The Fight for Control of Online Travel Has Started
Online travel agencies still dominate how people book travel. But that dominance is starting to face pressure from multiple directions at once.
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.
Skift Newsletters
An Agoda Edge?
In a conversation in Bangkok today, Agoda's CEO discussed a rebuild from the ground up.
Agoda CEO on Rebuilding the Business With Multiple AI Agents From the ‘Bottom Up’
You can be sure that Agoda is far ahead of 95% of the travel industry in reimagining its business using multiple AI agents from the ground up. But will it be enough if some of the LLMs crack travel booking?
Booking Holdings Saw U.S. Strength in Q1, but Middle East Weighs on Outlook
Progress in the U.S. has been a very long slog for Booking, but it's finally starting to show some positive results.
Skift Newsletters
Kirby’s Public Merger Plea
A United-American merger would mean pain for business travelers, but if it ever happened, there could be some positives, too.
American Express Saw Strong Luxury Spending in Q1, Airline Softness in April
A lot of companies are seeing strength among premium customers and hesitancy at lower rungs, but American Express skews toward the upper echelon.
Expedia Abruptly Appoints New CFO — the 3rd Under CEO Ariane Gorin
The CFO switch isn't a good look for Expedia during the current tumultuous geopolitical climate and what that means for the travel industry.
Skift Newsletters
Capital One Closes on Hopper Deal
Capital One closed a deal this month to acquire the Hopper tech that powered Capital One Travel, and hired around 150 Hopper employees. I reported exclusively five months ago that this deal was going to happen.
Capital One Closed Hopper Tech and Employee Deal in April, Focuses on Travel Expansion
The Hopper tech acquisition, along with that of Discover and Brex, position Capital One Travel to get much more competitive with American Express and Chase Travel in going after luxury and business travelers.
NYC Finds 27% of Approved Short-Term Rental Listings Are Now Illegal
Turns out you can probably find some entire-home short-term rental listings in New York City, after all, because hosts take lawfully registered listings and convert them into illegal ones. Airbnb isn't required to take any action to limit the practice — and apparently isn't doing so.