Winners and Losers of Summer Travel 2016

Colin Nagy, head of strategy at Fred & Farid, a global advertising agency, writes this opinion column for Skift on hospitality, innovation, and business travel. “On Experience” dissects customer-centric experiences and innovation across hospitality, aviation, and beyond.  As summer winds down, airport lines thin out, and everyone gets back to business, it is worth taking stock of the winners and losers of the summer travel season. Winners 1. Amtrak Bet you didn’t expect to see this brand as number one on my list! But the beleaguered American rail company just announced significant upgrades to the product traveling the Northeast corridor. Though they look like the Shinkansen’s shorter, stubbier brother, they promise better seats, more wi-fi (that actually works), and a faster, smoother ride. The catch? It’s not coming until 2021. But it gives frequent travelers something to look forward to as they waste away in a sub-standard and overpriced Acela product. Now if we could only do something about people tapping away on Lenovo keyboards that still actually make noise 2. Upper House Hong K