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.

Hotels

Priceline’s Two CEOs on The Future of Travel’s Biggest Brand

Jeffery Boyd doesn't want to meddle in Priceline's business on a day to day basis, which may provide angst to some investors. Still, incoming CEO Darren Huston has capably led Priceline's prized asset, Booking.com, over the last two years, so he's got the pedigree in what promises to be a fascinating new era in online travel.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Hotels

Orbitz CEO: We See Ourselves As An Insurgent

From the front lines of online and mobile travel, Orbitz Worldwide still thinks it can be a winner as an insurgent, although there hasn't been any major evidence of a surge.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Online Travel

Hipmunk CEO: Competitors Unwilling To Take Risks and Have Subpar Products

Hipmunk seems content to keep its nose to the grindstone and invest in its platforms. How long it can be viable as a smaller player in an increasingly croweded marketplace remains to be seen.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Hotels

Millennials Make Hotels Rethink How They Do Loyalty Programs

Brand loyalty in the travel industry has been an achilles heel with few being able to engender much of it. Miles and points are great, but it will be the experience, as well, that will make people keep coming back for more.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

Israeli Aviation Security Expert Calls TSA’s Behavioral Detection Skills ‘Worthless’

As part of El Al's techniques, employees ask passengers a flurry of seemingly random questions before they get to the ticket counter, looking for holes in their stories or deception. If trained properly, U.S. airlines would do well in emulating the practice for security's sake.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

Spirit Airlines Advertises It Isn’t Smoking Crack When Offering Low Fares

Should we view Spirit Airlines as the corporately responsible greenest U.S. airline or as the best gutter marketer in travel? Despite the mixed marketing messages, Spirit is following both tracks in becoming a highly successfu airline, and the envy of many of its peers.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

Delta Wants to Bid for D.C. and Dallas Slots Reserved for Low-Cost Carriers

Greedy, greedy, greedy. Keeping the bidding to low-cost carriers would indeed inject some competition into airports where it is at times sorely lacking, as well as protect consumers that the U.S. Justice Department said it was looking out for in the American/US Air lawsuit.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

TSA Is Wasting $200 Million on Behavioral Techniques For Security, GAO Says

Are behavioral security techniques ineffective or does the TSA merely not know what it is doing? That's a legitimate question given Israel's success in pioneering behavioral techniques at airports.

Jeff Plungis | 13 years ago

Media and PR

Lonely Planet Buys TouristEye Mobile App for Trip-Planning

Lonely Planet has a ton of digital content, offers booking services through partners, and could round things out a bit with the acquisition of TouristEye for online and offline trip-planning purposes.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Hotels

TripAdvisor CEO Is Rethinking the Value of Facebook Advertising

Is Facebook's reputation as a marketing vehicle for travel brands in jeopardy? It looks like Facebook's advertising challenges go beyond monetizing mobile -- Google can capture a traveler in shopping mode, but that's harder for Facebook to do.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago