Bert Archer
From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009 5:05PM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009 2:31AM EDT
Last week, Ritz-Carlton hotels parted the veil on one of the best-kept secrets of the high-end hotel
business: If you stay at a hotel often enough, you don't have to bring your luggage.
This perk, available to VIP guests at various high-end and business hotels, has long been under wraps. But the newest Ritz, in Charlotte, N.C., is offering this service to anyone who stays at the hotel for four days a month or more: You can leave clothing and personal effects in your room; hotel staff will pick them up, clean them and store them for you until you return.
That's a valuable addition to a traveller's arsenal of money- and time-saving tips as it becomes more difficult and expensive to check your bags. Britain's Ryanair is considering eliminating checked baggage entirely, and airlines across the industry are already tightening baggage rules and charges. Frequent fliers need all the help they can get to reduce baggage and navigate the maze of rules at the desk.
The Ritz's offer parallels a service available at many hotels, including several in Canada. The Wedgewood Hotel in Vancouver will keep your clothes for you, as will Calgary's Fairmont Palliser, as long as you pack them up and leave your bag with the concierge on your way out. And the Great George in Charlottetown will hang your clothes for you while you're gone. But none advertises the fact; you have to know to ask. And, of course, you still have to, eventually, bring it back with you.
But what about something easier – not taking luggage at all? This is the idea behind Zerobaggage, a company founded by Toronto designer Catharine MacIntosh set to launch in Toronto next year (with Berlin and Dubai to follow). MacIntosh's idea is to connect travellers with local shops where they can borrow outfits rather than pack a wardrobe to bring with them.
Though MacIntosh's model is still being refined, renting new clothes for a week will cost about 25 per cent of their full value; previously lent pieces will be less expensive. She is also planning to offer customers the use of lockers, allowing travellers to store clothes with Zerobaggage and arrange to have them cleaned, pressed and delivered to their hotel rooms – just like the hotels do.
Those who do plan to bring clothes and check their baggage may be in for a surprise. All the major American airlines changed their baggage policies last year, and are in the process of overhauling them again –generally adding and increasing fees for the second checked bag.
And as of today, British Airways is changing all its rules and fees as well (every bag over 23 kilograms now costs an extra $51). North American travellers will get one free checked bag instead of two, and will pay $68 for the second on a long-haul flight and $153 for the third. Sports equipment, which you were allowed to take for free without counting it as part of the baggage allowance, will now cost extra.
It's no wonder that even the most seasoned travellers find themselves at a loss at the check-in counter.
Luke Dudley found himself in such an embarrassing situation when he and his girlfriend, both frequent travellers, tried to check two heavy bags each for a flight from Sydney to London a few years ago. They were told it would cost $600 to bring their bags with them. They had to run to catch up with the friends who had just dropped them off and red-facedly ask them to ship their bags. “We just couldn't afford it,” he says.
Dudley didn't think much of it until last year when, while working as a teacher at a boarding school, he watched his students pack up computers, lacrosse sticks, golf clubs and other prep school staples to fly home at the end of term. Remembering his own embarrassing moment, he decided to put together a website to keep all the ever-changing baggage policies of airlines straight and in one place. The result is luggagelimits.com, which launched in August. It includes data for 70 airlines, including Air Canada and Porter. You just type in the flight info, and up come the limits and rates.
With the airline industry in flux, it's a good idea to check the site before booking your next trip. But as rates climb and more ideas like MacIntosh's spring up to meet them, it may soon be beside the point for serious travellers: The suit bag's days are probably numbered.
Do you have feedback or business travel questions? E-mail roadwork@globeandmail.com. Follow Road Work on Twitter @BertArcher .
Special to The Globe and Mail
25 Ideas That Are Changing the World
Subscribe via RSS