Ash Thursday strands The Moodie Report

The Moodie Report’s Big Apple bureau at the Courtyard Marriott hotel near New York JFK Airport may turn out to be a little less temporary than planned… My supposedly whistle-stop visit to JFK – to report on a new collaboration between Diageo Global Travel & Middle East and DFS – is now threatened by ash.

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Setting new Standards

This Blog comes to you from the Courtyard Marriott hotel near New York JFK Airport. It’s the recurrent story of my life; to visit great cities and only stay in airport hotels. I’m in the ‘Big Apple’ on a whistle-stop, one-day visit to view what I hear is an exciting alliance between Diageo Global Travel &

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‘Pasalubong’ power in the Philippines

The scale and dynamism of Duty Free Philippines’ confectionery business really has to be seen to be believed. After yesterday’s tour of flagship outlet Fiesta Mall – as part of our visit to the Philippines this week – today we returned to get an insight into the retailer’s largest category (above), and the drivers behind

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Make my day

“Come over here Sir please.” Oh, oh, I was clearly in trouble again for taking photographs at London Heathrow Airport… The scene is Heathrow Airport Terminal 1 last Friday and I am making my way from the formal opening of Aelia’s impressive new  Longchamp boutique to the Tin Goose bar at the other end of

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Singing salesmen make it Fiesta time in the Philippines

Twenty-one years after post-Arrivals shopping was introduced in the Philippines at Fiesta Mall in Manila, the concept shows no sign of losing its allure among Filipino travellers and especially returning workers from overseas. Today, even amid intensifying competition from the domestic market and an erosion of the duty free price advantage in some categories, Fiesta

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Getting the star treatment in-store

This just may rank as the look of the year. No I’m not talking about the male shop assistant; I’m talking about the expression emanating from the Rita Hayworth lookalike at Athens International Airport earlier this month. ‘Smouldering’ they used to call such looks in the golden age of Hollywood. And indeed the movie industry

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Making a difference on the front line

Sometimes stories can slip quietly under the radar when they actually deserve real prominence. One such example was an initiative this week by French travel retailer  Aelia, which organised a day themed ‘Journée Des Sens’ in France. The concept brings together many of travel retail’s most successful fragrance and cosmetics brands with Aelia’s front-line sales

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Hair today, gone tomorrow

Germany company Braun, synonymous with excellent products, is generally under-stated in its press releases so The Moodie Blog’s attention was drawn to the bold claims for the new Braun Satin Hair 5 Multistyler. Now it has to be said that The Moodie Report Publisher has not had to shop around for any sort of hair

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Son of a Preacher Man leaves travel retail

The only one who could ever reach me, Was the son of a preacher man, The only boy who could ever teach me, Was the son of a preacher man, Yes he was, he was, oh yes he was. I don’t often start my Blogs with Dusty Springfield songs but then the travel retail industry

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Promoting partnership, not beauty contests

Today’s announcement by Zürich Airport that it has extended the contract terms of its key commercial partners is highly significant, not just in contractual terms but also because of the way it was articulated. The airport’s Chief Commercial Officer Peter Eriksson (below) has quietly emerged as one of the most influential figures within the international

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Hand in Hand for Haiti – reflections on a journey

[Publisher’s introduction: I have been in Haiti over recent days in my role as a Founding Member of the Hand in Hand for Haiti Steering Committee*. There I joined up with my co-Founders, Ed Brennan, Chairman and CEO of DFS and Olivier Bottrie, President of The Estée Lauder Companies Travel Retail Worldwide. We were there

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Hand in Hand for Haiti – discovering inspiration on the Central Plateau

And so our final road trip begins – a return excursion from Port-au-Prince to the town of Thomonde in Haiti’s vast and chronically poor Central Plateau. To get there we need to take the long, two-and-a-half hour drive north east from the capital through spectacular mountain scenery and scores of tiny villages. We’re going to

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