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.

Peter Kern speaking at Skift Global Forum in 2023.

Online Travel

The Expedia CEO Transition: The Challenges Facing the New Boss

No one ever said revamping the nuts, bolts and servers of a sprawling Expedia Group would be easy. How 2024 plays out will say a lot about whether all that toil was worth it.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago

A Vacasa vacation rental in a wooded area.

Short-Term Rentals

Vacasa Laid Off 13% of Its Workforce

This was Vacasa's fourth layoff round since CEO Rob Greyber took over in September 2022.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky speaking with Skift CEO Rafat Ali

Short-Term Rentals

Airbnb CEO: ‘We Are Ready to Step on the Gas’ for International Expansion

Despite risks from regulation and competition, there is a huge opportunity for Airbnb to expand further around the world beyond its five core markets. It's a big world out there.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago

A view of a hotel and a statement about the importance of hotel reviews.

Online Travel

Google Search Claims Another Victim: Tripadvisor Lowers Outlook

Google has made frequent changes to its search results pages over the years, and Tripadvisor has often suffered as Google has its own competing businesses. Recent changes appear to have hit Tripadvisor particularly hard.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago

As part of a Tripadvisor video about Mexico, a dad is shown eating food.

Online Travel

Tripadvisor Rules Out a Merger for Now

Tripadvisor apparently got an offer it was easy to refuse.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago

Business Travel

Amex Global Business Travel Sees Big Gains From Tech Customers

Big companies are on the move again, but the business travel growth engine — small- to medium-sized businesses — took a step back because of high interest rates and inflation.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago

An image of the Expedia homepage over the weekend when it and many of its sister websites were down.

Online Travel

Expedia Backtracks on Outage Cause: ‘Software Issue’ Took Down Global Operations

Expedia provided a different explanation as to the cause of its global outages after we presented the company with a different account.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago

Online Travel

Expedia Group Brands Back Online After Widespread Outages, Blames Maintenance Issues

Expedia Group websites from the U.S. mainland to Puerto Rico, India and Dubai were experiencing outages.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago

Online Travel

Booking Holdings Sees Modest ‘Connected Trip’ Gains – But It’s Likely Still Years Away

There's a newish metric for Booking.com, namely "connected transactions." Given the state of competition and other obstacles, the so-called connected trip is light years away.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago

Guesty executives Vered Raviv-Schwarz and Amiad Soto.

Short-Term Rentals

Guesty, Short-Term Rental Software Provider, Acquires Rentals United

The short-term rental space is fragmented to the hilt. We'll probably see more channel managers like Rentals United consolidating or seeing their businesses dry up.

Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago