Travel

Skift Take There will clearly be more pruning to come as Expedia Group expands its One Key loyalty program to Europe, and takes hard looks at its brands and operations in countries around the world. Dennis Schaal Expedia Group in recent years has shed around a half-dozen brands, and it is continuing the purge with

The travel tech industry is ripe for consolidation.  That is what industry experts have been saying all year, and it seems they’re right. There have been at least 15 acquisitions involving travel tech companies over the last two and a half months alone.  Among them: Mews, a cloud hospitality provider, made its ninth acquisition, SITA

Skift Take Trump said he wants to exempt tips from taxes. While all types of tipped workers could benefit, hotel housekeepers are one of the largest groups potentially affected. Sean O’Neill Former President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to make workers’ tips tax-exempt could significantly impact the take-home pay of tipped workers. Hotel housekeepers and restaurant

Skift Take The U.S. travel industry may be forced to wait until after the 2024 Presidential Election to see if the assistant secretary of travel and tourism position gets filled and funded again. Dawit Habtemariam The clock is ticking to fill the assistant secretary of commerce for travel and tourism position before its allocated funding

Skift Take In this video from the Skift Short-Term Rental Summit 2024, Jason Anastasinis discusses the importance of creating exceptional experiences and building credibility by establishing standards, trust, consistency, and meeting guest expectations. TravelStaytion This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner. In this video: A focus on fundamentals: Why returning to

Skift Take Thailand may have gone from being picky to rolling out the red carpet for everyone, realizing that hitting a 40-million tourist target can’t be done by courting the big spenders alone. Peden Doma Bhutia After years of will they, won’t they, Thailand has finally decided to scrap the contentious proposal to impose a

Skift Take Less talk, more data. Here’s how hotels with wellness offerings are doing, according to RLA Global, HotStats, and Truist Securities. Plus, the latest wellness concept: Ballers. Sean O’Neill Hotels increasingly consider wellness investments as travelers’ expectations evolve, but what trends are rising, and which services are the most profitable after accounting for everything?

Skift Take The new darling of China’s tourism industry may be none other than Turkey. Here’s how Turkey is wooing China’s new breed of travelers, who are young, hungry for off-the-beaten-path experiences, and spending more than before. Peden Doma Bhutia Turkey is ramping up efforts to attract Chinese tourists. A new memorandum of understanding between

Skift Take Sonder is on a painful drive to rid itself of bad leases, to renegotiate others, and then it has to restate two years of earnings. This isn’t easy stuff. Dennis Schaal Sonder gained $10 million in liquidity in a refinancing deal, and announced that it has exited 60 buildings, or 2,300 units, as

Skift Take With India’s travel and hospitality industry thriving, it’s the perfect moment for Leela to go public. The buzz around IPOs is definitely heating up, and more companies are feeling confident to jump into the market and raise funds. Peden Doma Bhutia The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts looks to make a significant entry

Skift Take Generative AI is going directly into the iPhone. It helps with travel a little right now, but that’s only the beginning. Justin Dawes Siri will soon be able to help users plan trips. Not complicated tasks like booking flights — yet — but the AI-enhanced Siri will be able to pull context from

Skift Take Wait-and-watch? Not anymore! Ixigo’s CEOs tell Skift that they’re ready to dive into what they’re calling the “golden era” of online travel. With ideal market conditions for growth, the Indian OTA is moving forward with an IPO, aiming to use tech-driven customer experiences to strengthen its position. Peden Doma Bhutia Having raised INR

Skift Take In recent decades, women have gone on to lead countries and major companies. But the airline industry has been much slower to close its broad gender gap across senior leadership, engineering, and pilot roles. By Meghna Maharishi | June 6, 2024 “Are you a flight attendant?” That’s the question Ashley Fields gets asked

Skift Take Some New York City homeowners believe they should still be allowed to list their homes on Airbnb despite the city’s ban, and they’re not letting up in their demand for reinstatement. Justin Dawes When New York City effectively banned most short-term rentals last fall, that meant local homeowners were caught in the crossfire.

Skift Take United is launching its own media network that will use customer demographic data to create more targeted ads and content for passengers. Meghna Maharishi Passengers aboard a United Airlines flight may start noticing personalized advertisements whenever they try to watch a movie or TV show on the seat-back screens.  Those ads are part

Skift Take Hilton, after 16 years without an acquisition, has gone on a buying spree this year, snapping up the Graduate Hotels and NoMad brands. Its commercial officer, Chris Silcock, explains why. Sean O’Neill Hilton has been on a streak of acquiring hotel brands this year after going 16 years without buying any. Yet its

Skift Take Virgin Galactic joins Blue Origin and Space Perspective in aspiring to make the final frontier open to all who can afford it. That’s good news for travel agencies like RocketBreaks. Jesse Chase-Lubitz Virgin Galactic plans to send a handful of paying passengers to the edge of space on June 8 as the space

Skift Take The spring travel surge and strong consumer sentiment boosted the Skift Travel Health Index in April 2024. The momentum is expected to continue. Saniya Zanpure The Skift Travel Health Index, boosted by the spring travel season, gained 3 percentage points to reach 108 in April 2024. This represented an 8% surge over last