Sean O'Neill

Sean O’Neill is Skift’s Senior Hospitality Editor. Sean’s forte is reporting, and he’s broken multiple hotel industry scoops. He has also conducted 1:1 interviews on stage with the CEOs of Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Hyatt, and Wyndham.

Hotels

Skift Forum Europe: Nordic Choice’s Lisa Farrar on Hotels Using Tech to Go Direct

Lisa Farrar, who leads a tech subsidiary for Nordic Choice Hotels, is a vocal advocate about how hotels can tighten control of their distribution and more effectively engage with their guests. You won’t want to miss hearing her talk at Skift Forum Europe in London on April 30.

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago

Cruises

TripAdvisor Launches Cruise Metasearch to Tap Into a New Revenue Stream

TripAdvisor is smart to try to tap the ad budgets of cruise lines and online travel agencies with a relevant new price-comparison search tool. But many first-time cruisers may feel too overwhelmed by all of the review content given all of the complexity in booking a cruise.

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago

GetYourGuide cofounders CEO Johannes Reck and CTO Tao Tao source getyourguide

Online Travel

GetYourGuide Defies Conventional Wisdom on Tour Booking So Far

GetYourGuide may close an approximately $300 million funding round this year with possible participation by new investors like SoftBank and Temasek. If true, investors would be betting that the attractions booking agency can continue to defy several assumptions about young travel companies.

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago

Online Travel

Fyle Raises $4 Million for Expense Management: Travel Startup Funding This Week

It's eye-catching that Fyle, a Bengaluru-based expense management software company, has received funding from Tiger Global, a venture firm that was an early backer of Flipkart, Spotify, LinkedIn, and Despegar.

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago

Online Travel

Max Levchin’s Affirm Raises $300 Million for Payments Tech

With this investment, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin has raised $800 million to grow Affirm, which lets consumers pre-qualify for loans to buy flights, hotels, rental cars, seat upgrades, and non-travel products. Who said payments aren't sexy?

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago

Online Travel

Lyft IPO Teaches Lessons to Other Rising Travel Startups

Several travel startups dream of going public. Lyft's initial public offering shows that profitability isn't necessarily as important as growth in the eyes of some investors, among some other key lessons.

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago

lindsay nelson tripadvisor president experiences sfe2019 source TripAdvisor

Online Travel

Skift Forum Europe: TripAdvisor’s Lindsay Nelson on Boosting the Brand

You won’t want to miss what Lindsay Nelson has to say about her new role as TripAdvisor’s president of core experience at Skift Forum Europe in London — especially since she’s not afraid to speak her mind about pressing issues in branding and marketing.

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago

Online Travel

What Happened to the HotelTonight Clones?

In light of Airbnb buying HotelTonight, Skift looks back at the many copycats of the mobile-first hotel booking agency. Where are they now?

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago

china southern economy seat source china southern

Online Travel

TravelSky’s Monopoly in China Helped Boost Annual Revenues

TravelSky, China's state-backed airline distribution and software services company, reported solid revenue growth in 2018. But the company's insulation from market competition risks creating complacency, and some signs suggest Chinese airlines are frustrated.

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago

Mike Volpe CEO of Lola.com courtesy of Lola.com

Online Travel

Lola Raises $37 Million to Manage Business Trips: Travel Startup Funding This Week

This week corporate travel tech startup Lola, attractions software builder Bookingkit, and hospitality job marketplace Jitjatjo collectively raised more than $53 million in funding.

Sean O'Neill | 7 years ago