Staycation, All I Ever Wanted

PRESENTED BY MONEY

Happy Thursday, Future Party. For those keeping score of the Taylor Swift/Super Bowl Halftime Show odds, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called Swift “a special, special talent” who would “be welcome at any time” to headline America’s biggest concert. When pressed on whether the league was in talks with her, Goodell offered only a cryptic, “it’s a maybe.” Translation: the NFL would love nothing more than for this to be the year.

Until confirmation drops, you’ll just have to bide your time listening to Swift on… cassette tape. Wait, what? Yep — more on that below.

A hospitality platform called ResortPass allows luxury hotels to offer their amenities in an à la carte marketplace.

Why It Hits: American hotels are seeing depressed revenue as foreign-tourism spending declines at least 8.2% from last year. There are plenty of reasons for that, but for the tourism industry, they point to the same conclusion: fewer rooms booked. Hotels are trying to make up for the shortage by offering access to perks once reserved for overnight guests.

Behind The Perks: ResortPass is already working with roughly 2,000 hotel brands, including Hilton and Ritz-Carlton.

Final Booking: So, what’s with all the American daycationers? Just as foreign tourism to the US is down, so too is the number of Americans traveling abroad. Why? Vacations are out of their budget, and the post-pandemic “revenge travel” period has finally died down, per Fast Company. Only 46% of Americans planned a summer vacation this year, compared to 53% last year.

Simultaneously, hotel stays are hitting record highs — the average room in NYC reached $417 last September, the highest rate ever recorded.

Up Next: We wouldn’t be surprised if luxury hotels became unofficial WeWorks for remote workers looking to take meetings or draft emails in style.

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Taylor Swift’s next album, The Life of a Showgirl, will reportedly be available on cassette tape… and, shocker, it may be a good business strategy.

The Big Picture: Back in the 1980s, cassette was the hottest audio format in town, with 440 million sold during the decade. The format quickly fell out of favor when CDs hit the scene… and then streaming unseated physical media entirely. But mirroring the resurgence of vinyl in recent years, cassettes are making a small but noticeable comeback among fans seeking a more analog experience.

Between The Tracks: Will everyone you know be bumping The Life of a Showgirl on Sony Walkmans this October?

Maybe everyone under the age of 30.

Last Listen: The appeal of cassette is similar to that of vinyl — admiring the cover art, flipping the tape halfway through, and enjoying the entirety of the album. It’s a more intimate experience that requires people to slow down and digitally disconnect. Even the lack of polish compared to streaming is part of the charm.

And this won’t be Swift’s first time on cassette — 1989 (Taylor’s Version) sold 17,500 copies in the format, while Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) sold 11,500. For TSwift’s “super fans,” owning her music in every format available may become a point of pride.

Prediction: Prepare for an influx of next-gen cassette players to hit the market this fall in an attempt to capture the zeitgeist. Even the landline is making a cool comeback.

52.9% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Have you ever read an issue of Vogue magazine?

“Yes — Teen Vogue! It was so much fun… a smaller-sized mag printed on a monthly interim.”

“Much more in my pre-teens — I thought it was so adult to read Vogue with a face mask on, sipping juice I pretended was wine; now it just feels comical.”

“Loved it when I was a kid, many decades ago. But since then, it’s gotten so trashy and agenda-driven, I can’t stand it anymore. Even the fashions and photos feel unappealing. If you look at copies from before the 1980s — or even further back — you’ll see a dramatic shift from glamour and beauty to celebrating what isn’t appealing at all.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🎥 Google has hired Henry Daubrez as its first filmmaker in residence to test and promote its Flow AI video tool.

👮 Egyptian law enforcement has shut down Streamfest — the world’s largest piracy network of live-sports broadcasts.

👀 The fate of Spin magazine is in flux after a purported buyer for the assets failed to wire payment to owner Next Management Partners.

📱 MrBeast is launching his own phone company — a mobile virtual network operator similar to Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile.

🎙️ Dude Perfect is rolling out a video podcast, “Almost Athletes With Dude Perfect,” with Wave Sports & Entertainment.

🤳 Instagram is testing a new Picture-in-Picture feature that allows users to watch Reels while on other apps.

🥤 Erewhon is coming to NYC as a drinks-only spot within the new private-members club Kith Ivy.

🏈 Therapeutic-product startup Therabody has recruited NFL MVP Josh Allen — an investor in the company — as its first “performance advisor.”

👕 SHEIN is investigating how Luigi Mangione’s likeness ended up modeling one of its products.