Sam Shank and HotelTonight had a significant impact on the travel industry's competitive landscape. We picked 15 pivotal events that helped to define Shank's legacy as co-founder and CEO as he embarks for a new journey elsewhere.
HotelTonight is the fastest, and probably the most exquisite and feisty hotel booking app around. Regardless of its future with Airbnb, it created dozens of imitators, and set the standard.
What's in a brand? When it comes to those like Hotels.com, probably hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. The inconvenient truth is that vacation-rental-selling Hotels.com isn't likely to rebrand anytime soon.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said what the company's customers really want are unique stays and experiences offered by individual hosts. That means expanding Airbnb's hotel business doesn't seem to be the priority it once was. And, oh yeah, the proliferation of corporate hosts like Sonder and others, doesn't mesh with what Chesky believes travelers desire.
You can't make this stuff up. Airbnb's payout to HotelTonight of 3.2 million shares didn't appear very attractive when Airbnb's business almost collapsed in the spring. On paper, though, it's all looking very good right now.
If Airbnb hasn't already devoted resources anew to HotelTonight and expanding its hotel business, the short-term rental giant assuredly will once it goes public. After all, in addition to Google, Airbnb sees online travel agencies, with their wide breadth of accommodations' offerings, as its most significant set of competitors.