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.

Airlines

Airlines Push Subscription Programs as the Next Phase in Loyalty

Elite travelers and big spenders will continue to relish their loyalty awards, but airlines may win even more loyal flyers when carriers sell them subscriptions for preferred seats and other perks.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Online Travel

Same-Day Hotel Booking App Hot Hotels Completes $1 Million Seed Round

Is it a red flag or prudent strategy that Hot Hotels has raised just $1 million in its more than two years of existence? If it really wants to expand into Latin America, Hot Hotels will probably need more muscle than this.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Online Travel

Brand USA’s 47-to-1 Return on Investment Claim Attracts Doubts Even Among Supporters

There's lots of goodwill around Brand USA, but that could quickly dissipate if the marketing organization continues to take credit for others' work in an attempt to win new funding from Congress.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Hotels

InterContinental Hotels Seeks to Expand Traveler Appeal with Amadeus Technology Partnership

InterContinental Hotels is savvy to recognize that it needs to go beyond the low-hanging fruit of converting lookers into bookers, and needs to be involved in earlier and later phases of the guest journey. Amadeus has experience with some of these things on the airline side of things, but it remains to be seen how effective it will translate into hotels.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Business Travel

Travel Leaders Group Gets New Headquarters and Marching Orders in Europe

Travel Leaders Group may see an opening to acquire some travel agencies in Europe to fuel its growth while American Express Business Travel figures out how a proposed joint venture with a private equity group is going to work.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Hotels

Stash Hotel Rewards Sees Opportunity for Independents in Loyalty Program Devaluations

Getting independent hotels that compete against one another and have various agendas to cooperate in a loyalty program such as Stash Hotel Rewards has its built-in challenges. However, despite the myriad obstacles, there is a market need for such a program.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

SkiftX

Expedia Homepage Redesign Emphasizes Simplicity and the Mobile Revolution

The Expedia.com homepage redesign is trendy and artsy, with lots of open space and a search widget placed on top of an inspirational photo. Simplicity, photo-led search and responsive design are trending now -- until the next big thing comes along.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Online Travel

Gogo Teams with Samsung in Free Wi-Fi Promotion for a Year

Gogo's partnership with Samsung is the kind that Wi-Fi providers cherish. There's no need to mail anything in, to present a coupon or enter a promotion code. Samsung tablet users just launch a browser and get directed right to a Gogo log-in page.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Travel Technology

Priceline iOS App Adds Details About Onboard Amenities and Flight Ratings

We didn't get to fully assess the Routehappy integration into the Priceline iOS app since it is doing so on a test basis, but if it is truly transparent and enables flyers to view ratings, warts and all, then this should be interesting.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Online Travel

Hipmunk Anywhere Brings All Your Searches to All Your Devices

In a few years, the streamlined, cross-platform searching that Hipmunk and Expedia are creating will be taken for granted because any company worth anything will have to offer it. So far Hipmunk Anywhere is more intuitive than Expedia's Scratchpad with fewer clicks or taps, but these are very early days.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago