Luxury Experience - Where Does the Excitement and Experience Start?

Do you ever wonder where the experience starts when you are traveling, buying a new outfit, selecting a special wine or liquor for a party, choosing a restaurant for a romantic dinner, or planning a spa experience?

For travel, is it when you are thinking about the trip, is it when you are booking the trip, or is it when you arrive at your destination? On our trip to Chicago the excitement started as we discussed going back to Chicago a place that we love to visit, but had not been to in a long time. The real experience started when we booked our hotel room at the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago (featured in the Hotels and Resorts section). Not only did we receive the standard reservation via email, but we received an email asking us if we wanted to customize some of the components such as pillows, champagne in the room, roses, other gifts, and more.

After browsing through the different pillows, for which I have a special neck pillow that I use at home though I do not bring with me when I am traveling (I am not one of those people who wants to be lugging my pillow through security), and interestingly enough they had a similar product that I could experience during my stay. For Debra, she has been looking for that "right" pillow as the one she has now just does not fit her needs, but with a pillow you need to share a few nights with it before stating that it is the one for you. So, Debra selected a couple of different pillows and now we both had a bit of excitement to test out our new pillows during our stay.

In addition, the experience started because we were able to select from a list of items before we departed and we were not encumbered with additional questions during the check-in process besides providing a credit card, and selecting a newspaper.

So, for different people the experience starts at different touch-points along the process from planning, research, booking the reservations, arrival, during the trip, and after the trip through their memories and photos. For some travel components, they "get it" and have developed a presence on the Internet and other media outlets so that they are there to engage a prospective customer whenever and wherever, with the customer in total control.

Another area that I find the excitement starts long before the actual live experience is in fashion and the runway show. There is something about the pent up anticipation when attending a fashion show as Luxury Experience did this past February for the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York where designers were presenting their Fall 2009 collection. The interesting point is that I was excited about the experience of being a part of a live show before, during, and even now as we select designers and photographs for the Fashion section. It is a strange effect that certain photographs take on a fresh and renewed presence as time goes by, and the experience of the event starts to flash back in your mind.

So, you never know when or where the experience starts for different people regardless if it is travel, food and beverage, the Arts, fashion, music, or adventures. Once a product connects with a customer that product has started to build a powerful marketing presence for a company via the customer's word-of-mouth (verbal and written communications). I know that Debra and I continually mention the different levels of experiences that we had with the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago; certain types of experiences excite you beyond a product's planned intention, and this is what builds loyalty and trust between the product and the consumer.

I hope you enjoy your next experience no matter where, when, or how it connects with you. Remember that each person is unique, this is why no two experiences are the same.

Winners of the Luxury Experience Magazine Tales of the Cocktail 2009 Contest:

Grand Prize:	Ms. Patrice Krznarich
Second Prize:	Mr. Bill Yorks
Third Prize:	Ms. Sandra Parker

Congratulations to the 2009 Winners and thank you to everyone who entered the contest. Even if you did not win, I hope to see you at Tales of the Cocktail 2009 in New Orleans July 8 - 12, 2009.