People born between 1965 and 1980, who are classified as Generation X, have started spending more on business and tourist trips than older generations. The popularity of luxury hotels is growing, and a trend has emerged toward shorter but more frequent trips, and this trend is observed among a new class of wealthy tourists who want to vacation luxuriously. Therefore, guidebooks are coming into fashion that break with the traditions of tourist books, which usually give vacationers recommendations on how to save money and generally behave like residents of the region where you are traveling. These books are intended for stylish young people who show a desire to spend more money during vacation than previous generations of tourists did.
One such new-generation guidebook is called "Mr and Mrs Smith". This guidebook to Great Britain, which will go on sale in the United States early next year, recommends the expensive Babington House hotel in Somerset as the best haven for "spoiled city dwellers". In addition, last October six guidebooks in the "Pleasure Seeker's Guide" series were published, and this year six more such guidebooks will be released, including one on Miami.
Such books offer not objective information about tourist attractions, but rather the subjective opinion of the author, expressed in a rather flippant style. Some such books dwell in detail on the social side of life. In 2001, the "City Secrets" series was released in four parts, which describe in detail which waitress to approach and what to order at tourist attractions. So, at the "Oyster Bar" in one of the world's best sports complexes, the ultramodern Grand Central Terminal building, it is recommended to order from Charlotte "salted aromatic cherries and oysters in sour cream sauce".
The new guidebooks advise tourists on how to vacation in a way that impresses others. For example, in the Nota Bene series guidebooks, published in 2000, recommendations are given on which rooms in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Miami are the best (rooms at $3,500 per night), as well as advice on which table to choose at The Ivy restaurant in Los Angeles. A subscription to the Nota Bene series guidebooks costs $450 for 10 books. In them you can learn about fashionable shops such as the Colette boutique in Paris and Paul Smith store in New York, the Setai souvenir shop in Miami, and The Argyle in Los Angeles.
Representatives of the tourism industry are seeking to maximize revenue from the increase in the number of wealthy travelers that has been observed in recent years. Room rates at American hotels are rising, but hotel occupancy is also rising. For example, in New York, occupancy of the most luxurious hotels in 2004 stood at 84%, up 7% from the previous year, reported research company PKF Consulting. At the same time, the price of a hotel room increased by 9%. Many hotels are renovating everything from beds to staff uniforms and offering guests a variety of new exotic services.
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