Latest news with #DennisSchaal
Skift
4 days ago
- Business
- Skift
Airbnb Expands Services, Southwest Joins Priceline and Choice Looks Abroad
For today's pod, we look at Airbnb's updated experiences, Southwest new deal with Priceline, and Choice Hotels' growth options. Skift Daily Briefing Podcast Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Skift Travel Podcasts Good morning from Skift. It's Thursday, August 7. Here's what you need to know about the business of travel today. Airbnb shared early trends and updates on its relaunched Experiences product and new Services segment, writes Executive Editor Dennis Schaal. The company said it processed 60,000 host applications for Experiences and Airbnb Services, where guests can order everything from private chefs to hair styling at a property. In addition, people who have booked Airbnb Experiences and Services gave those products higher reviews on average than stays. Listen to This Podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Youtube | RSS Chief Financial Officer Ellie Mertz said Airbnb will be marketing stays, Services, and Experiences as one brand. Next, Southwest Airlines will now be available to book on Priceline, making it the second online travel agency to partner with the carrier, writes Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi. Maharishi reports that Southwest flights will also be available across other Booking Holdings platforms, including and Agoda. Southwest's deal with Priceline comes after it announced a partnership with Expedia in February to host the carrier's flights. Southwest had previously resisted online travel agencies and encouraged direct bookings as a way to build loyalty and reduce distribution costs. Finally, Choice Hotels said it's focusing on global growth as business in the U.S. softens, writes Hospitality Reporter Luke Martin. Choice executives said the company opened 15% more rooms internationally during the second quarter than it did last year, a higher figure than in the U.S. And Choice recently reached deals that would see the company grow in France and China. Choice's revenue per available room in the U.S. fell nearly 3%, and the company lowered its 2025 forecast. It now expects growth to land between flat and a decline of 3%.
Skift
5 days ago
- Business
- Skift
Booking's Credit Card, Marriott's Slower Growth and Spain's Rental Crackdown
Skift Daily Briefing Podcast Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Skift Travel Podcasts Good morning from Skift. It's Wednesday, August 6. Here's what you need to know about the business of travel today. has soft-launched its first credit card in the U.S., the Genius Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card, reports Executive Editor Dennis Schaal. Schaal writes the rewards card should help increase direct bookings and build its U.S. business. The card issues travel credits instead of offering points and miles, common with airline and hotel co-branded cards. Cardholders would receive 6% in travel credits for hotels and short-term rental stays booked via the app, and 5% on all other travel purchased on Listen to This Podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Youtube | RSS Next, Marriott has trimmed its full-year forecast after a sluggish second quarter, writes Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O'Neill. The company's overall global growth for revenue per available room was only 1.5% while it was flat in the U.S. and Canada. O'Neill notes Marriott's main drag was a weak U.S., which was partly the result of uncertainty from the Trump tariffs and partly because of when Easter fell this year. Marriott also saw a drop in government travel. Marriott now projects between 1.5% and 2.5% revenue per available room growth for the full year, down from its previous forecast of up to 3.5% growth. Finally, Spanish authorities are preparing to delist thousands of unregistered short-term rentals, writes Contributor Ian Mount. Spain's housing ministry will soon enforce a 2024 law requiring all short-term rentals to display a unique rental registration number. Properties that don't comply will be removed from major platforms like Airbnb. The first listings will be removed from platforms in mid-August after property owners are given a 10-day grace period to appeal. Mount notes that many owners appear to have delayed applying for their rental registration number until the last minute, creating processing backlogs.
Skift
01-08-2025
- Business
- Skift
Booking Trends, AI Tools, and the New Rules of Travel Planning
For this Friday episode, we look at Google's new partnership with Amadeus and its resilience in the face of AI (so far). We also preview new Skift Research about AI and changing traveler habits. Skift Daily Briefing Podcast Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Skift Travel Podcasts Good morning from Skift. It's Friday, August 1. Here's what you need to know about the business of travel today. Amadeus believes its partnership with Google Flights will boost the travel technology company's airline business, reports Executive Editor Dennis Schaal. Amadeus CEO Luis Maroto said on Thursday the partnership, which was announced in May, is designed to help his company attract more airline customers. Google's QPX flight offer management system and Google Flights are being integrated with Amadeus' airline platform, Nevio. Schaal notes the collaboration, which also involves Google Cloud and its AI tech, comes after a failed partnership between Amadeus and ITA Software that started in 1998 and ended in a messy breakup. Listen to This Podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Youtube | RSS Next, Americans are traveling in large numbers again, and Skift Research's latest report reveals how they're planning and booking trips is changing fast, writes Senior Research Analyst Varsha Arora. Skift Research's U.S. Traveler Trends 2025 report revealed two-thirds of Americans have taken at least one overnight trip this year — the highest share in six years, with leisure travel continuing to dominate. More than half of U.S. travelers book directly via social media links. Arora writes the adoption of AI tools like ChatGPT has transformed travel planning significantly, as one-third of U.S. travelers are using AI assistants extensively to research, plan, and book. Meanwhile, direct bookings have fallen substantially since 2020 while online travel agencies have staged a quiet comeback in recent years. Finally, Booking Holdings says the company's ads in Google are performing well despite concerns that AI would represent the death knell for Google travel search, writes Executive Editor Dennis Schaal. Booking Holdings Chief Financial Officer Ewout Steenbergen said this week the company has seen an increase in clicks upon placing ads in Google for its core accommodations business. Steenbergen added Booking would like to diversify its performance marketing channels, similar to what it's already done with social media. Booking's marketing spend in social media rose 25% in the second quarter from last year.
Skift
11-07-2025
- Business
- Skift
Airbnb Gets Flexible, Delta Revises Forecast, Marriott Goes Net-Zero
To finish the week, we look at Airbnb's new guest-friendly policies, Delta's sunnier outlook, and Marriott's net-zero effort. Skift Daily Briefing Podcast Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Skift Travel Podcasts Good morning from Skift. It's Friday, July 11. Here's what you need to know about the business of travel today. Airbnb is introducing a series of guest-friendly cancellation policies on October 1 that may get pushback from some hosts, writes Executive Editor Dennis Schaal. Airbnb is migrating hosts that have so-called Strict cancellation policies to Firm policies, which are more flexible for guests. Under the Strict policy, guests could only cancel within 48 hours after a booking to receive a full refund. The new Firm policies enable guests to cancel and get full refunds until 30 days before check-in. In addition, for stays of fewer than 28 nights, guests will have a 24-hour cancellation grace period – provided the stay is confirmed at least seven days before check-in. Listen to This Podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Youtube | RSS Next, Delta Air Lines said Thursday it's going back to giving an outlook for 2025 – its new forecast is lower than it was in January, but higher than feared, writes Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi. CEO Ed Bastian said during a call with analysts that the company's core customer is in good financial shape, even as the airline sees weakness in demand from its most price-sensitive passengers in the main cabin. Premium revenues outpaced main cabin revenues during the quarter, growing 5% compared to last year. Delta had pulled its full-year outlook in April due to the growing economic uncertainty from the Trump administration's tariff policy. Delta said its loyalty revenue was up 8%, which the carrier attributed to co-branded card spending and card acquisitions. Finally, Marriott has broken ground on the first net-zero emissions hotel under its brand. But Climate Reporter Darin Graham writes the loss of federal tax credits for renewable energy sources will make reaching net-zero goals challenging for hotel companies. The 115-room Sugar House Hotel in Winooski, Vermont is scheduled to open in 2026 and will rely entirely on electricity. Doug Nedde, a developer whose company owns the hotel, said there are no fossil fuels in the building at all. Marriott aims to cut its emissions to nearly zero by 2050. However, Nedde said the Trump administration's sweeping new budget law will dismantle many of the tax incentives that have made clean energy projects possible. Nedde added the Sugar House Hotel would not have been built without assistance from the federal government.
Skift
03-07-2025
- Business
- Skift
Airbnb's Pay-Later Bet, Airline Cyberattacks and a $12.5B Air Traffic Overhaul
On today's pod we look at Airbnb's book now, pay later options; possible new funding for U.S. air traffic control, and cyber attacks on airline systems. Skift Daily Briefing Podcast Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Skift Travel Podcasts Good morning from Skift. It's Thursday, July 3. Here's what you need to know about the business of travel today. Airbnb is testing a new feature — Reserve Now, Pay Later — that enables some guests in the U.S. and Canada to make a reservation without paying anything at the time of booking, reports Executive Editor Dennis Schaal. Prior to these tests, Airbnb guests have either paid the total price at the time of booking or some properties have allowed a partial payment up-front. Airbnb is testing the feature because affordability is a top priority for guests. The host's experience does not change under the new feature because in the event of a non-payment or cancellation, hosts would receive any payout that their cancellation policy calls for. Listen to This Podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Youtube | RSS Next, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday advanced a budget bill that includes $12.5 billion in funding for air traffic control upgrades, with allocations for radar system replacements, runway safety technologies, and the continued modernization of the FAA's infrastructure. Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi reports that the bill earmarks $1 billion to support consolidation efforts of terminal radar approach control facilities, also known as TRACONs. Another $100 million is set aside for consolidating air route traffic control facilities. The provisions are also part of the Trump administration's calls for a complete overhaul of the air traffic control system. The bill will go back to the House for approval of the amended version. Finally, multiple airlines have reported experiencing cyber attacks on their IT systems ahead of the busy Fourth of July travel weekend in the U.S., writes Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi. Hawaiian Airlines and Canadian carrier WestJet have confirmed that they both suffered cyber attacks in the past week. Australia's flag carrier Qantas said on Tuesday it experienced a cyber attack that breached a third-party customer service platform although the company stated the breach has since been contained. The FBI recently said that a hacking group called Scattered Spider had started targeting the airline sector. An executive at a cybersecurity firm said that Scattered Spider tends to focus on one sector at a time for a few weeks.
