September 10, 2008

WORLD

Simplifly Right

By Mark Jolly

How to stop worrying about carry-on and love the door-to-door shipping.

First American Airlines threw down the gauntlet. Then United, US Airways and, just last week, Continental followed. Now, checked baggage fees — $30 round-trip for one item — are virtually set to become standard policy among most major airlines. Which means with the growing legions of passengers armed with just hand luggage, you’d better get used to an intensified battle for the overhead bins and a phalanx of new “carry-on police” stationed at security lines.

Or you could just circumvent the carry-on chaos altogether.

An increasing number of frequent fliers are signing up to a clutch of services that specialize in shipping your luggage door-to-door — even though the cost for such convenience runs from $122 to nearly $200. Virtual Bellhop will alert your recipient that the case is on track and follow up afterwards to ensure it arrived OK. Luggage Free sends its own private couriers (most services just co-opt FedEx or UPS) who turn up at specifically requested times (as opposed to a two- to six-hour window).

Some services have started to team up directly with hotels. Luggage Forward has just partnered with Starwood’s Luxury Collection. So if you’re traveling to any of their 65 hotels, you’ll be able to travel bag-free from your front door to your guestroom. You can even have your baggage unpacked prior to arrival. The Luggage Club, meanwhile, offers Marriott Rewards members special offers to have their bags shipped, without limits on size, weight or number of items.

Courtyard, Marriott’s business hotel brand, is also leading the way with 24-hour convenience stores for the things you don’t feel like packing in the first place. Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental’s answer is to stock rooms with specially requested items such cologne, sunscreen and cuff links. (If you can’t part with your own liquids and gels, then pre-packaged security-compliant toiletry kits, like those of Mysmartpac, are the way to go.)

For ultimate style, though, the folks at Garde Robe have really caught our imagination. Billed as the world’s first and only luxury wardrobe valet service, the new company delivers your desired closet contents to your hotel so that they’re ready-to-wear on arrival. Clothing is packed and sent in tall wardrobe boxes so they hang naturally. Garde Robe —whose core business is clothing storage in New York — will even retrieve any items on departure, handle the dry cleaning, and send them back to you. Wrinkle-free.