Articles tagged “online travel agencies”

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

Airbnb always gives us plenty to talk about — and this episode of the Skift Podcast features a lively conversation about the many ways the homesharing company is venturing beyond its original focus and disrupting wide swaths of the travel industry.

Booking.com keeps hinting that it intends to become a full-service travel agency. But these products are often less profitable than hotels. So it risks a bumpy ride. No wonder it is considering revamping its rewards program and building a chatbot to help with merchandising.

It has become harder to find the online travel agencies with the lowest prices in Google's metasearch. The apparent change this week implicitly favors travel giants, which can afford to dominate ad auctions for online search.

It sounds like the potential buyers didn't accept the company's new strategy — or the buyers weren't willing to pay enough. Regardless, while it's certainly a risk, eDreams Odigeo is doing the right thing in diversifying its business and improving price transparency.

In our view, hotel owners stand to gain, as online travel agencies, brands, and disruptors like Airbnb all battle it out. Subscribe to Skift Research to learn more.

When we asked then-Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in 2016 whether Airbnb was going to eat his lunch, he responded that he was very well-nourished. But it now appears as though Airbnb has an insatiable appetite. Join us on a Skift Call March 13 to assess the Airbnb threat to hotels and online travel agencies.

Behind the usual Ryanair bluster there usually lurks a sensible business idea. If the airline offers a better accommodation product to customers, then that should persuade some to stay away from Booking.com.

Anyone who thought the three new online travel agency leaders — Jane Sun, Glenn Fogel, and Mark Okerstrom — intended to be mere caretakers of their predecessors’ policies and legacies would have been mistaken. To a large degree, they are stepping out into new territory.

At this stage, we're not exactly sure why eDreams Odigeo might interest Skyscanner/Ctrip. A private equity buyer would seem much more likely.