Dennis Schaal Archives

Dennis Schaal is Skift’s Founding Editor and Executive Editor. Dennis has been a reporter focusing on online travel and short-term rentals for more than two decades at Skift, Tnooz, USA Today, and Travel Weekly. He is well-known for tough one-on-one interviews on stage at Skift events, including with the CEOs and top execs of Expedia, Uber, Booking Holdings, Priceline, Kayak, Hopper, and more.

Online Travel

An Existential Threat? Booking Exec Sees AI as an Expansion Opportunity

Booking's CFO thinks artificial intelligence can put his company on the offensive rather than the defensive. The odds are long but based on past performance you can't count them out.

Dennis Schaal | 6 months ago

Experiences

Expedia Agrees to Buy Experiences Platform Tiqets to Bolster Its B2B Offering

Expedia's acquisition of Tiqets is the latest indication of the online travel agency's B2B tilt. It's certainly a niche that provides Expedia with an open lane.

Dennis Schaal | 6 months ago

Online Travel

Cracks Emerge in the Online Travel Agency Oligopoly

It's extremely difficult to see how the online travel agencies emerge from the LLM platform shift unscathed.

Dennis Schaal | 6 months ago

Airlines

Southwest Airlines Exec Defends Changes, Says Network Is a ‘Huge Differentiator’

With no fees for the first two bags, Southwest pitched itself as a maverick airline going against the grain. The airline's marketing department has a major challenge now that a lot of the airline's unique attributes are gone.

Dennis Schaal | 6 months ago

mountain exterior vacation rental recently available via evolve source evolve

Short-Term Rentals

Evolve Acquired 1,000 Owner Contracts From Casago

One thousand owner contracts likely attracted interest from other property managers besides Evolve. These contracts fit in with Evolve's business, and not so much for Casago.

Dennis Schaal | 6 months ago

Business Travel

Amex GBT Is Exploring a Sale

Amex GBT is the dominant force in corporate travel, and it can use a massive AI-led tech makeover to fulfill its promise, including finally making meaningful headway with both the small business and unmanaged business travel markets.

Dennis Schaal | 6 months ago

Online Travel

Capital One Set to Acquire Hopper Travel Software and Hire Key Hotel and Engineering Staff: Scoop

A new deal may serve to loosen the Capital One-Hopper partnership. Meanwhile, Hopper CEO Fred Lalonde co-founded and chairs a climate company: Doesn't a struggling Hopper require his full-time attention?

Dennis Schaal | 6 months ago

Homes & Villas by Marriot Bonvoy's Jennifer Hsieh in conversation with Skift senior hospitality editor at Skift Short Term Rental Summit in New York.

Hotels

Marriott Exec: We Made ‘A Fairly Quick Decision’ About Sonder

Forging a strategic partnership with Sonder was definitely a business and reputational risk for Marriott. It was apparent even in 2024, although it wasn't a foregone conclusion that things would collapse like they did.

Dennis Schaal | 7 months ago

Online Travel

Australia’s Webjet Launched Something Other OTAs Don’t Have — Multiday Tours

Webjet is going where other online travel agencies have chosen not to tread — online bookable multiday tours. Can Webjet make a meaningful business out of it?

Dennis Schaal | 7 months ago

2017 photo of guest room at arlo nomad queen

Hotels

How Airbnb Is Thinking About Its Third New Business of 2025 — Hotels

Airbnb has a big opportunity in hotels. But CEO Brian Chesky makes it all sound a little too easy. It's not a big investment, he said, and Airbnb won't have to spend a lot on marketing for it. Signing up hotels? Not a problem — they have phone numbers.

Dennis Schaal | 7 months ago