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

Judge Rules Orbitz Still Owes Marketer $12 Million For Now-Illegal Practices

Under the partnership, Orbitz passed customers' credit card information to Trilegiant without notifying consumers. Orbitz terminated the practice starting in 2008, but a judge says Orbitz still has to make the payments that the contract called for.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Hotels

Starwood Launches the Weirdest Hotel Flash Sales on the Internet

Starwood's new hotel flash sales site has little flash, and it is a bad move to jump through hoops about your exclusive sales when in reality you can find the same hotel deals all over the Internet. Bad move.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

Eco-Friendly Air France Tableware Design Turns Spoons Into Airplanes

How can you design tableware for airline meals that fits perfectly into its environs, serves an eco-friendly purpose, and is damn fun all at the same time? Air France, with deft execution by designer Eugeni Quitllet, has done it.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

JetBlue Enables Points-Sharing For Families of All Shapes

This is another reason to fly JetBlue, and will be very popular with travelers. It's great the way Family Pooling accommodates the varied shapes of families 2.0.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Hotels

Airbnb Files Petition to Block NY Subpoena, Cites Burden to Compile Data

The subpoena will likely be pared down before it is issued. Some big issues will be coming to a head in this probe, including whether an apartment rental by an individual renders the apartment a hotel that is subject to occupancy tax.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Hotels

Why Pinterest Is Likely the Web’s Most Popular Trip-Planning Site

Pinterest has way more travel pins than TripAdvisor has reviews and opinions. The level of engagement on Pinterest is incredible. The jury is out, though, on what it all means for travel.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Online Travel

Why Wall Street Heaps Love on Priceline and Disses Expedia

You have to wonder whether Priceline relished breaking the $1,000 per share barrier or eclipsed the mark fearfully. With such records come very great expectations.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

Sequoia Capital Invests Big in Skyscanner and Values It At $800 Million

Sequoia Capital's investment in Skyscanner is the latest huge endorsement of travel metasearch. But could a pivot toward hotels and a possible rebranding that goes beyond airfares be in Skyscanner's future?

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Hotels

Why Travel Booking Sites Are Still Pushing Pop-Under Ads

TripAdvisor will talk about how its transition away from hotel search through pop-under windows to metasearch was driven by the need to improve the customer experience, and that indeed was part of the reason. But, the bottom line is it was mostly about the bottom line i.e. the economics.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

Interview: JetBlue CEO Hopes He’s Found a Balance Between Coach and Premium

JetBlue's Mint service will be disruptive in that competitors will likely match the $599 to $999 one-way fares. Competition like this should shake things up.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago