These Travel Tech Execs See Early Signs of Weakening Demand
Photo Credit: Flyr offers retail tech that enables airlines to sell flights, hotels, and activities through their consumer app. Flyr
Skift Take
Avoiding widespread trade wars will help avoid the worst economic outcomes, but most signs point to a slowdown.
Most tariffs are now on pause, but recession risks have risen from the start of the year. Behind the scenes, companies that provide tech to travel companies are seeing early signs of weakening demand in the U.S. and a shift toward domestic travel.
Lighthouse, which tracks hotel market data, is already seeing some market adjustments based on data pulled on April 1.
"Average hotel prices across major U.S. destinations have decreased by 3-5% in just 30 days, and we're tracking continued downward revisions for summer bookings. Concurrently, Canadian interest in U.S. travel has notably declined, with the share of searches dropping from approximately 25% to 15% of outbound queries,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, Lighthouse CEO, in a statement.
Skift spoke with executives of several late-stage travel tech startups — Lighthouse, Flyr, Guesty, Hostaway, and Mews — on what they expect and how they’re preparing.
These companies collecti
