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Every air traveler knows pocketknives and scissors won''t make it through airport security. Yet sometimes something sharp is accidentally left in a pocket. (Sometimes being about half a million times a month -- that''s the number of items confiscated at airport security checkpoints in the US alone.) No problem if it''s a pair of drugstore nail clippers, but an heirloom antique sewing kit or hand-made Argentinian knife is a different matter. And where there''s a need, a smart entrepreneur is never far behind. CheckPoint Mailers has set up self-service mail-back kiosks at security checkpoints in 27 airports around the United States. Customers pick up a 6”x9” plastic pouch, complete the payment and shipping form, and drop their treasured dangerous item in the box. CheckPoint Mailers then picks up the pouch, packages the item for shipping, and sends it on its way. Fees paid are from $8-9 per item mailed within the United States. Sounds like an idea that''s ripe for overseas expansion!
Top 10 Tourism and Travel Ideas Niche parcel service Every air traveler knows pocketknives and scissors won't make it through airport security. Yet sometimes something sharp is accidentally left in a pocket. (Sometimes being about half a million times a month that's the number of items confiscated at airport security checkpoints in the US alone.) No problem if it's a pair of drugstore nail clippers, but an heirloom antique sewing kit or hand-made Argentinian knife is a different matter. And where there's a need, a smart entrepreneur is never far behind. CheckPoint Mailers has set up self-service mail-back kiosks at security checkpoints in 27 airports around the United States. Customers pick up a 6”x9” plastic pouch, complete the payment and shipping form, and drop their treasured dangerous item in the box. CheckPoint Mailers then picks up the pouch, packages the item for shipping, and sends it on its way. Fees paid are from $8-9 per item mailed within the United States. Sounds like an idea that's ripe for overseas expansion! No frills chic – Indian style Back in 2004, trendwatching.com wrote about IndiOne, a pilot for no-frills chic hotels in India. Now, the IndiOne in Bangalore has been renamed Ginger, and an ambitious roll-out for the new brand has been unveiled. While India's economic growth has fuelled the arrival of a number of low-cost airlines, and domestic travel has been increasing at double digit rates, the country's hotel industry hasn't been keeping up. Most Indian hotels are either too expensive for domestic travelers, or lack the amenities that modern travelers have come to expect. Rooms at Indian Hotels Company's Ginger hotels, however, are priced at Rs 1,000 (EUR 18.70 / USD 22.50), well below mid-range hotels. The no-frills part means that guests wheel in their own luggage and use self-service check in. A touch of chic is added through fresh design, and spaces that allow guests to work comfortably, with 'Smart Basics' features like hotel-wide wireless internet access and 100% power back-up. After Bangalore and an opening in Haridwar (a northern Indian pilgrimage city) last week, IHC plans to open a Ginger hotel every six weeks until the end of 2006, speeding up to 15-20 a year over the next three to five years. The budget hotels will be located in IT parks, near transportation hubs and in the vicinity of pilgrimage areas. Each hotel is expected to recover its costs in four to six years. If you're in the hospitality industry: this field is still surprisingly wide open. Hundreds of millions of first-time, budget travelers from BRIC nations will crowd the world's tourist and business for years to come, eager to snap up good-value hotel rooms. Equally lucrative: the tens of millions of seasoned travelers from mature, design conscious consumer societies now traveling almost monthly, alternating between low cost trips and luxury outings. Time to buy up a few old hotels (or office buildings), and redo them no-frills chic style? Time to partner with the Gingers and Yotels of this world and not only supply them with what you have to offer, but let their happening brands rub off on yours? (And, if you're a non-Indian business, gain a foothold in the world's fourth biggest and most exciting economy?) Outside India, and across industries, learn from companies as diverse as Target, JetBlue and Zara on how to deliver both chic and low cost goods services to spoiled consumers, beating both your mass class and cheap heaps competitors on the hygienia scale. Truly the kind of stuff that should get entrepreneurial minds going. Tribe wanted Launched by two young British entrepreneurs, tribewanted is creating a global tribe that will develop a sustainable eco-community on an island in Fiji. In what seems like a hippie dream crossed with an episode of Survivor, tribewanted is looking for 5000 people from around the world to become part of a tribe that will not only exist online, but will also settle, 100 at a time, on 'Adventure Island'. On the map, Adventure Island is known as Vorovoro, and is being leased to tribewanted by the local tribal chief. There are three types of membership to choose from: Nomads get 1 years membership and 7 nights on the island for GBP 120 / USD 210; Hunters are members for 2 years and can stay for 14 nights (GBP 240 / USD 420); and Warriors are member for 3 years and can stay for 21 nights (GBP 360 / USD 630). When the 5000th member joins, the tribe will be formed and will start to make tribal decisions by voting through the online community at tribewanted.com, on issues such as the name of the tribe, type of infrastructure that will be required, and how to build an island community in an environmentally friendly way. Eco-friendliness is a keystone, and tribewanted has appointed a climate advisor to keep carbon accounts for the tribe’s island life and offset them to make the venture climate neutral. In an interview with Mookychick, founding 'chief' Mark James explains: " I think that there is a growing interest from a generation to do something about their lives, the lives of those around them and to have a positive impact on the environment as they are aware of how generations before have messed up. Adventure Island represents all the passions and cravings of that generation." As national borders fade, online tribes take shape, populated by people seeking a sense of belonging, of being part of something new. As a social experiment, Tribewanted could be fascinating. And being an entrepreneurial venture, tribewanted will let the world watch: besides its three membership options, the company also offers subscriptions to Tribal TV. For a one-off payment of GBP 10 / USD 18, subscribers will be able to follow the tribe as it creates a new utopia. Or recreates the Lord of the Flies Creative entrepreneurs can find a host of business opportunities in this idea: initiatives like tribewanted could be a solution to keeping remote places of beauty relatively unscathed by tourism, by offering local landowners an alternative to making way for big resorts. To consumers, it's a new alternative to mass tourism, and to the solo wayfaring of backpacking. For anyone in the tourism industry, tribewanted should be inspirational as a contemporary, themed version of the vacation timeshare, appealing to a more adventuresome crowd, as well as the 'make generation': creative, hands-on people who read Make and ReadyMade magazines, sell hand-made goods on Etsy, and enjoy building and creating. Not to mention the Reality TV crowd (also see our earlier posting on reality holidays in Italy). Time to set up the new Tribe Med? Minipreneur travel agents Joining the customer made revolution, Belgium tour operator Wasteels has set up a division called Club Tours, which allows amateurs to create travel packages that are sold to the company's customers. Every demographic group has its own needs and wants when it comes to travel, and travel agents have long catered to the demand for specialized tours for everyone from senior citizens and rock climbers to military buffs and amateur biologists. Club Tours takes it one step further by allowing non-professionals to create vacation packages for their own niche market. So far, that includes gays, seniors, singles and art lovers. Club Tours takes care of marketing, sales, ticketing and all of the intricate legal and insurance issues, and pays the creator of the package a commission for each holiday sold. Perfect for minipreneurs who can make a side-business out of their passion for travel, or for bloggers to create theme tours for their readers, generating extra revenue while they're at it. (Gizmodo gadget hunts in Asia? Toybird tours of Chicago by bike?) And a great solution for travel companies who'd like to add nouveau niche tours to their portfolio. Tap into your customers' wealth of knowledge! Buy room 387 Consumers becoming participants is one of the big evolving themes for 2006, so we thought it fitting to highlight UK based Guest Invest, who offer individuals the opportunity to own a fully managed, luxury London hotel room, ranging in price from GBP 140.000 - 300.000 (USD 243-520K / EUR 204-436K) for a 999 year lease. The revenue is split between the indvidual and Guest Invest, and owners enjoy the added benefit of being able to stay in their own room for a maximum of 52 nights a year for a small fee. Currently, Guest Invest has hotels in Cheltenham, Exeter, Manchester, Brighton, and London, with Liverpool to follow soon. Guest Invest hotels in India are apparently also in the works. The concept of customer-owners has been around for a while, and related spotting continue to pour in: check out London's uber premium M1NT club on prestigious Sloane Street, which is owned and frequented by 250 shareholders, who all share in the bar's profits. Or re-read earlier featured Brewtopia in Australia, a beer label handing out shares in their brewery with every purchase customers make. All great excuses for customer-owners to travel and party more often. Opportunities From Australia to China, consumers across the board are obsessed with owning their homes, while prosperous boomers in North America and Europe are snapping up pieds-à-terre from New York to Amsterdam, fully equipped second homes in the South of France, or condominiums in Miami. In this new Owner Society, and with stock markets still too volatile, owning a piece of anything solid, while enjoying 'dividends' that are fun and relevant, should create an entirely new market for customer-owned concepts. What part of your business can you sell off to your customers? Airport weddings New at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol: weddings to go. Whether a couple met on a flight to Bangkok or just wants to be able to go straight from ceremony to runway for their honeymoon, Schiphol offers travellers the opportunity to get married at the airport. Brides and grooms to be can pick from several packages, from the all-out 'Ticket to Paradise': get hitched and leave for a tropical destination together with your wedding guests; to 'Say Yes & Go', the budget alternative for couples who want a quick and simple ceremony before flying off together. Schiphol Weddings works with a dedicated wedding planner, who can also help couples plan and arrange their honeymoons. As a travel hub, Schiphol gets the TRANSUMER trend that trendwatching.com wrote about earlier this week. Increasing numbers of consumers are mirroring travel behavior in daily life, valuing transient experiences over fixed possessions. The 'wed & fly' concept could obviously work well in many cities. One for hospitality players and wedding planners to set up together with local airports? Website: www.schipholweddings.nl Trip advisor for gay travellers Launched a few weeks ago, Pink Choice is a review website for gay and lesbian travellers. The company was founded by the owners of two successful gay guesthouses in Massachusetts, who were frustrated by the lack of relevant information when planning their own holidays. While TripAdvisor and other online travel review communities feature a wealth of user-generated information about hotels and holiday destinations, no such website exists specifically for a non-straight audience. Pink Choice aims to feature the most reliable, honest and trusted reviews exclusively for gay and lesbian travellers seeking first-hand information about gay-friendly accommodation worldwide. Besides encouraging members to post reviews and rate hotels, Pink Choice will also hand out annual Pink Choice awards, that will be presented to hotels, guesthouses and inns that have provided the very best in gay and lesbian accommodation. Based on conservative estimates, the American gay and lesbian community alone represents a USD 65 billion travel market (source: Community Marketing, Inc). Which makes Pink Choice seem like a very smart move. The website currently only features a few dozen destinations, and the number of reviews is very limited. Time for users to start generating content! Website: http://www.pinkchoice.com Checking into another dimension Announced last year as W Hotels' new brand for the select-service hotel category, the first aloft hotel won't open until 2008. So, what does a brand do to create some pre-opening buzz, and give future customers a taste of what's to come? Build a virtual hotel in Second Life, of course. Like American Apparel's foray into Second Life (which we wrote about here: brave new retail world), aloft is set on an island within SL. The hotel's virtual developers, Electric Sheep, started off with 64 acres of raw virtual land, and are working their way up to a beautifully landscaped island featuring a full-fledged aloft hotel. Each step of the design and building process can be followed, both in Second Life, and via a dedicated blog: virtualaloft.com. aloft is the world's first hotel brand to place a replica inside a virtual world, and will open its virtual doors this September. If well-executed, a three-dimensional metaverse outpost can be valuable in conveying the feel of a new product or concept, in this case the transformation of the mid-scale, business hotel segment from drab to delightful. At least that's what aloft is aiming for ;-) If you'd like to read up on branding in virtual worlds, trendwatching.com's YOUNIVERSAL BRANDING is a good place to start. Not part of big brand? Why not start an agency specalizing in helping other brands set up shop in the Second Lives of this world. Plenty of space in the US, and absolute virgin territory in Europe, South America and so on. Website: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/alofthotels Digital fuel Launched yesterday at Schiphol Airport, Fuel for Travel lets consumers download travel guides, music, audio books, tv shows and movies to their MP3 players and other digital devices. Located in Schiphol's Departure Lounges 1 and 2, the Fuel for Travel features listening and viewing stations for travellers to browse digital content. Once they've found what they want, they can dock their device, pay by credit or debit card, and download the material. Pricing is similar to that of online music and video downloads. A wide range of devices is supported, including MP3 and MP4 players, phones, and PDAs. Unfortunately, iPod owners are out of luck: due to Apple's DRM protection, video content can't be downloaded to the ubiquitous players. Fuel for Travel is a partnership between Talpa (a Dutch multimedia content provider), Samsung Electronics, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Samsung provided technological know-how, and also sells players and phones at the Fuel for Travel shop. Content providers include Red Bull, MTV/Nickelodeon, Radio 538, Audiocitytours, and Commodore. According to an airport spokesperson, members of test groups were especially interested in destination travel guides. Schiphol, which is managing the project, hopes that offering digital content will add to a more enjoyable travel experience for passengers. Letting customers create their own in-flight entertainment package makes perfect sense for travel hubs. One to partner with and set up at an airport or train station near you? Just try and get Apple on board ;-) Website: http://www.fuelfortravel.com Funky kiwi campers In keeping with today's mobile theme, Escape Rentals is a New Zealand camper rental company that sets itself apart by letting artists turn camper vans into art on wheels. Taking something slightly dull – a camper – and turning it into something fresh, Escape Rentals is attracting travellers who are tired of mass tourism and looking for a more unique experience. Each of their nearly 100 campers is given an aerosol overhaul by a New Zealand artist. Paint jobs draw from the whole spectrum of visual art and pop culture, from kiwiana to Far Side comics and Maurice Sendak to Pablo Picasso. Rental rates are competitive, at around NZD 59 (USD 37/EUR 29) per day, with optional extras like mobile phones and solar showers charged separately. At much lower cost than building next generation supermarkets or movie theatres, this is yet another delightful example of innovation through design. Find something run-of-the-mill, and make it special! . Top 10 Tourism and Travel Ideas Niche parcel service Every air traveler knows pocketknives and scissors won't make. membership and 7 nights on the island for GBP 120 / USD 210; Hunters are members for 2 years and can stay for 14 nights (GBP 240 / USD 420); and Warriors