Based in North London, The Make Lounge holds classes on Saturdays and weekday evenings in knitting, decoupage and card making—crafting techniques that have been around for ages, but have seen a strong resurgence over the past few years. Boosting appeal to casual crafters, the classes last just one session. Participants learn a skill and take home a completed project without having to commit to more than one evening.

Classes cost around GBP 35, including materials. When possible, The Make Lounge’s craft projects use environmentally friendly materials. And crafting in the 21st century wouldn’t be complete without sharing the results online: to build interest and pride, projects are displayed on photo-sharing website Flickr.

We’ve featured related businesses: a sewing café in Berlin, Etsy Labs in Brooklyn and make-your-own wedding rings in Manhattan. One reason why the craft revival continues to grow? Since more people work in offices and behind computer screens than ever before, it’s no wonder that many of them long for the chance to make something with their hands in their spare time. For a more in-depth look at the status shift from passive consumption to mastering skills, check out our sister site trendwatching.com’s briefing on status skills. Pick a skill, find a way to help others master it, and you’ve got yourself a new business!

Website: www.themakelounge.com
Contact: create@themakelounge.com

Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz

Now that consumers have gotten used to finding cheap flights and hotel rooms one the web, it’s time for more verticals in the online travel market. Catering to slope-bound travellers, Liftopia lets ski resorts sell discounted lift tickets online. Visitors simply choose dates and regions (such as Lake Tahoe or New Hampshire) where they want to ski, and then scroll through a list of budget-priced lift tickets. Basically, Liftopia encourages price differentiation for lift tickets. Resorts are able to charge lower prices for tickets sold in advance—which can’t be cancelled—and keep prices for on-mountain sales at a higher level.

Avid skiers and boarders have several good reasons to like the San Francisco-based start-up. For starters, ski resorts at popular mountain destinations are normally clustered within a few miles of each other. So enthusiasts looking for day or weekend trips can use the site to choose which resort among the group to visit. To make that quest easier, Liftopia’s search engine lets visitors select resorts that are easy drives from several heavily populated US regions. The site also incorporates up-to-the-minute weather data and trail maps to help skiers make their choice. Besides customers who are willing to commit to a trip in advance, Liftopia’s discount pricing should also attract budget-minded young skiers whose service jobs or college schedules make spur-of-the-moment travel relatively easy.

Liftopia’s ski-travel niche could be replicated in other markets. Country inns, local restaurants and golf courses might all lend themselves to the same approach. All it takes to build a business around any of these niches is the legwork to band together a group of related leisure businesses, plus a healthy dose of web-savvy. Imagine an avid golfer, for instance, surveying the list of prices at nearby links, then checking out each course’s webcam to see how long the wait time would be at the first hole. (On a side note: Eye Spy Golf is mapping golf courses in the United States using Google Maps so that golfers can get a close look at links in any state.)

Website: www.liftopia.com
Contact: info@liftopia.com

Spotted by: Bill McMahon

There are lots of cosmetics companies out there that donate to charities of one sort or another, or that eschew testing on animals. But Peacekeeper Cause-Metics appears to be unique in the industry in that it donates all its distributable profits to charity.

Taking a page from Paul Newman's business book for his Newman's Own line—not to mention that of Belgian mobile operator Ello Mobile, which we covered in 2006—PeaceKeeper was launched in 2002 with the sole purpose of helping women in need around the world. The New York-based company offers a line of natural lipsticks, nail polishes, lip glosses and lip balms that are free of toluene, formaldehyde, acetone phthalates, parabens and FD&C colouring, and that are made without animal testing. All after-tax distributable profits from the company's sales go to help women's health advocacy and urgent human rights issues, including domestic violence and battery, the sex slave trade, gender inequality, rape and infanticide. PeaceKeeper also gives one half of one percent of its gross revenues each year to charity, and it makes micro-credit loans to women in need. To date, the company has given more than USD 55,000 in cash donations and USD 30,000 in products to women-focused non-profits for their silent auctions or VIP events. Organizations that have benefited include Womenslaw.org, Project Hope International, the Small Planet Fund and Women for Afghan Women, among many others.

Whole Foods, Henri Bendel and Nordstrom are among the upscale retailers that have embraced PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics, along with celebrities Daryl Hannah, Bonnie Raitt and Julia Ormond. In this era of increasing social consciousness, it's hard to imagine a more worthwhile way to put business skills to work. Social entrepreneurs: replicate this model!

Website: www.iamapeacekeeper.com
Contact: info@iamapeacekeeper.com

Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz

While being able to check in for flights online has made life easier for airline passengers, it isn't always as convenient as it could be. Airlines generally allow online check-ins 24–30 hours before take-off. If a passenger wants their pick of seats, they'll have to remember to log on as soon check in opens—which could be at 3 a.m.—and need to be online to do so. (Unfortunately, many check-in systems don't play nice with mobile web browsers.)

An inconvenience to consumers usually means a business opportunity for smart entrepreneurs, and this is no exception. Check Me In was launched in June 2007 to help passengers check in as soon as they can, without having to be online or ask a colleague or family member to do it for them. How it works? After booking a flight, passengers log on to www.checkmein.eu and enter their flight and personal details, indicating their seat preference. For EUR 7 per one-way flight—which covers up to 5 passengers on one booking—Check Me In takes care of the rest.

As soon as check-in opens for a flight, the company snags the best available seats, in line with their customers' preferences. Customers receive an email confirmation that includes their boarding pass. If they don't have access to a computer or printer, customers can print their boarding pass at the airport terminal. The Dutch company's founder, Iwan van Geelen, told us that many customers handle check-in themselves for their outbound flight, but use Check Me In for their return trip. The service is currently available for over 20 airlines and 350 airports worldwide. With air travel becoming increasingly taxing, air travellers need all the help they can get. More lifehacks for fliers to follow? And how about combining Check Me In with TripIt?

Website: www.checkmein.eu
Contact: www.checkmein.eu/contact_en.htm

Spotted by: frankwatching.com

Qbic, an innovative Dutch hotel we covered when they launched last year, features units that contain a bed and bathroom as well as a TV, DVD-player. As we pointed out, these 'cubes' are manufactured offsite and can be used to quickly and easily create guest rooms in buildings that might not otherwise be deemed suitable for (semi-permanent) use as a hotel, like vacant office buildings.

Budget hotel group Travelodge UK recently announced a variation on this theme: a hotel made of steel modules that resemble shipping containers, which are stacked on top of each other like Lego blocks. Each module contains a bedroom and bathroom, with plumbing and wiring ready to hook up to the rest of the units. Once the container-like elements have been bolted together, the structure's exterior walls are covered with brickwork or other cladding to make them look like any other Travelodge. The construction model was conceived by Verbus, and is currently being used to raise hotels in Uxbridge (opening in June) and Heathrow Airport (opening end of 2008). Although the hotels have yet to open, Verbus and Travelodge have already considered their demise. When the modular lodges have run their course, they can be dismantled and the steel casings can be reused at other sites.

Travelodge was purchased by investment firm Dubai International Capital in 2006, and has been rapidly expanding ever since. Modular building will help speed up further expansion, and will also make it feasible to build temporary hotels for major events like the Olympics. Travelodge estimates that a hotel could be built in as little as 12 weeks using the modular construction method. Not quite a pop-up hotel, but definitely an interesting alternative to traditional hotel construction, which should definitely inspire anyone involved in hospitality or building. (Related: Stackable homes.)

Website: www.travelodge.co.uk
Contact: www.travelodge.co.uk/contact_us

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen