Skift Take
Disruption is more fun when you're the disruptor. The speakers and attendees at the inaugural Skift Forum Europe are doing what they can to be on the right side of the equation.
Against a backdrop of relentless technological change and global disruptions, from Brexit to the refugee crisis and U.S. travel bans, executives from metasearch sites, online travel agencies, hotels, airlines, restaurants, and tour operators gathered in London earlier this week to detail how they are transforming their companies and respective sectors.
There were many themes that permeated Skift Forum Europe, which saw some 460 attendees, at Tobacco Dock in London Tuesday, but reinvention of various strains was a consistent theme throughout.
Reinvention
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that industries are already mature or markets are saturated and dominated by first-movers, and that there is little left that can be changed, but the conference bashed that kind of sedentary sentiment.
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Consider the metasearch sector, which was represented at the Forum on stage by the leaders of Skyscanner, Momondo Group, Kayak, Trivago, and Google Travel. This price-comparison sector — largely for flights, hotels, cars, and occasionally for vacation packages and cruises — has been around since the beginning of the 21st century, but it is facing an identity crisis.
Should metasearch sites be extensions of airline websites, as Gareth Williams of Skyscanner argued, building airline storefronts in a manner that has parallels to Alibaba's Tmall? Or should the metas have a mix of assisted bookings and third-party links but emphasize their heritage of providing consumers with a means of comparing prices in a wide-ranging view of what's out there in the market?
Steve Hafner of Kayak and his soon-to-be protege Hugo Burge of Momondo Group espoused the latter view to varying degrees. Priceline/Kayak is in the process of closing on an acquisition of the Momondo Group.
Similarly, what can be more basic than the concept of a hotel, restaurant, or travel agency, but all are in the throes of a metamorphosis.
While InterContinental Hotels Group CEO Richard Solomons expressed an openness to looking at new opportunities, like Kayak and Momondo Group he wants to fine-tune the sector that got him there -- hospitality -- while figuratively scratching his head at rivals such as AccorHotels, which is acquiring digital tech companies and home-sharing sites wh
