Articles tagged “google”

Battling huge losses, and ongoing travel restrictions in Europe, Amadeus' decision to team up with the technology titan could pay off — but the race is on to deliver something tangible as rival Sabre gets to work with Google.

Years ago, before it acquired Viator, Tripadvisor was purely an advertising/media company. Today, with its big bet on the Tripadvisor Plus subscription program, the company is becoming much more of a hybrid advertising/booking site. That is certainly one of the calculations that the hotel industry is considering.

In this Skift Online Travel and Distribution Summit video we hear from Ashley Robinson, SVP of customer success at Rokt, about how online travel agencies (OTAs) can develop successful marketing strategies and set themselves up for success as travel starts to recover.

While Tripadvisor has transitioned over the years away from hotel metasearch in a big way — largely because of Google's incursions — Trivago is just starting to dabble with diversification. That tilt could lead to more significant changes in the future.

Amazon bowed out of the hotel business a couple of times, is dabbling with flight bookings in India, and seems to have found a sweet spot in cheap, virtual experiences. With all of those tour operator partners now in the fold, post-pandemic, in-person tours and activities is likely on the to-do list.

Google's advertising revenue and profits skyrocketed during the fourth quarter — although travel industry spend didn't drive the results. As with other industries, travel advertisers will likely flock to YouTube for brand promotions when demand returns.

Israeli Arab entrepreneurs have not benefitted from the travel tech startup boom in Israel. The controversial peace deal between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors could begin to get the investments flowing.

Stay deep or go wide? Online travel companies from Expedia to Airbnb and Booking.com are grappling with these issues. Focusing on core products can clearly be a winning formula, but when you are a public company, pressure to generate growth from new areas is a constant conundrum.

In Skift's top travel stories this week, Sri Lanka is reinventing its tourism future, airlines and global distribution systems made peace, Google faced a bevy of lawsuits, an airline launched in the middle of the pandemic, and Hilton proved that mergers aren't the only way to grow.

Booking.com has prided itself on being a household name in its European home base, but will have a tough time avoiding a European Commission designation of gatekeeper. Such stature could bring increased restrictions.