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

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 | 12 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 | 12 years ago

Airlines

Google Wants to Take the Agony Out of Flight Search, Just Like Hipmunk

Google would never merely imitate what Hipmunk is doing. You can be assured that under the hood there are a whole lot of analytics going on to determine what the Best Flights really are.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Online Travel

Sharing Economy Can't Save Tour Guides, says Tour Startup CEO

Something can't be dead if it never lived. In terms of real consumer traction, peer-to-peer tour guide businesses, however well-intentioned, never won broad acceptance. The economics of these businesses didn't enable them to achieve any kind of scale.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Hotels

Travel Channel's Hotel Expert Takes on Fools, Thieves, and Bad Owners

Despite all of the ignorance he sees, the Hotel Fixer thinks the U.S. hotel industry is in fairly good shape as long as educational resources are directed at "teaching the craft of hospitality and service." But, don't let hotel consultants rob you blind.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Online Travel

The New $75 Million Venture Fund That Will Invest Heavily in Travel Startups

Altimeter Capital's new venture capital fund won't be exclusively devoted to travel startups, but expect to see it making news along the lines of Concur's larger Perfect Trip Fund, which indeed concentrates on travel.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Airlines

JetBlue CEO Defends "Middle" Ground, Doesn't Want to Become Spirit Airlines

Barger is seeking to maintain JetBlue's middle ground between ultra low cost and network carriers, but investors' new love affair with Spirit Airlines and others of its type will keep the pressure on JetBlue management.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Airlines

How United's Loyalty Program Lets the Mileage Rich Get Richer

Anyone who boards a commercial airline sees that there are privileged and not-so privileged passengers in the eyes of the airline. United Mileage Plus reinforces and widens the great divide by providing more bang per mile for elite flyers on lucrative intercontinental routes.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Business Travel

Small Business vs Big Company Travelers: Who Spends & Who Saves

Small businesses have their share of inefficiencies when it comes to travel and entertainment spending, but the gap in small business versus large corporation spending in Concur's numbers is also a function of more transactions by road warriors at small businesses.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago

Online Travel

How Travel Marketers Can Beat Gmail's New Promotions Tab

Spin it however you want to: These changes to Gmail are a potential nightmare for travel marketers who may see their emails to customers end up under a Promotions tab, which is one step above spam.

Dennis Schaal | 12 years ago