Side Trips : Traveling Colors

The color schemes on airplanes, in hotels and in cruise ship cabins aren’t accidental. Specialists select shades carefully--using colors to add to a guest’s feeling of well-being and relaxation. Here’s how some prominent travel-related companies choose their hues:

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Airlines: “We considered both red and blue for interior colors in our planes,” says Andrea Butler, public relations spokeswoman for USAir, of its logo’s colors. “Red is kind of an aggressive color and can bring out the worst in people. Blue was the logical choice. It has a more calming effect.”

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Hotels: “Our color schemes are aimed more at (pleasing) women than men, because our surveys show that women notice colors and patterns in a room,” says Betsy O’Rourke, who does public relations for Choice Hotels International, operators of the Comfort, Sleep, Rodeway and Clarion chains. The first three of these favor pastels and soft prints. At the Clarions, darker, more “masculine” colors are used because these hotels tend to attract business travelers--still mostly men.

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Cruise ships: “We use light colors, such as blues and greens, to give a feeling of openness, light and space,” says Soren Yran, a Miami-based designer who creates interiors for Norwegian Cruise Lines and others. “In the next five years, cruise ship cabins and other interiors will use more natural earth colors--beige, sand, yellow, blue--because people are more conscious about environmental issues.”