Elite Traveler – ET Insider – June 20, 2006

ET Insider – June 20, 2006

Elite Traveler Insider – Gucci, Fendi, The Great Divide, Co-Branding and Private Jets…

Elite Traveler Insider – about the private jet lifestyle…

June 20, 2006

By Douglas D. Gollan, President and Editor-in-Chief, Elite Traveler, the private jet lifestyle magazine

Welcome to the latest issue of Elite Traveler Insider, the bi-weekly newsletter designed to update our top partners on trends in the private jet lifestyle. This information is provided to offer a better understanding of how to target these globetrotting elite travelers, their impact on your business and other trends that affect you. Remember, that private jet travelers are paying up to $10,000 per hour to fly by private jet, so these super rich consumers could be and should be your best customer. We talk about them and how you can get more of them and more from them.

This issue’s reports below are from The Financial Times Business of Luxury Conference I attended at The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas two weeks ago…

1. $20,000 Handbags Fly Off the Shelf and Top Line Thoughts… 2. The Great Divide Becomes Greater and The Rich Become Global… 3. Co-Branded Without Your Permission… 4. The Big Bang and Hublot’s Jean-Claude Biver…

“The person who buys the $20,000 watch buys four other watches a year. The person who buys the $2,000 watch waits five years to buy another one,”

Jean-Claude Biver CEO of Hublot at The Financial Times Business of Luxury Conference

“Fascinating, they always want to buy something they see. The products offered and destinations are just what my customers are looking for!”

Mary Bullock Bagosy – Galaxy Aviation, Orlando, FL

1. $20,000 Handbags Fly Off the Shelf and Top Line Thoughts…

For me, the Hublot CEO’s above comments underscored the many seemingly disconnected ideas articulated during the Financial Times’ Business of Luxury Summit held two weeks ago at The Ritz-Carlton in Lake Las Vegas. While more people are “trading up” to dabble in luxury, the core luxury consumer is richer and spending money in a way that most people couldn’t have imagined. I just glanced at the new issue of Vanity Fair where there is an article on the Hedge Fund managers of Greenwich, Connecticut outside New York City. One quote notes that $6 million for a home is mere pocket change these days, and often it is only a prelude to tearing it down and building a much grander version for countless millions more. It is a perspective that was echoed during the FT.