Late Checkouts | February

Guerrilla marketing, in-flight productivity, false danger in Mexico, airline slogans, and the real March Madness.

We’re back with another edition of Late Checkouts.

As you know, every month, we’ll be rounding-up a series of retrospectives on topics concerning which we’ve recently published. Sure, we’ll delve deeper into our perspectives on industry happenings—but this column will also serve as a consolidated summary of notable travel news for those of you who prefer to keep social media at an arm’s length away. Because for all of social’s benefits, sometimes the through-line just isn’t there. We hope you find it here!

Thanks for reading. And give us a holler with feedback at any time!

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Guerrilla marketing at the Super Bowl…

We’ve probably already pounded the drum a bit too hard on all things the Super Bowl, but nothing that happens in Vegas really does stay there—which is all the more reason to be selective on where you choose to stay there. Read that one again. Beyond sports betting streakers and the more than 1,000 private jets that touched down in Sin City in early February, there’s one story that consistently rules Super Bowl weekend: who pulled off the best advertisement?

This year, as far as we’re concerned, the prize went to Drumstick for “Dr. Umstick”… and yes, while there’s clearly some bias involved here, you must admit the ad is fantastic. And that leads us to acknowledging our our favorite Super Bowl advertisement of all time, which wasn’t a traditional TV ad at all! Nope—this was guerrilla marketing executed to perfection; an unconventional, inventive display to make as big of a publicity splash with as few dollars as possible (not that Richard Branson had another choice at the time!). Now that’s a stroke of genius.

Recommended in-flight productivity hacks…

If, like us, you do some of your best work at 30,000 feet—some advice: make sure you prepare for unforeseen circumstances. That means advanced preparation and communication with your team for any work items that you may need to edit offline. And if you do find yourself unprepared on a WiFi-less flight with too much energy to catch some Zzzzs, we’ve put together a few simple productivity hacks. Keep them in your back pocket (or in your “Saved” folders).

Is it safe to travel to Mexico?

At the start of February, we released a video highlighting a unique Mexican resort on the Pacific coast between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. We proceeded to call Mexico “underrated”—and people haven’t shut up about it since. We’re not sure if we’re supposed to “keep Mexico’s secrets secret” or “never come back” because we, as foreigners, aren’t wanted. The takes came in from all sides. Everyone had a strong opinion.

We connected with Mexican locals that expressed disappointment regarding our highlighting “the luxury side” of Mexico, but not the country’s true colors that they live and love. To that, we shared our equal yearning for that type of experience—and parts of our personal travel histories driving the rural, coastal roads from PVA to Manzanillo 20 years ago (ironically quite near the very resort in question). And then we got to the prospect of danger. We couldn’t believe how many of you wrote off Mexico entirely just based on the word-of-mouth perception of danger. So we did our research…and there weren’t any facts to back it up. While certain parts of the country have been subject to "do not travel" advisories from the US State Department, these advisories are geographically limited, and rarely are foreigners affected. Maybe there’s some data that we didn’t see, but we’re certainly not worried about it. I’ll just go ahead and resume my plans to visit CDMX in the near future, and maybe I’ll even make some arrangements to board Tren Maya.

Do airline slogans really do anything for you?

Ahh yes, some important questions regarding the market-facing “slogans” from some of our favorite airlines. Are they really worth anything? Do any of these slogans truthfully contribute to an emotional connection that you have with a brand? Can they result in meaningful differentiation among competitors? Are there genuine subconscious factors at work? As travelers, we're often prideful of our associations with a given carrier (or many!). Maybe we see just a bit of ourselves in an airline's brand identity. Or maybe it's an aspirational association (we all truly want to fly Emirates First Class). And sure, it could be none of these things and all of them the same. But this soliloquy isn’t rhetorical. We’re really interested in hearing if you have something to say…

And, of course, an early arrival: March Madness, baby!

Looking ahead to March—our collective mind is on one thing, but it’s not what you’re thinking. While the annual college basketball tournament will put a lot of planes in the air, it’s the Spring Break season that truly wears the crown of March Madness for the travel industry (in the US, at least!). This all might be obvious to the parents of school-aged readers among us, but as late twenty-somethings almost a decade removed observing Spring Break as a recurring impetus for vacationing, we’re realizing it’s something that we need to go back to. So over the course of the next month, we’ll be talking about it all: the sense of Spring Break nostalgia, trending and fallen destinations, and perhaps examining some personal memories. Because even if an aircraft doesn’t come stock with a rearview mirror, recollections and reminiscences from past travels are of central value to our human experience. If ever we stopped, we should all resume to observe the Spring Break holiday…as if any of us needed another excuse to book the next flight.