Amazon Wants More Hotels Using Alexa Voice-Powered Services
"Siri: How will Apple respond to hotels adopting Amazon's Alexa?" That's the question.
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.
Google Hotels Revamps Mobile Features as Its Ambitions Expand
Google wants consumers to buy more travel on it. That may prompt industry players to closely patrol the gray line between the search giant referring more customers to them and Google becoming customers' first choice for booking trips.
Inside Priceline Group’s Diss of Trivago — The Backstory
What do a debate over landing pages, the acquisition of Momondo, a shift into hotel software services, and regulators forcing changes in online travel agency contracts have in common? Each of those seemingly unrelated things may have pushed Priceline to toggle back its spending on Trivago.
Ctrip Relaunches Trip.com as Its English Language Travel Agency Brand
We had speculated before that Ctrip might use its newly acquired Trip.com domain for its own agency listings, displacing the travel recommendation service it recently bought. By de-emphasizing its Chinese origin, it may hope to ingratiate itself with more Western travelers.
Google Flights’ New Look Moves Away From Travel Inspiration
Google made its claim to fame partly on the simplicity of its user interface. Its new interface for flight search is a return to its elegant design roots.
Hostmaker Raises $15 Million for Short-Term Rental Management: Travel Startup Funding This Week
In the California gold rush, businesses once sold pickaxes to prospectors. In today's vacation rental gold rush, they're selling management services to the property owners. The safest bets are always adjacent services.
Sojern Buys Ad-Tech Firm Adphorus to Better Compete on Facebook
Advertising on Facebook is an expanding strategic opportunity for travel brands. That's why travel marketing-tech startup Sojern is nabbing Adphorus, a travel specialist ad tech company in Turkey, as a bridgehead for growth.
Travel Companies Start Lending Consumers Money to Book Trips
Companies ought to carry out adequate checks on the ability of borrowers to repay travel loans on time. Otherwise, a surprise disruption such as an Icelandic volcano or an economic downturn could prompt defaults.
Czech Website Creates Itineraries From Low-Cost and Legacy Carriers
The conventional wisdom is that major online travel agencies make it impossible for their smaller counterparts to break through. Kiwi.com is challenging that thesis, though it is very much early days.
Trivago Looks to HomeAway Vacation Rentals to Regain Some Mojo
This move could be a modest win-win for Trivago and HomeAway, which both fall within the broader Expedia Inc. orbit. But Airbnb and Booking.com remain fierce competitors for rental search, with Google waiting in the wings.