sydney and Chicago. Price: $18. The target demographic skews younger, but then all of us on the road for a living are youngish. www.pulseguides.com. Quickies: Bangkok’s mega-airport, Suvarnabhumi, 15 miles west of the congested city and six times bigger than Don Muang. A train link from downtown won’t open until 2008 and critics are already carping that the baggage handling system will be troublesome…Continental launches Newark to Cologne nonstop, Delta adds Nice, Venice, Kiev and Atlanta to Dusseldorf with an eye toward China as major U.S. airlines move quickly into higher-yielding international routes.
Don’t Miss: Dine Around Seattle returns in November with 25 top restaurants offering prix-fixe lunches for $13.50 and fixed price dinners for $26. The marquee lineup includes famed Wild Ginger, Sazerac, Flying Fish, Anduluca, Earth and Ocean and Ray’s Boathouse among others. For the full list, e-mail getresults3@gruman-nicoli.com… CAV Wine Bar in San Francisco has a seemingly hidden kitchen but exec chef Christine Mullen’s seasonal Mediterranean menu is a long list of small plates including house-made charcuterie, house-cured meats and gratinee fondue for two. Co-owner Pam Busch pours up to 40 wines by the glass. Nice discovery at www.cavewinebar.com.
|
|
 |
 |
Frequent Flyer will no longer be published. For all the latest in travel information please go to www.OAG.com
|
|
|
| 
|
