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.

Online Travel

Hundredrooms Gets $4 Million for Vacation Rental Metasearch: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Hundredrooms plans to challenge Tripping.com and AllTheRooms in vacation rental metasearch. Meanwhile, OneTwoTrip gets more funding, while Coras and Ithaca debut.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

Tours Platform Zozi Parts Ways With Founder and CEO, Lays Off Some Staff

The once lavishly funded tours startup Zozi says it is still healthy, though it had to lay off many employees. The restructuring will have Zozi de-emphasizing its consumer product to "double down" on its B2B reservation service unless another player swoops in for its assets.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

The New Wave of Booking Tech That’s Disrupting How Airlines Sell Tickets

Airlines are using new channels, such as Facebook chat and other airlines' websites, to sell their seats and other products. Some are turning to startups for help, rather than rely only on establishment vendors.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

kayak flight metasearch branded fares basic economy

Online Travel

Kayak Tries a Fresh Way to Display Basic Economy Fares in Metasearch

We'll need time to see if Kayak's new drop-down boxes for comparing basic versus full-service tickets do the trick for consumers, who may still be confused, and for airlines, which may want tighter control over retailing.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Business Travel

Meetings Industry Is Getting Savvier About Setting Prices

Better late than never. Sales teams for meetings and events are finally starting to use software to forecast demand and extract the most money possible.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

skyscanner travel flight metasearch future distribution

Online Travel

Metasearch Tech Is Turning Skyscanner Into a Branded Airline Storefront

Skyscanner is becoming an online shop-window for airlines, providing a branded experience that's similar to the airline's own sites. Behind this move is a technological upheaval that's scrambling commercial alliances.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

Boom Tech Raises $33 Million for Supersonic Jet: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Boom will get a supersonic jet to test, Ixigo will get help with its Indian expansion, and Eventerprise will expand beyond South Africa — all thanks to fresh rounds of funding.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

Expedia Has a New Tool to Help Hoteliers Use Reviews to Improve Service

Today Expedia's computers are analyzing guest reviews. We predict that someday its computers will use the reviews to create software-generated, Zagat-style hotel summaries, for its search results.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

HotelTonight Raises Another $37 Million in Funding

Hotel booking startup HotelTonight took immense losses in 2015. If it is truly profitable now and doubled its revenue to at least $60 million in 2016, then that still doesn't scream IPO.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

Google Flights Gains Popularity Among Millennials as It Adds Booking Sites

Despite recent gains, Google Flights is still the price-comparison tool of tomorrow, and not today -- unless its scale makes the instant booking of flights a standard way of doing things.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago