Articles tagged “online travel agencies”

When the U.S. election (presumably) concludes on Tuesday, companies might be able to invest in travel with a little more certainty about their return on investment. Vacationers will likely be looking to take a break from the tense political climate in the U.S., as well.

Financial quarters come and go but TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer says he will keep working on its Instant Booking initiative until the company gets it right. Can Kaufer really change consumer behavior and turn hotel-review readers into bookers on TripAdvisor? The sentiment is divided but he certainly is committed to doing so.

Our storytelling ambitions at Skift are growing bigger, and this year we've leaned into these big editorial projects in a big way. The key animating function for us is understanding the big picture around travel that you otherwise won't read in other travel or mainstream media. Expect deeper reporting from us over the coming year as well.

Smartphones continue gaining ground with online travel bookings, albeit slowly, and mobile web still outpaces what can be clunky mobile app user experiences.

Vacation rental owners and property managers are using technology solutions to mitigate their risks in an era when they face the prospect of getting pushed into irrelevancy by the large distribution platforms if they don't agree to instantly confirmable bookings. Buck the instant booking trend? The penalty is seeing their listings drop toward the bottom of the heap.

Some travel brands have mastered the art of using FOMO to get us to buy right now. But there's value for some travelers in missing out, at least on the anxiety.

Whilst tech-innovation and hotels direct booking campaigns bring new challenges to the OTA world, Expedia has kept a solid growth over the past years and has a steady eye on upcoming disruptions.

There has been serious talk about artificial intelligence in travel for the past couple of years. While Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wasn't talking about implementing artificial intelligence for customer service in the next quarter or two, be assured that Expedia and others are working on it hard.

Moral of the story about the early years of online travel? Not to over-simplify, but be prepared to take risks, feel free to contradict conventional wisdom, and assemble the best damn team that you can.

Expedia's expansion outside the OTA world is afoot. With their aquisition of Homeaway and the expansion of Egencia, Expedia keeps a steady foot in online travel.