Condé Nast’s 2019 Travel Trends

The other day, I came across an article from Condé Nast Traveller on the top travel trends for 2019. This article has ten travel trends for 2019 and beyond, but I wanted to highlight a few that were particularly intriguing:

​Homeware Hotels
More and more homeware companies are opening up hotels as a new way to expand where they offer products. Picture brands like Restoration Hardware, Anthropologie, or Pottery Barn opening up a hotel and filling it with their own items

Would you be more likely to make a purchase if you had been seeing the item in your hotel suite for a week? It’s an interesting idea. 
You might have heard of the Californian brand, West Elm. It’s planning to open a hotel next year in Indianapolis, and the leadership team has plans to open more in Oakland, Savannah, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Portland.
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Luxury Home Rentals
Airbnb has been dominating the home rental space for some time now, but other players are emerging that are forcing the brand to adapt. Airbnb has introduced Airbnb Plus, which include only the highest quality homes, which are inspected in person for accuracy.​

Another home sharing company, Stay One Degree, brands itself as a luxury rental site for members only. All members and those offering rentals are vetted before any communication takes place. I tried signing up just for this post; the CEO reached out on LinkedIn to welcome me in. Even if it was someone from the company reaching out on his behalf, that's still an impressive touch.
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Biometric Airports​

You can probably use your thumb or face to unlock your phone, now imagine being able to do that to glide through airport security. 

Airlines have been testing this technology for several years now, but it is finally getting close to the point of actually being deployed in major airports like London’s Heathrow or JFK. In fact, the majority of airlines and airports have biometric tech on their radar and plan to implement it or invest further resources in developing it in the next five years.
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I’d love to get your thoughts on these trends. Does the idea of biometric tech make you giddy at the prospect of breezing through immigration or are you wary of its implications? Would you sign up to try out a new luxury home rental system like Stay One Degree? Let me know!