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.

Business Travel

Sabre’s Back to the Basics Strategy Shift Starts to Bear Fruit

CEO Sean Menke has gained breathing room to provide positive surprises. Getting cloud-based distribution and operations software right is hard. So the company is relying on concepts from top-tier management consulting firms as guidance.

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago

skift forum europe berlin 2018 rob torres google

Online Travel

Google Plans to String Its Travel Assets Together

We come in peace, a top Google executive essentially said while addressing the travel industry on Thursday at Skift Forum Europe in Berlin. One possible industry response might be: "Trust, but verify."

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago

Online Travel

BlaBlaCar Buys Less to Plug a Carpooling Tech Gap

It’s too early to know if short-distance, urban carpooling from BlaBlaCar can effectively compete with taxis and car-hailing apps like Cabify, Lyft, and Uber. But as a defensive experiment, the move makes sense.

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago

Online Travel

Expedia Sold More Than $500 Million in Tours and Activities in 2017

Expedia's half-billion dollars of online sales may seem large. But it's a tiny sum in the context of the company's overall sales. It is still early days for the online management and distribution of activities, despite the recent frenzy of startup acquisition.

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago

Online Travel

Guesty Raises $19 Million for Vacation Rental Sales: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Travel startups raised more than $128 million this week. Tel Aviv-based Guesty, which is like a Salesforce for vacation rental property managers, was one of the fortunate companies.

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago

Mark Okerstrom Expedia Group CEO and President March 2018 at company HQ source EXPE

Online Travel

Expedia Group Accelerates Its Spending Faster Than It Grows Revenue

If you (re)build it, they will come. That's the motto of Expedia Group CEO Mark Okerstrom for 2018.

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago

Online Travel

Travelzoo Surprises With a Rebound in Revenue Growth and Profitability

European travel booking volumes are not the only thing staging a comeback. Deals marketer Travelzoo is enjoying a renaissance, too. But, as with Europe, the verdict is still on whether the company has worked through the problems that have beset it since the financial crisis.

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago

Online Travel

Trivago Suffers Another Loss and Lowers Its Forecast for Next Quarter

Everyone blames Booking.com for Trivago's woes. But we're reserving judgment on the hotel search company's worse-than-expected second-quarter forecasts until we can hear from its other largest advertiser, Expedia Group, which holds its own first-quarter earnings call soon.

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago

Hotels

Hilton Will Let You Control TV, Lights, Temp in Your Room From Smartphone

Germaphobes will be relieved not to have to touch a hotel room remote control again.

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago

Culture Trip founder and CEO Kris Naudts.

Online Travel

Listicle Platform Culture Trip Raises $80 Million to Build Online Travel Agency

Who knew that adding affiliate booking links to the hotels mentioned in articles and videos could earn record levels of investment?

Sean O'Neill | 8 years ago