The Brand Man Speaks

Playboy brand coming to South Beach, Miami linking with Sagamore Hotel

Playboy, the male oriented iconic sexual fantasy brand from the 60s, has been struggling to survive on revenue from its magazine alone these days given strong competition from the internet and a changed culture in America.

So, it may be surprising to learn that the "bunny" brand is trying to team up with lux hotel Sagamore in famed South Beach Miami to get back into the hotel business.

Years ago Playboy was a fixture around the globe with hotels and lounges extending the magazine into three dimensions. As a kid I remember how cool it seemed to know someone who had access to a Playboy "key" to gain admittance to one of the famed locales to see the bunnies up close and personal. It was the era when the old James Bond character and his bed hopping swinging lifestyle was the envy of most men.

The brand has suffered as culture changed and competition increased.

The Sagamore Hotel, known as the "Art Hotel" in South Beach for its prized art collection, boutique size and more low key orientation than its grand neighbors such as the Delano and Shore Club, is unable to pay its mortgage. The recession has hit lux hotels around the US including in popular South Beach hard. Once rooms were easily fetching $400 or more a day. This past year many lux hotels in this market were lucky to get $200 and were losing lots of money.

It is reported that to "save" the Sagamore, a hotel I found very comfortable and highly enjoyable when I stayed there 7 years ago, the owners and loan holders are talking with Playboy about a brand merger. There would not be a casino, like Playboy would like to have and is associated with at the Palms in Vegas, but it would have all the rest of the Playboy trimmings, bunnies included.

Can the Playboy brand work in South Beach and at the Sagamore? I actually think yes. I think the retro nature of the Playboy brand albeit an updated one (culturally) which is more PC has a strong appeal and would attract audiences who come to South Beach to party hard and to see and be seen. The Sagamore was overshadowed by so many higher profile hotels in the area....new ones opening every year...(the W South Beach is the "it" hotel of the moment and booked) that it seemed lost among the frey. The Playboy association would give it new life.

Thus, I feel the Playboy brand is NOT dead just in need of a bit of retooling but its 60s/70s feel is consistent with other retro things happening in this country to a time of yore perceived to be more care-free and stable than today.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Spirit Airlines "uses" Tiger Woods to sell cheap tickets; in bad taste?

I just came across the new TV ad for Spirit Airlines promoting their usual low low no frills fares. The unusual element is they are "using" the Tiger Woods car crash in an animated way to sell low fares titled "Eye of the Tiger".

In bad taste or is Tiger open for such abuse of sorts?

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Corporate Group Travel down dramatically; Will the word "Resort" be dropped from hospitality brand names?

The economy has had an enormous negative impact on bookings at hotels and resorts throughout the US. Especially hard hit have been hotels that cater to corporate groups as business travel has been reduced dramatically across the board.

A recent report indicates this may not be the only or primary reason that hotels that live off corporate business are sufferings so much. Blame the AIG fiasco last year at the St. Regis Hotel in Dana Point, CA. While banks were being bailed out to the tune of billions, AIG executives were partying like it was "1999" at the St. Regis, running up a nearly $500,000 bill. Needless to say the negative publicity this event generated was unprecedented in corporate travel circles.

Since that time the St. Regis Hotel and Resort filed bankruptcy as bookings dropped to such low levels that the facility could not pay its creditors. But the mess hasn't just impacted the St. Regis.

It turns out the word "Resort" in a hotel's brand name or in the parent company's name may now be a kiss of death to that hospitality operation. Apparently, due to the AIG backlash, corporate travel groups are told to avoid bookings at ANY facility that uses the name "Resort" to avoid the possibility of communicating corporate partying vs. real work.

This has hit the top end hotels mostly but even properties with few frills are feeling the impact if their corporate parent's name includes the "Resort" word.

Hotels in South Florida, which has been a popular US destination for corporate retreats and meetings in the past, are complaining heavily that because so many of them are called resorts or affiliated with resorts they are no longer being considered by corporate travel planners.

Will this lead to the dropping of the word "Resorts" from hotel brands? It could if this AIG backlash continues for much longer. One travel planner indicated he was told he couldn't book any meetings with an organization that had the word "resort"  in its brand name--- indefinitely. Wow! If that is true for lots of other travel planners that is very bad news for "resorts" and the hospitality industry in general.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Yapta.com fare watching service continues to be faulty; check airlines directly

I have written about Yapta the online airline fare tracking service before as my personal experience has not matched the brand's hype. I have bantered with a senior executive over my comments in the past and decided to give Yapta the benefit of the doubt.

Well more bad news friends. Yapta's fare tracking service, based on another personal experience, is totally inaccurate...off by as much as 100%.

I contacted the company and they admitted their information is faulty...but blame outsourcing of data hopefully to be fixed soon. My advice, as before, do not use this service to do your fare checking. Do your own legwork to ensure you get accurate information and do it with the airlines directly.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Spirit Airlines continues to use sexual play on words to promote fares, now adds branding attire

Spirit Airlines is continuing to use what some feel are sexually charged ad campaigns twisted with humor to promote their lower fares. They have been using the expressions "DDs" and "MILF" for over a year. Spirit says the campaigns are just fun and generate good revenue and do not insult anyone despite the double meanings.

Now comes word that flight attendants will have to wear aprons promoting Budweiser Beer...the first time, at least in my memory, that a brand is being promoted on the attire of airplane personnel. (Remember "coffee tea or me?").

Some employees and the flight attendants' union are complaining about the beer promotion. Flight attendants see their primary role as safety experts on flights (just think about the recent US Air Hudson River crash) not hawkers of alcohol products. Second, the promotion of alcohol brands on board so openly can be a duel edged sword. Bud sales may go up noticeably but drunk passengers on board may become a bigger issue causing difficult in-flight situations and dangers.

Doesn't sound like a good idea to me but in these recessionary times every business is looking for ways to keep revenue coming in.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

AIG Insurance executives formally inducted into Club CLT

In a previous post I wrote about a "new" brand called CLT...and the elite "club" the brand was forming. CLT stands for Cheaters, Liars and Thieves and its club embraces the individuals in the country who have cheated, lied or stolen their way to prosperity and success on the backs of ordinary Americans.

The first major entry (from tens of emails I received) is an entire executive group from one company, insurance giant AIG.

If AIG is familiar to you it is because it is one of the US companies being bailed out to the tune of $85 million.

While Congress and the Federal Reserve were working on a bailout program, top executives of AIG "partied like it was 1999" as the song goes at the super expensive luxury California resort, St. Regis Hotel and Spa in Monarch Beach.

This "business" trip cost nearly $500,000 including $23,000 for Spa treatments. Chief Executive Martin Sullivan thinks there was nothing wrong with this trip and its costs and his team deserved it. (Read CNN Online story about this extravagant trip, also watch Anderson Cooper's 360 series that will feature the top 10 "most wanted" CLTs this week).

So here's to AIG executives behind their free-spending leader Sullivan....you are all now members of Club CLT. Hopefully this membership leads to some serious action against you and the company including the forced return of all that money from each individual who participated in the luxury trip on essentially tax-payer dollars.

Greed, greed and more greed. I wish we could put these folks in jail is the sentiment readers of my blog have expressed. So do I.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Disney World rebrands its world class sports complex

Disney has announced it is rebranding one of its most important and sophisticated venues in its DisneyWorld Orlando entertainment center, The Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.

Disney also owns the powerful sports brand ESPN and has decided it is more effective to use that name on the sports complex given ESPN has become the world's largest most well-known sports brand. It is also expected that under the new name the sports center will attract more athletes and spectators than the current 250,000 and 1.2 million, respectively, it gets annually now. There are also plans to add more facilities to the world-class operation including bowling and enhanced sports training facilities.

Research showed that many people do not come to Disney's WW of Sports Complex given its affiliation and connection to Disney however they would be more inclined under the ESPN brand.

Central Florida has been hit hard by weak economic times with most of its middle-American, middle to upper middle income families and individuals personally feeling the money squeeze. Fewer flights now go into Orlando because it is a lower price point flight leisure market and fewer people are driving to Central Florida because of the high cost of fuel.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

US Airways is no longer a legacy airline

US Airways which along with virtually all airlines except Southwest and Jet Blue is facing on-going financial strains to stay in the skies.

Besides baggage charges and higher airfares US Airways has now eliminated on-board movies (just when low cost airlines are upping their entertainment amenities) and will charge for all beverages including coffee and tea service. As reported by the Brand Man Speaks in a previous post, US Airways is consistently at the top or near the top of the list of airlines proving terrible customer service.

I think it is time to re-segment the airline industry by adding a new category. Floating between Legacy Airlines (Delta, American, United) and low cost carriers (Southwest, Jet Blue, Virgin America) is "High Cost-no Frills". US Airways is now the only member of this new group and if they stay true to their new brand positioning they should be out of business within a year's time. Who wants to pay top dollar for no service? Not me. Probably not you either.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Yapta disseminating confusing information about Jet Blue fees

THIS ENTRY HAS BEEN UPDATED SINCE ORIGINALLY POSTED. SEE BELOW

Yapta, the airline ticket price monitoring website has been sending out emails with confusing information about Jet Blue.

Yapta a recent entry into the airline ticket price monitoring game has been plagued from day one with issues about the quality and dependability of its service. The Brand Man Speaks experienced first hand a case where the Yapta system was not only inaccurate but also considered deceptive by the airline I was flying.

In this case Yapta has sent out thousands of emails to registered members of its website saying Jet Blue has eliminated its flight change fee completely. This information seemed illogical given that just a few days earlier Jet Blue (like virtually all of the other major carriers) had upped its fee from $40 to $100 for any flight changes. Yapta's message encouraged people to fly Jet Blue because of its consumer-friendly fee elimination announcement.

A call to Jet Blue a short time ago confirmed that Yapta's information is completely wrong and that Jet Blue has not eliminated its change fees which remain at the newly established $100 rate.

Beware of Yapta they do not seem to have their act together and might provide misleading information to you that is costly.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

UPDATE

I received an email from Jeff Pecor at Yapta shortly after this post was originally uploaded to the blog. Jeff points out that their email only states that the fee to change and rebook a Jet Blue flight IF the airfare changes before your scheduled departure has been eliminated, not the change to an existing flight schedule as I noted above.

However, the term Yapta uses is "re-booking" fee. When I called Jet Blue (which I did twice) I was told the "re-booking" fee is still $100. Mr. Pecor insists (in the comment posted) that this is the term (along with his explanation from the Yapta email) that aligns with a changed airfare credit.

I concede my read of the email "missed" the point this savings was only about reduced airfare credits once the ticket was purchased. On that point I stand corrected. I do, however, contend that the term "re-booking" fee is poorly chosen by Yapta as this term is most commonly associated with changing any element of your existing reservation. I have asked Yapta to re-issue their email with a better explanation.

EP

Appeals court overrules NY State airline passenger bill of rights

A New York State Appeals Court has overruled a New York State law that would have put into place the first state level airline passenger bill of rights legislation.

The law would have required all airlines to provide food, water, and clean bathrooms to passengers stuck on airplanes for extended periods as a result of the Jet Blue fiasco in February 07.

The Airline lobby group challenged the law in which the court said the State of New York had no right to enact such legislation that conflicted with Federal Law on airline activities. The airline industry has been very public in its fight against such consumer protection legislation saying it can voluntarily handle such issues on a case by case basis without state intervention. It's really an issue about money in an industry that is bleeding from huge fuel cost increases in the past six months...not consumer protection or assistance.

Jet Blue is the only airline to have established a very specific pro-passenger protection program for extended delays. An action they took to try to win back passengers after the incident in New York last year.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli