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

Reasons Why U.S. Government Wants to Block American-US Airways Merger

Officials from American Airlines and US Airways may have blundered big-time when they publicly stated that their respective airlines could indeed operate independently. This deal looked so bad from an anti-competition perspective that even the attorneys general from Texas and Arizona, where AA and US Air are headquartered, respectively, joined the suit.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Hotels

Vacation Rental Startup Gets $1.5 Million in Funding from All-Star Investors

Many of these angels have some big wins on their resumes, some more than one. They see a huge opportunity in vacation rentals, a high-growth market where there is tons of room for improvements both on the management end, and the guest experience.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

The Cute Armrest Band that May Help Get a Snooze in Coach

Airline seats in coach are getting ever-more cramped as carriers leave the legroom to passengers purchasing higher-fare tickets. Anything that would make long-haul flights more comfortable to non-elite flyers would almost be like manna from heaven.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

SkiftX

Skift Q&A: Air Malta CEO Says Small Airlines Need to Fly Together

Davies' advocacy of small airlines banding together under a single operational management to trim costs is an interesting one as traditional airline alliances are giving some ground to new kinds of groupings. His idea, though, would face regulatory challenges.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Business Travel

The Coming Death of Business Travel As We Know It

American Express, other mega travel agencies and their corporate clients aren't going to be able to put the genie back in the bottle with badges and leader boards. There is a lot of turf-protection going on here.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

Virgin America CEO: Newark Flights Led the Way on First Ever Q2 Profit

There has been a lot of skepticism about whether Virgin America could turn itself into a profitable airline. It still faces tremendous competition and big-time challenges, but today's earnings announcement was a hopeful sign for an airline that a lot of people feel very good about.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Airlines

The Rather Half-Baked Idea to Sell Half an Airline Seat

We're not betting that selling half-seats will happen any time soon, but the idea is something worth sitting back and wishing for the next time you can smell what your seatmate had for dinner.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Business Travel

Marriott Rewards Acknowledges Attempt to Hack Members’ Accounts

Marriott and JetBlue have admitted that there were hack attempts; Expedia is reporting more credit card fraud, and HomeAway has been coping with an epidemic of phishing incidents. The state of online security and privacy is getting very dicey.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Hotels

Hipmunk New Tonight-Only Deals for Mobile Devices Goes Big

Do you want great hotel rates for tonight, or do you want all the rates for tonight that are available on mobile? Hipmunk is banking on its belief that travelers will go for the latter so they don't have to hop around from app to app.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago

Ground Transport

Google Glass Restrictions for Drivers Could Come in New U.S. Rules

If you want to use Google Glass in an automobile, hire an Uber black car, rent a Zipcar and have a friend get behind the wheel as a designated driver, or borrow a Google driver-less vehicle. Otherwise, the ticket inevitably will be more expensive than, well, shelling out for Google Glass.

Dennis Schaal | 13 years ago