collins on travel

Executive Q&A: Fueling Travel Recovery Throughout the Customer Journey

Collinson + Skift

September 21st, 2020 at 11:37 AM EDT

Travel demand continues to rebuild at a slow pace due to Covid-19 border restrictions and health and safety concerns. Travel brands can shore up confidence and build loyalty by engaging with customers in meaningful ways throughout the travel journey, which includes pre- and post-trip airport touchpoints.

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

Covid-19’s massive impact on the travel industry continues to present unique challenges and new opportunities for airports and airlines. According to a travel sentiment survey of Collinson’s Priority Pass airport lounge customers, 52 percent of respondents globally said the virus is likely to cause a decrease in future air travel, but they also cited a number of measures that would encourage future air travel confidence, including enforced social distancing, sanitizing protocols, and access to private areas like airport lounges.

The survey also indicated a willingness to fly. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they would be willing to fly in the next six months, while almost a quarter (24 percent) would be happy to fly immediately once the travel bans come to an end.

With its Priority Pass global airport lounge program, medical and security assistance services and loyalty and insurance expertise, Collinson aims to deliver peace of mind throughout the travel journey. SkiftX spoke with David Evans, joint CEO of Collinson, about how the company’s various divisions are coming together to help restore consumer confidence in travel and help give the industry and wider economy a welcome boost.

SkiftX: Covid-19 has impacted travel in profound and lasting ways. What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the industry today? David Evans: I’d put them in two categories: One area is changing government rules and regulations. Clearly, where you have strict cross-border controls in place, there’s very little cross-border movement. This issue will continue to be a blocker until governments can safely unlock their borders and put in place more sophisticated rules and procedures that enable healthy, uninfected individuals to travel. Key to this, is testing at airports.

The second thing that’s prohibiting travel is a lack of consumer confidence. People need to feel safe when they’re traveling. We are clearly a long way off the peaks of last Autumn, but a degree of confidence is returning around the globe. Regional variances in confidence levels correlate to what we’re seeing from governments, where rules change quickly. Without the security of knowing that rules and restrictions are not going to change significantly, with negative implications between the time they book and the time they travel, it is difficult to plan ahead.

We recently launched a ‘ Global Travel Recovery Map ’ which we hope will help travelers across the world keep an eye on key data such as Covid rates, airport testing availability and flight capacity. All with a view of helping to restore traveler confidence which we know is arguably at its lowest ever.

SkiftX: How can these challenges be met?

Evans: The premium experience has evolved from the simple luxury of enjoying a glass of champagne to travelers searching out clean and sterile environments that benefit from additional cleaning services. In hotels, people look for proof points, such as signs or stickers on the door that inform them that the room has been disinfected to a higher standard. When you break the seal to your door, there’s an extra layer of certainty that the room has been cleaned. Even though the room doesn’t look any different inside than it did last year, those indicators tell people, “This is safe and you don’t have to worry.” Once you’re inside, you can relax as if you’re at home.

At Collinson, we offer a breadth of products and services that touch the travel industry in many different ways. On the one hand, we’ve got years of experience looking after the luxury end of travel with our airport lounge proposition, delivering increased comfort for travelers throughout their airport journey. In another division of our business, we have over 50+ years of experience providing medical and security assistance services, with a team of experts that includes our very own global network of medical professionals, offering crucial travel advice, assistance and medical repatriation. What’s fascinating is how Covid-19 has fused these two areas of our business together, as safety comes more and more to the fore as part of the traveler experience. We also see Covid-19 reinforcing the power and value of loyalty and loyalty currency as a way of increasing engagement and value with customers who are currently starved of travel. They’re crucial mechanisms to re-build consumer trust, boost customer engagement and drive ancillary revenue for brands lacking transaction volumes and cross border spend.

SkiftX: How can robust in-bound testing encourage travelers to take to the skies again?

Evans: We’ve been talking with a number of airports around the world about how we can help them, and how we can bring our understanding of the airport ecosystem and our understanding of the medical ecosystem together.

Testing can help on a number of fronts . It gives comfort to the resident population and it reassures travelers passing through to know they’re not going to have to spend two weeks and several thousand dollars in a hotel room, or stuck somewhere other than their final destination. They can get on with their business trip or holiday with peace of mind and clarity.

Testing upon departure, where you travel with a “Covid-free” certificate, is a bit harder to do, but if we can get that rolling in time, people will know that everyone on the plane has had a test within the last 72 hours, and they’ll travel with confidence knowing they’re in an environment of people who are not asymptomatic carriers of the virus.

Testing is becoming the norm, and we’re also interestingly now seeing a huge spike in demand for corporate testing as brands look to tackle the challenges of welcoming back employees to a safe and productive working environment.

SkiftX: Any hurdles associated with scaling up in-bound testing at airports around the world? Evans: Today, subject to government approval, we can do 13,000 tests a day at Heathrow and it’s our intention to offer more at various other terminals and airports across the UK and ROW. The beauty of the private sector supporting existing public national testing programmes is that we can offer extra scale, capacity and insights into understanding and controlling the virus. It’s a win-win situation for governments, public health and world economies. What’ll be very exciting to see is how digital technologies continue to blur with the physical environment as we all strive for a journey with maximum protection and minimal friction.

SkiftX: How can digital innovation in airport lounges help drive a contactless/touchless journey for travelers?

Evans: Our travel experiences division has been working on ensuring that we can accelerate a contactless journey. Priority Pass’ global network of lounges has always been seen as a haven of peace and tranquility. Now, with contactless entry, mobile food ordering and global lounge (health & cleaning) standards, they’re increasingly being seen as safe and clean zones. Sitting at the table and ordering food from a menu on your own phone has almost become a necessity for travelers.

SkiftX: How do all of these innovations and practical measures help increase loyalty? 

Evans: It’s important for consumers to know a brand cares. If you know a brand is looking out for you, you get an emotional connection and trust builds. That proactive approach of saying, “We’re here. We’re doing this to look after your safety, your wellbeing,” is a message that resonates with consumers. There’s a brand positioning part around being proactive, honest and empathetic which is currently so key in restoring consumer confidence.

The other part is about being able to deliver personalized messages, rewards and benefits. It’s about getting people to use your apps and websites to engage and transact, building up vital data so that you can communicate in a value adding and personal way — a way that drives engagement and longer term loyalty. We run a number of large e-commerce earn and redemption stores, and it’s vital that we’re always aware of consumer and broader contextual trends to ensure we’re always offering the most value to our clients and their members/customers. It’s not just your normal travel inventory catalog. It’s about including a range of rewards, experiences and retailers that suit the member base, the wider world context and that offer immediate value in a world where travel is sadly currently not so accessible. It’s also imperative for boosting ancillary revenue for both travel and financial service brands who are currently feeling the impact of slowed economies and stunted transaction volumes.

Thinking from the consultancy side of our loyalty business, travel brands really need to ensure that they continue to engage and be relevant with their customers. For example, Virgin Atlantic and a number of other airlines are providing free Covid-19 insurance upon booking. We have a travel insurance business within our own space, and we’re working with our partners to include that Covid cover as well. I’d argue that loyalty programs have never been more relevant. They offer a vital lifeline of communication and engagement to restore trust and peace of mind for customers who are likely confused as to what the new normal will contain.

SkiftX: How will these innovations continue to serve the travel industry in a post-recovery world? Evans: The brands that were able to stay in touch with their customers when their core travel product wasn’t available — by innovating and by providing relevant, personalized messaging — will be in the best position when travel recovers. All of these positive customer experiences, which are expressions of Collinson’s DNA in so many ways, are crucial to restoring traveler confidence. And they’re not necessarily going away post-recovery.

Covid-19 has further increased the focus on health and wellbeing within the travel journey and broader consumer mindset. Wellness has moved from being about de-stressing, relaxing, and getting a massage to being about the basics of health and hygiene and undoubtedly, both will be at the forefront of the travel experience for a long time to come.

Innovation comes from adversity, and the industry needs to take what it’s learned in its response to Covid-19 and continue to come together to ensure we’re ready for what the world presents next. I’d love to see that spirit of collaboration continue as we work hard to continue the travel recovery and look forward to undoubtedly better times ahead.

This content was created collaboratively by Collinson and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX .

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Tags: collinson , collinson group , covid-19 , loyalty , SkiftX Showcase: Consulting , travel recovery

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Collinson expands smartdelay+ travel disruption benefits to u.s. underwritten by starr insurance.

LONDON, February 06, 2024 --( BUSINESS WIRE )--Collinson, a global leader in customer benefits and loyalty, and Starr Insurance, a global insurance and investment organisation with a presence across six continents, have joined forces to distribute SmartDelay+, Collinson’s real-time parametric travel disruption insurance product.

With the latest flight delay statistics indicating that almost 1 in 4 flights globally are delayed by at least 15 minutes * and with 133 million travellers across the globe impacted by flight delays of over 1 hour, there is an increasing need to address airline travellers’ growing stress and anxiety when they embark on their journeys.

SmartDelay+, a proprietary end-to-end solution by Collinson, is a real-time, parametric insurance product which provides customers with a range of benefits in the event of a flight disruption such as an airport lounge, airport experiences including discounts at dining establishments, access to spas and automated cash compensation.

Collinson created SmartDelay in 2017 and since then it has evolved into a parametric insurance product with the addition of alternative benefits to airport lounge access, including instant cash payouts. SmartDelay is used in 35 countries by more than six million customers. Starr will provide insurance capacity for SmartDelay+ in the US and will also distribute the product to its own US customers.

Lawrence Watts, Chief Executive Officer, Insurance, at Collinson, said: "Starr is a key player in the US insurance market and we are excited to work with them to distribute our SmartDelay+ proposition across the US to provide an immediate benefit when the customer needs it most. With travel returning to pre-pandemic volumes and growing, flight disruption is inevitable, so there is no better time than now to broaden the distribution of this truly parametric insurance product beyond UK and Europe where it already has an impressive client base and track record."

Michael Grossman, Vice President A&H, at Starr Insurance said: "We know travel conveniences are growing in importance for our customers. Starr has teamed up with Collinson to help mitigate the stressful experience of delayed flights. Our customers can now travel knowing that with just a few clicks, they can wait for their delayed flight in the comfort of a lounge or receive an immediate cash settlement they can use while they wait, or anytime they wish. We’re both working to make air travel a more enjoyable experience. Starr Insurance is delighted to offer SmartDelay+ to our customers, bringing them some additional comfort, and less stress during their travels."

* Cirium, 1st July 2022 – 30th June 2023.

Issued by Rein4ce on behalf of Collinson

About Collinson:

Collinson Insurance specialty and ancillary personal lines capability includes underwriting capacity, insurance products and access to expert TPAs in the UK and Europe. Our deep understanding of loyalty and membership programmes enables us to offer true differentiation, so clients have confidence in our partnership to deliver growth. Our truly parametric insurance product ensures airline passengers that have registered their flight are given access to an airport lounge or an instant cash payout, in the event of a flight delay or cancellation. Priority Pass is the world’s original and market-leading airport experiences programme. We provide travellers with access to over 1,500 airport lounges and travel experiences in over 700 airports in 145 countries.

www.collinsongroup.com

About Starr Insurance:

Starr Insurance (or Starr) is a marketing name for the operating insurance and travel assistance companies and subsidiaries of Starr International Company, Inc. and for the investment business of C.V. Starr & Co., Inc. and its subsidiaries. Starr is a leading insurance and investment organization with a presence on six continents; through its operating insurance companies, Starr provides property, casualty, and accident and health insurance products as well as a range of specialty coverages including aviation, marine, energy and excess casualty insurance. Starr’s insurance company subsidiaries domiciled in the U.S., Bermuda, China, Hong Kong, Malta, Singapore, Switzerland and U.K. each have an A.M. Best rating of "A" (Excellent). Starr’s Lloyd’s syndicate has a Standard & Poor’s rating of "A+" (Strong).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240206896283/en/

Stephen Breen: [email protected] , +44 (0)7843 076556

Asian millennials and Gen Z, with their ‘hyper heightened’ focus on experiences, are changing the region’s travel market

Gen Z and millennial tourists will make up half of all travelers in the Asia-Pacific region, the fastest growing region for travel, by 2025, says Todd Handcock, the global chief commercial officer and Asia-Pacific president for Collinson, which operates the Priority Pass airport lounges. 

But this new generation of tourists wants something else from their travel. These two groups have a “hyper heightened focus on personalized value-added experiences,” according to Collinson’s customer engagement report. Younger travelers are thus more likely to value benefits such as spas or sleeping pods at the airport, treating time spent waiting for flights as part of the overall travel experience.

According to a Collinson survey in September, cashback and points remained the most popular financial rewards for Gen X travelers while Gen Z and millennials showed a preference for experiential-driven travel rewards.

Other industry research suggest Gen Z and millennial travelers are more likely to favor nature-based or cultural experiences when traveling. Travelers from these two cohorts are also more likely to be influenced by social media as opposed to search engines or travel guides.

By comparison, Gen X travelers travel less frequently and are more willing to pay for luxury, according to industry research. These tourists may also be traveling with family, and so may look for family-friendly options or activities that are suitable for children.

Collinson runs over 1,500 airport lounges and travel experiences in 600 different cities, and partners with banks, airlines and hotels to offer consumers access. “If you take a look at our geographic coverage, we have probably more insight than any other airline and hotel group, bar [Marriott] Bonvoy,” Handcock says. 

Passengers trying to enter Collinson lounges need to show their boarding passes and a membership card, giving the company information on where people are going, and how they became a Priority Pass member. (Handcock says the company is “tight on privacy rules and very protective of our clients’ data.”)

Air travel in the Asia Pacific is largely back to pre-pandemic levels, he says, based on a 17% increase in lounge visits, driven by millennials and Gen Z, for the current quarter compared to the same period in 2019. 

India and China

India and China are “significant markets,” Handcock says. 

China has lagged behind the rest of Asia when it comes to international air travel recovery. Fewer flight options, which may also result in higher prices, coupled with visa backlogs and restrictions have often been cited by the travel industry as possible reasons for the slower rebound. (Domestic travel, on the other hand has surpassed pre-COVID levels, with industry figures not seeing a slowdown)

Yet data from the recent Lunar New Year holiday suggest that new visa-free initiatives from nearby countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand could be encouraging Chinese tourists to travel internationally again. China saw some 13.52 million inbound and outbound trips during the holiday, which is 2.8 times more from the same holiday period last year, according to the National Immigration Administration. Fliggy, a travel platform owned by Alibaba, noted that outbound travel hit a four-year high.

Handcock notes that Collinson is starting to see more inbound travel to China as well, suggesting that international travelers are now more confident to visit China. Beijing, for its part, has been trying to make it easier for people outside of China to visit. It unilaterally granted citizens from Thailand, Malaysia, and 11 different European countries visa-free access to the country,

“China has not fully recovered but we’re seeing significant growth both from a domestic as well as an inbound perspective,” Handcock said.

Handcock is more effusive on India’s potential, citing government policy, a rising middle-class, and Collinson data pointing to a burgeoning air travel sector. 

“Our 2023 lounge visit data has seen a 56% year-on-year increase in outbound traffic from India,” Handcock says. India is expected to have about 5 billion aggregate trips annually by 2030, and travel expenditure is expected to grow to $410 billion by 2030, according to a study released by Booking.com and McKinsey & Company in October.

The top destinations for outbound India travel, based on Collinson’s data, are the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The Indian government is encouraging more investment in its aviation industry, with the Modi administration saying that the government would spend 980 billion Indian rupees ($11.83 billion) by 2025 to build new airports and modernize existing ones.

Indian carriers are also expanding their fleets. The newly-privatized Air India ordered 470 planes from Boeing and Airbus in February 2023. Also last year, Indian airline IndiGo ordered 500 Airbus planes at the Paris Airshow, the largest single purchase agreement by any airline in commercial aviation history.  

Fortune is hosting the inaugural  Fortune Innovation Forum  in Hong Kong on March 27–28. Experts, investors, and leaders of the world’s largest companies   will come together to discuss “New Strategies for Growth,” or how companies can best seize opportunities in a fast-changing world.

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• Quirky Travel Poem: ‘Consolation’ by Billy Collins

In this time of lockdown, quarantine, restricted travel and isolatoin from people and places, many of us are exploring what’s on our doorstep. We’re also resorting to armchair travel to escape to our dream destinations. I’m rereading some of my favourite travel writers and searching out travel poetry that takes me to the far-flung shores of imagination.

I came across this poem ‘Consolation’ in Solo Traveler’s World collection of 16 Best Poems about Travel and Life. American Billy Collins was Poet Laureate of the United States and, in 2016, was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

During the stay-at-home confinement period necessitated by the Coronavirus pandemic beginning in March 2020, Collins, like many others in the arts, has appeared regularly on on Facebook Live offering his art to a worldwide audience, reading poems and talking about poetry

Consolation celebrates the simple pleasure of travelling closer to home, rather than jetting off to foreign destinations. Published in 1991 (I think), it has a very particular resonance in the the time of Covid-19 restrictions.

Consolation

How agreeable it is not to be touring Italy this summer, wandering her cities and ascending her torrid hilltowns. How much better to cruise these local, familiar streets, fully grasping the meaning of every roadsign and billboard and all the sudden hand gestures of my compatriots. There are no abbeys here, no crumbling frescoes or famous domes and there is no need to memorize a succession of kings or tour the dripping corners of a dungeon. No need to stand around a sarcophagus, see Napoleon’s little bed on Elba, or view the bones of a saint under glass. How much better to command the simple precinct of home than be dwarfed by pillar, arch, and basilica. Why hide my head in phrase books and wrinkled maps? Why feed scenery into a hungry, one-eyes camera eager to eat the world one monument at a time? Instead of slouching in a café ignorant of the word for ice, I will head down to the coffee shop and the waitress known as Dot. I will slide into the flow of the morning paper, all language barriers down, rivers of idiom running freely, eggs over easy on the way.

And after breakfast, I will not have to find someone willing to photograph me with my arm around the owner. I will not puzzle over the bill or record in a journal what I had to eat and how the sun came in the window. It is enough to climb back into the car as if it were the great car of English itself and sounding my loud vernacular horn, speed off down a road that will never lead to Rome , not even Bologna.

Billy Collins

Read more Quirky Travel Poems

‘horses’ by pablo neruda, ‘ithaka’ by cavafy, ‘jabberwocky’ by lewis carroll, ‘the jumblies’ by edward lear, ‘the owl and the pussy cat’ by edward lear.

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Amazing! I know nothing about traveling all over the country, what a wonderful looking place to explore.

After reading the poem, am really interested in visiting Italy. Its an amazing place to tour. I have a friend living in Rome and I plan to give her a visit. Thank you for sharing this with the world.

Delighted to hear that this article has inspired you to travel again 🙂

Well, not quite sure which particular place you are hoping to explore, but glad it’s given you food for thought!

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Hi, I’m Zoë; welcome to my quirky world…

QUIRKY TRAVEL is about seeing the world from a different angle, looking at things from all sides, finding the unusual, the interesting, the fascinating. It’s about quality combined with classiness, it’s about being curious about everything and wanting to know more…

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Billy Collins: The Poetry of Travel

Travel Interviews:  The former U.S. poet laureate brought the world in-flight poetry. Frank Bures asks him about travel, writing and the Delta Airlines flight on which poetry trumped Keanu Reeves.

11.22.05 | 12:31 AM ET

World Hum: You write a lot about places, even if you haven’t been there.

[Laughs] Well, that’s the beauty of not being a travel writer. Which ones did you read?

Yeah, I’ve never been to Japan or Egypt. I’ve written a poem called “Istanbul,” and I have been to Istanbul. I have a poem called “Paris,” and I have been to Paris a few times. Although I just wrote a poem called “January in Paris,” and I’ve never been to Paris in January. So some of them are real places I’ve been to. Others I’m just using as settings.

What about the poem where you’d rather not be in Tuscany?

That’s a poem called “Consolation.” The first line is, “How agreeable it is not to be touring Italy this summer.” It’s sort of a tongue in cheek celebration of the joys of staying at home, where I can understand all the billboards and the road signs and all the hand gestures of my compatriots.

Tongue in cheek?

Because I’d really rather be in Italy.

Would you say traveling inspires your poetry?

Not in a literal way. I don’t write travelogue poems that celebrate the curiosity of the destination. But often I’ll pick something up. I was in Alaska this summer, and for the first time I saw someone smoking out of a whalebone pipe. And I’m working on a little poem that isn’t about Alaska, but it has a whalebone pipe in it. So often there will be a little detail or something I notice that happens to feed into the poem. But after I’ve come back from Alaska or some place, I don’t sit down like a travel writer and feel like I have some geographic obligation to put it into verse. 

It just goes into the mix.

Pretty much. And the persona that is speaking in most of my poems tends to be someone who doesn’t leave the house very often. He tends to be a reclusive fellow who likes to look out the window.

Do you think there’s something about travel that lets you step back and look at yourself in the same way poetry can do?

The easy answer for you would be yes. [Laughs] I’m trying to think about that.

I was just thinking about what you were saying about poetry “transporting the reader from the familiar to the mysterious.”

Well, I guess I have to start with the familiar, so that’s why my poems start in more of a domestic setting. But the writer Malcolm Lowry said traveling is moving from a place to which you bear little relationship to a place to which you bear no relationship whatsoever, even though he actually did a lot of traveling. I guess he found traveling kind of disorienting. And I like to leave readers at the end of poems a little disoriented. I find disorientation or defamiliarization is one of the pleasures of poetry and other kinds of literature. So there’s an analogy there—I’d like my readers at the end of a poem to feel like they’re adjusting to a foreign environment.

Do you read much travel writing?

Oh yes. I read [Paul] Theroux a lot. I like how he’s really unimpressed by his surroundings. Jonathan Raban . Redmon O’Hanlon . John McPhee , if you can consider him a travel writer. Peter Matthiessen . In Theroux’s The Old Patagonian Express , one thing I like about that is that he gets on this BART in Boston, and it’s a weekday morning, so most people are going to work. And he’s going to Patagonia. I like the sense that on these local rails that take people to their jobs, he’s going to find how they connect all the way through North and South America, and take him to this continental extreme.

That kind of the reminds me of your poem, “Traveling Alone,” about people coming into contact with so much going on under the surface, with their worlds brushing against one another.

Well, that’s certainly about the isolation of travel. You just go through the whole day without talking to anyone and you just see these nametags. And the speaker is just desperate to talk, and to talk about himself. It’s about moving through a world of strangers.

What are some of your favorite places you’ve traveled?

West of Ireland is a place that I continue to return to—particularly county Claire, a town called Vaughn. For me a place really takes over when I’m in that place and I am freed of any desire to go anywhere, and I can kind of imagine sitting in that place forever. That hasn’t happened very often. It happened in Siena, Italy. I was sitting in the campo. It just seemed like this could be the center of the universe. I’ve had that experience at this place in Bimini called the Angler’s Rest, this hotel/restaurant where Hemingway stayed and wrote. The temple of Apollo at Delphi was a real eye-opening experience.

I liked your poem, “A Room of a Thousand Miles.” 

Right, where my wife wants me to write about all these exotic locations, and stop writing about the front porch. Because I do quite a bit of travel, but I keep writing poems about the birdfeeder. We went to Nepal last year, and New Zealand. Pretty far flung places. I did do a poem called “Kathmandu” about Nepal. I would say 75 percent of the poems take place looking out the window. But there is that other group that represents trips to Istanbul and Katmandu. I’ve got a poem called “Bermuda.” 

What’s that about?

It’s about being in Bermuda with my wife. Lying on the beach. There’s a tradition on Good Friday in Bermuda. They fly kites. And they make hot cross buns. It’s all about the shape of the crucifixion. So that supplied some pretty handy imagery. And [looking through book] here’s one called “By a Swimming Pool Outside of Syracusa,” which is in Sicily. Those are in a book called Nine Horses . So the more I look, the more I seem like this world traveler.

And you also managed to get poetry on Delta Airlines, didn’t you?

Yeah. I got a poetry channel on Delta. I did three programs. I think the themes were love, animals, and maybe travel was the third theme. They weren’t my poems. They were poems of other people that I read in the studio, and they’d put jazz between the poems. So there’d be this little jazz interlude. It was in the [in-flight] program, right next to the country music and everything. And that lasted about six months, then it just got dropped. I was a little too busy to pursue it and try to figure out how to continue it. But I did get it going. And it’s their fault that it stopped.

Did you get any response from that?

I did get one bit of positive feedback from a woman who was traveling across the Atlantic. She wanted to watch “The Matrix,” which was showing. So she put her earphones on and the movie began, but she had the poetry channel on. And she thought, How interesting that this movie would start with this poem . Then she realized she was on the wrong channel and, bless her heart, she closed her eyes and continued to listen to the poetry channel. One example of poetry trumping the movies.

Trumping Keanu Reaves.

That’s right. It’s not every day.

When you did the poetry channel, you put together poems about travel?

I remember dogs and love and I think the other one was travel. There are two books you might be interested in. One is called On the Wing: American Poems of Air and Space Flight . It’s mostly about space travel. And then of even more interest is this book the Paris Review put out: The Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators, and Waiting Rooms . And Elizabeth Bishop has many poems about traveling to South America. Her book is called Geography III . She’s traveled and lived in South America for a long time. And she has poems that are from a tourist’s point of view. She has a book called Questions of Travel , mostly about Brazil. 

Great. But the poetry channel disappeared?

Right. After I left being Poet Laureate, my poetry activism kind of slumped. I’m not really into waging public programs any more. I gave it a shot, though. I always thought poetry is good at surprising people. And I like poetry in unlikely places, not just the library and the classroom, but on airlines and billboards. It was an interesting adventure—that people would put on their earphones, and find a poem on there. 

Yeah, I would love that.

I would too. Maybe it’ll come back again. The other thing is, I have a friend I’m pursuing this with: I just got a new car that has satellite radio. And it has 138 channels or something, with like 10 sports channels and the Elvis channel. And there are so many channels, I thought, why not a poetry channel? So a friend of mine who’s more entrepreneurially inclined than I am is looking into that possibility. 

I was reading an interview where you were talking about how you think of a poem as a kind of journey, or a way to transport the reader to another place.

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Frank Bures

More by This Author:

• Back to The Beach: A Lost Interview with Alex Garland
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Fort Collins   Travel Guide

Why Go To Fort Collins

Fort Collins is possibly best-known as the home of Colorado State University , but it caters to visitors of all ages, not just the college set. Here, travelers can engage in the outdoor pursuits Colorado is famous for, including hiking and whitewater rafting. Biking is also big here, but it's not just for the trails. Locals usually hop on two wheels to get around the city, which has plenty of bike racks and designated bike lanes. Fort Collins' city-based offerings are just as diverse as its recreation. The city hosts events year-round ranging from foodie-focused festivals to family-friendly concert series. And those who want a taste of Colorado's brews need not worry. Fort Collins' craft beer scene outdoes the one of neighboring Denver , which sits about 65 miles south.

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Best of Fort Collins

Best hotels in fort collins.

• # 1 in Fort Collins Marriott
• # 2 in The Elizabeth Hotel, Autograph Collection
• # 3 in Hilton Fort Collins

Best Things to Do in Fort Collins

• # 1 in Horsetooth Reservoir
• # 2 in Cache la Poudre River
• # 3 in Fort Collins Breweries

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Private Guided Hike and Scenic Drive near Fort Collins

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Fort Collins Travel Tips

Best months to visit.

The best time to visit Fort Collins is from March to October. That being said, for a city that sees about 300 days of sunshine annually, there's not really a bad time to go. Temperatures in the spring and fall range from the mid-50s to the low 70s, making the weather perfect for exploring the great outdoors. Summer temperatures climb to the upper 80s, but Fort Collins' humidity stays pretty comfortable year-round, which means you won't have a problem splashing in the river or Horsetooth Reservoir after a nice hike. From November through February, highs rest in the low to mid-40s. If you travel during this time, you may be treated to some snow, so pack accordingly.  

What You Need to Know

Grab a bike Bicycling is a popular way to get around town. The city has special parking zones for bikes as well as bike lanes to help you get around.

Sample the food Fort Collins boasts more than 70 different food trucks selling everything from waffles to cookies to barbecue to hot dogs. The summertime Food Truck Rally is also a great place to try all your favorites.

Use Fort Collins as a home base Rocky Mountain National Park , Denver , and Cheyenne, Wyoming, are all within driving distance of Fort Collins. Any of these locations would make a great daytrip.

It's a college town Colorado State University's campus is about 2 miles southwest of downtown Fort Collins. On-site, there are several museums to explore as well as the school's trial garden , not to mention you can always attend a game during football, volleyball or basketball season.

How to Save Money in Fort Collins

Attend weekly events Both the Fort Collins Foodie Walk and the First Friday Art Walk are free events. If you happen to be in town during one of them, you'll have access to a full evening of activities without spending a dime.

Pitch a tent Horsetooth Reservoir , along with several other parks, have campsites and camper cabins available. If you're willing to rough it, you'll spend a fraction of what you'd pay for a hotel.

Take public transportation While a car will be useful to get you to surrounding natural areas, rental fees and parking fees downtown can add up. If you'll be sticking around town, try biking or taking the bus. A day pass for riding the bus costs $3 while a seven-day pass costs $10.

Horsetooth Reservoir is one of many places nearby Fort Collins where travelers can experience the great outdoors.

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From airport lounge access to dining deals: How banks can attract customers with travel perks

With travel being one of the most important spend categories for financial institutions and credit card issuers, travel-related rewards can give brands a competitive edge

THE global travel industry is witnessing a resurgence, surpassing pre-pandemic levels with an expected 4.7 billion people projected to travel in 2024, according to a December 2023 forecast by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 

This historic peak in travel activity marks a significant rebound from the 4.5 billion travellers in 2019, signalling a robust recovery, especially in the Asia Pacific region which is set to fully recover by early 2024 .

Data from Collinson on consumer airport lounge visit patterns tells a similar story. Passenger visits across our network of more than 1,500 airport lounges and travel experiences have continued to trend upwards in 2023. Data indicates a 17 per cent increase in Asia Pacific lounge visits compared to 2019.  

This surge reflects a strong consumer commitment to travel despite economic pressures evident during the pandemic. In fact, a  2022 Collinson Global Traveller Sentiment Survey  revealed that many consumers prioritise travel over other expenses. 30 per cent of respondents would rather cut back on dining out, 26 per cent would give up their gym memberships and 21 per cent would forgo their streaming services to maintain their travel budgets. 

In a 2022 Visa study , 42 per cent of Asia Pacific consumers said travel was the category they were most eager to spend on. 

This enduring interest in travel is significantly shaping consumer behaviour, with 93 per cent of respondents in Collinson’s 2023 Asia Pacific consumer insights report  – The New Rules of Engagement: Customer Expectations Revealed – stating that travel-related rewards prompt them to engage more frequently with brands. 

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Moreover, 97 per cent of frequent travellers (those taking more than 10 trips a year) are influenced by such rewards when it comes to spending. Even among the less frequent travellers (those that take one trip per year), three out of four stated the availability of travel rewards encourages them to stay loyal to a brand.

Such strong consumer sentiment and corresponding industry growth trajectory puts the spotlight squarely back on the travel and hospitality sector. Leading the trend are financial services brands that have enabled travel rewards and travel-related services in their customer proposition. What is different today is that these brands are increasingly using travel as a major competitive advantage, creating substantial opportunities for growth in the process.

But what does this look like in practice? JPMorgan Chase Bank (Chase) in the United States has established a comprehensive travel business agency specifically for upscale leisure travellers. This service allows consumers to plan and book a variety of travel needs such as five-star hotel accommodation or a safari expedition.

Chase expanded into the travel space by acquiring several companies, including travel agency FROSCH and their family of brands including Valerie Wilson Travel; scalable booking platform cxLoyalty; and The Infatuation, a dining and location guide site.

Additionally, Chase is also developing its own branded airport lounges worldwide, in partnership with Airport Dimensions, known as Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club. 

In a recent filing, Chase claimed its existing travel business – including the Sapphire Reserve travel credit card – is so successful that its customers account for one of every four dollars spent on leisure travel in the United States. With its new offerings, Chase believes that it could capture US$15 billion (SG$ 20.4 billion) in travel sales volume in 2025, up from US$8 billion in 2022 . It has also announced plans to roll its travel business out across the bank.

Travel is one of the most important spend categories for banks and credit card issuers. It is also a highly involved purchase, one that consumers are passionate about – from planning to booking, experiencing and then reliving. Vertical integration in this category allows brands to control larger and larger spend shares, while also gaining access to valuable underlying data and insights that can enable intelligent recommendations. 

Financial services players understand this and are making inroads into an industry that has already seen much disruption and aggregation over the years. Travel Weekly’s top ten list of the most powerful travel agencies in 2023 – based on 2022 revenue – featured three financial services brands, including American Express Business Travel (US$23 billion) at number three and American Express Travel (US$9.2 billion) at number seven. 

Travel agency Hopper (US$6 billion) which was nine on the list has investments from the likes of CapitalOne, which is integrating Hopper’s services into its banking ecosystem.The travel playbook: Three key principles Asia Pacific financial institutions should adopt

Closer to home in Asia Pacific, we see a similar story unfolding. Commonwealth Bank in Australia recently announced an integration with Hopper to provide travel services to bank customers. 

When it comes to travel benefits, Citibank has been a leader for years, thanks to the launch of its Citi PremierMiles cards. Its consumers can earn points and get access to a host of travel benefits, including airport lounge access through Priority Pass . 

In Collinson’s 2023 Asia Pacific consumer insights report , 83 per cent of credit card holders said that having travel-rewards encourages them to stay with a banking partner, while 73 per cent said they would choose a bank based on the availability of such rewards. 

The top five most appealing travel-related benefits cited by consumers in the research are access to airport lounges, airport transit hotels, gaming lounges, airport parking and discounted and/or complimentary food and beverage inside the airport. 

While travel remains a key revenue and margin driver for financial services brands, and an aspirational benefit for their consumers, the battleground for travel-related rewards and benefits remains hotly contested. Winning in this fast-changing, highly competitive environment requires brands to devise specific strategies around travel that can generate the greatest impact to businesses. 

In our work with leading brands, particularly in the financial services and travel sectors, across the region, Collinson has identified three key components to building an effective travel playbook.

#1 Define clear ambitions and objectives Chase’s strategic investments in travel are based on its ambition to become a major player in customers’ travel journeys. The bank’s 2022 annual report explains the strategy as follows: “Lean into what our customers do on our cards all the time – spend on travel, dining and shopping – and invest in digital experiences for Chase to win in discovery, booking, paying and borrowing across these journeys.” 

Other brands may be more focused on leveraging travel as an acquisition driver, or for retention. Whatever the ambition, brands should clearly articulate the objectives and outline the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help keep them aligned with these objectives. 

#2 Develop a strategic value proposition Develop a core consumer value proposition for your travel strategy that addresses every phase of the travel experience — from planning and booking to experiencing and reminiscing. The value proposition should clarify whether it is providing a benefit to the consumer or solving a pain-point. Consider dividing the travel experience into stages, such as pre-travel, during travel, at airports and within destination countries. In each stage, there are multiple things that can be done to either reduce consumers’ stress associated with travelling by providing access to airport lounges or enhancing enjoyment with shopping deals at destinations. These enhancements are crucial in making your travel proposition stand out as unique, differentiated, and directly relevant to consumers.

#3 Measure, test and learn Data-driven insights are essential for informed decision-making and scaling up experiences effectively. Do not be afraid to test and learn, but do so efficiently and with reference to clearly measurable success metrics. This strategy will keep you innovating and help you refine and expand your goals.

Our research shows that travel remains a key pillar of revenue and margin for financial services brands. It also correlates closely with consumer loyalty and brand perception. In this environment, a travel playbook is an essential go-to-market tool for financial services brands that wish to extract the most value from their investments in travel. 

Use Collinson’s customer engagement proposition assessment to determine if your customer engagement programme is effectively meeting cardholder expectations and providing clear value.

This article was written by Rohan Bhalla, Asia Pacific vice president of Business Solutions, Collinson.

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Hilton Fort Collins

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We’re in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, two miles from Fort Collins’ historic Old Town and downtown area. We’re less than half a mile from Colorado State University and Canvas Stadium, and a 20-minute drive from the Horsetooth Mountain range. We have an indoor pool, whirlpool, and fitness center featuring a Peloton® Bike with toe cages.

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Dine in at Spring Creek Grill, our bright, atrium-style restaurant. We also have a cafe with Starbucks® coffee and pastries, and a relaxed lounge offering deserts and drinks, including our very own Spring Creek Ale.

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The most popular restaurant cuisine in Fort Collins—and see the runners-up

Posted: April 24, 2024 | Last updated: April 24, 2024

Most common restaurant cuisines in Fort Collins

Food is more than just a means of satiation and sustenance—it's an essential part of cultures around the world. Eating the dishes that are native to one's home country creates a vital connection between oneself and one's ancestors. While people often cannot take all of their personal belongings with them when they emigrate, cooking meals that bring back tastes and smells can remind them where they came from and help them pass down traditions in their new country. 

It's also common for immigrants to build ethnic and cultural communities in their new hometowns. For example, there are high concentrations of Filipino Americans in Los Angeles; there's a large prevalence of Irish Americans in Boston; and Greek Americans make up a substantial proportion of the population in Tarpon Springs, Florida. You can imagine, then, that it'd be easier to find kare-kare in LA, champ and black pudding in Boston, and moussaka on Florida's Gulf Coast. 

A study from Grand Canyon University investigated the most popular cuisines across major U.S. cities by using Yelp data to identify the number of five-star restaurants for each cuisine. The research yielded many interesting results, including that Mexican restaurants have the most five-star reviews in 44 out of the 50 cities analyzed.

To find out what kind of restaurants are most likely to line the streets in your neck of the woods, Stacker compiled a list of the most common restaurant cuisines in Fort Collins using data from Yelp. Restaurants from surrounding towns and cities may be included in the total results.

Read on to find out which types of foods dominate your neighborhood and to get inspired for your next meal out.

- Number of restaurants: 2

#16. Korean

- Number of restaurants: 6

#15. Vietnamese

- Number of restaurants: 7

#13. Mediterranean (tie)

- Number of restaurants: 8

#13. Indian (tie)

- Number of restaurants: 14

- Number of restaurants: 17

#10. Seafood

- Number of restaurants: 21

#9. Barbecue

- Number of restaurants: 26

#6. Japanese (tie)

- Number of restaurants: 27

#6. Italian (tie)

#6. Chinese (tie)

#5. New American

- Number of restaurants: 45

- Number of restaurants: 80

#3. Burgers

- Number of restaurants: 85

#2. Traditonal American

- Number of restaurants: 95

#1. Mexican

- Number of restaurants: 116

This story features data reporting by Karim Noorani, writing by Jaimie Etkin, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 356 metros.

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PRIORITY PASS™

The most recognised airport lounge and experiences programme, industry leader with unrivalled coverage, wide range of lounges and experiences around the world, highly desirable brand and customer benefit.

Confidence in travel has been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. But frequent flyers are leading the way, with 71%* of surveyed Priority Pass Members saying that they would like to travel either immediately or within the next 3-6 months. Priority Pass is a critical offering for your customers to help restore confidence in travelling. By welcoming travellers to spaces and services that are guided by hygiene standards and processes, Priority Pass helps ensure the airport experience is both comfortable and safe.  *as per August 2020

CORE BENEFITS

A premium benefit with excellent operational support, premium brand.

Recognised by consumers worldwide as the largest and best airport lounge and experiences programme, with a high-perceived value to new and existing customers.

Unrivalled global coverage

Members get access to 1,500+ premium airport experiences worldwide (hundreds exclusive to us) across 145 countries and 600 cities, and includes dining, retail and spa offers to ensure travellers get the most from their benefit.

Powerful contact-free digital features

The app includes a Digital Membership Card for contactless access to airport lounges, plus real-time visit history, remaining entitlement, 12 supported languages and intelligent wayfinding.

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Fully PCI DSS Compliant. 24/7 in-house multilingual support teams across three global service centres covering 12 languages, plus regional account management services. Flexible setup and configuration options.

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Visit the priority pass website for further information, our products, adaptable solutions to enhance your customers’ journeys.

Customers can use your brand’s payment card to access airport lounges around the world, associating the benefits directly with you.

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Providing our worldwide tour operator, travel agent and airline clients with a pre-bookable, one-time benefit that increases customer satisfaction while boosting income.

Owning and operating our own airport lounges, sleep pods and other airport experiences ensures that your customers have exclusive access to the most and best experiences in airports across the world.

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Chase® needed a partner to provide VIP airport lounge access to their high net worth credit card customers, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve® portfolio.   

They were entering a market dominated by a competitor’s card product and needed to be able to compete effectively with that card’s lounge access package.    Our Priority Pass lounge and experiences programme, with a worldwide network of over 1,300 lounges, provided Chase with the coverage to enter the market with the largest and most credible airport lounge programme included in their benefit package.  The Chase Sapphire Reserve card was launched with tremendous success and has become a highly-valued premium travel card in the US market. 

A customised digital membership card solution that was not previously available to Chase cardholders

The launch of a premium travel card into the us market with the confidence of a premium benefit, we worked with our lounge partners to ensure the appropriate coverage would be available.

Helping launch a highly-valued premium travel card in the US

Improving loyalty and engagement with premium customers

Alfa-Bank develop premium services, offer convenient solutions and select the best partners in market for their affluent customers, to drive acquisition and retention. As the leading premium airport lounge programme in Russia and globally, Priority Pass plays a key role in keeping Alfa- Bank’s customers engaged and satisfied with the bank’s service offering.  Alfa-Bank provides complimentary Priority Pass membership to their premium banking segment and it remains the most requested non-banking loyalty benefit. This benefit allows the bank’s most valued customers to enjoy access to the world’s largest and growing network of more than 1,300 airport lounges. Many of these lounges are domestic and supplemented by Priority Pass’ premium railway lounge network in Russia, which meant Alfa-Bank's customers could keep using the benefit even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.  For three consecutive years, Alfa-Bank have been a Frank Premium Banking Award recipient. In October 2020, the bank was rated top in premium bank services in Russia, with Alfa-Premium being named the Best Premium Service Program, based on studies of 16 premium banking services conducted by Frank RG analysts. 

The most valued non-banking benefit for Alfa-Bank customers

Improved loyalty and engagement from premium cardholders, a valued, client-focussed relationship.

Our premium customers value the comfort and safety of Priority Pass lounges and Alfa-Bank value the strong, customer-focussed working relationship we have with Priority Pass Alfa- Bank

Delivering a desirable travel benefit that forms a key part of members’ daily life

A practical, digital solution that allows members to receive a new priority pass card wherever they are, ensuring a smooth transition from a physical to a digital programme without any disruption.

Providing card free access to over 1,300 lounges worldwide

Accelerated new customer card acquisition

Improved loyalty and engagement amongst premium cardholders, increased travel and entertainment expense spend on payment cards with priority pass.

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