Latest news with #Jet.com
Hospitality Net
4 days ago
- Business
- Hospitality Net
Liza Landsman has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at thepointsguy.com
Liza Landsman has been named as CEO of The Points Guy (TPG), the consumer platform focused on maximizing travel experiences while minimizing spending. In this role, Landsman will help the leading voice in travel and loyalty programs continue to grow its reach, capabilities and resources to help aspiring travelers at every stage of life make their jet-setting dreams a reality. Landsman brings a breadth of experience to the role, previously serving as CEO of the investing app Stash and General Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a leading venture capital firm. She was also President of an e-commerce retailer acquired by Walmart, where she led the division's management committee and was a member of Walmart's U.S. eCommerce leadership team. Prior to joining Landsman was Chief Marketing Officer and a member of the executive committee of E*TRADE Financial, where she was responsible for the firm's marketing and advertising, as well as the company's insights and analytical functions, including the evolution of its consumer-facing brand. Landsman has also served as the Global Head of Digital at BlackRock, responsible for firmwide digital strategy including social media, websites and mobile applications. Before that, she held several senior management positions at Citigroup, where she focused primarily on driving engagement across customer channels and leading portfolio work for several cobranded credit cards. She also held various leadership roles at IBM's e-commerce and personal systems group units, and at - a startup in the payments space. Currently, Landsman is on the board of directors of Choice Hotels (CHH). She is also a former board member of Squarespace (SQSP) and GO Project, a New York City-based foundation providing education opportunities for children in need. Landsman joins The Points Guy in time for the trusted platform's 15th anniversary. Since its inception, the brand has gone from Kelly's personal travel blog to the go-to source for global travel and loyalty news - including a website and newsletter that has grown to 11M+ monthly readers, a following of more than 5M+ on social media and an app that curates everything from flight and hotel deals to in-depth travel guides. Earlier this year, Kelly's first book, How to Win at Travel, debuted on the NYT Best Seller list, compiling all his best tips and advice over the last 15 years. Looking ahead, the brand will continue finding new ways to inspire current and future travelers and provide more resources for navigating the rapidly evolving world of points and miles. View Liza Landsman's LinkedIn Profile Liza Landsman is a graduate of Cornell in Ithaca, New York - United States
The Independent
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Crack down on scourge of overtourism with ‘mystery shoppers', urges industry chief
The UK's leading tour operator has blamed overtourism on unlicensed accommodation rented out on platforms such as Airbnb. Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2 Holidays and the airline, told The Independent: 'The problem with overtourism is unlicensed accommodation – those properties that are rented privately. 'For years, the licensed tourism model worked. You knew how many hotels there were and how many rooms. So 100 hotels, 100 rooms, averaging 2.5 people in a room, that's 25,000 people per week in the resort. 'You knew what it was, you could manage it. With the proliferation of unlicensed tourism, it's very hard to predict – and that's put pressure on local services. Residents understandably have become upset with noisy neighbourhoods and increasing rent. 'These properties very often don't have a tourism licence. They don't have health and safety checks like all our hotels do. Very often the people who rent the properties don't pay tax on their income. 'So there's no money being recycled from the business venture back into the local community.' The Jet2 boss was speaking at an event hosted by the Spanish Embassy in London to address issues with mass tourism. It follows widespread protests in the Balearics and Canary Islands, as well as in cities such as Barcelona. Mr Heapy proposes a clampdown on unauthorised rentals using a 'mystery shopper' approach, with government inspectors booking properties online and then turning up to inspect the paperwork. 'For me it's really easy,' he said. 'Book a few things on Airbnb. Find out who owns the property. Go and knock on the door. Then say, 'Hello, I'm from the government. I've just booked your property on Airbnb. Can I see your tourism licence, your health and safety certificate and your tax returns? Oh, and you're supposed to collect a tourism tax as well, that's levied on people that stay in hotels. It's only fair that you pay it as well, so show me all your invoices for that?' 'If they can't provide them, fine them whatever – a quarter of a million quid? Unlicensed tourism and rentals will drop by 90 per cent overnight, and that's what's causing the disruption. 'I've got nothing against people renting properties per se, but it has to be a level playing field. They've got to be subject to the same rules and regulations that we do, which is a tourism licence, full health and safety check, and pay the tax that's due so that can go to benefit the local population.' In its terms, Airbnb tells hosts: 'You are responsible for understanding and complying with any laws, rules, regulations and contracts with third parties that apply to your listing … Some jurisdictions require hosts to register, get a permit, or obtain a licence before providing certain host services such as short-term rentals.' Responding to Mr Heapy's comments, an Airbnb spokesperson said: 'Fewer planes should be allowed to land in Barcelona if the city wants fewer tourists. More than seven in 10 visitors to Barcelona stay in hotels and what Steve Heapy is failing to mention is that it is in fact the expansion of hotels that has driven mass tourism across Europe, with six times more hotel beds than Airbnb beds in Barcelona's historic centre and hotels accounting for 90 per cent of guest nights in Amsterdam and the Balearics. 'Between 2021 and 2023, the number of tourists in Barcelona has more than doubled with 70 per cent of this increase driven by hotel guests. 'Calls to impose restrictions, red tape and fees on Airbnb hosts only protect hotel chains' profits at the expense of local families who are earning a little extra money by renting their place for a few days a month, and whose guests contribute greatly to the local economy.' At the event, Juan Antonio Amengual, the mayor of Calvia in Mallorca – which includes the resort of Magaluf – said: 'A tourist is a friend. They are our main resource. We need to look after them. We want them to be part of our system.'
Globe and Mail
06-04-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Will Walmart's $2.3 Billion Advertising Bet Work Out Better Than Jet.com?
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is one of the largest retailers in the world. It has achieved massive success with its large format box stores, Sam's Club stores, and its smaller grocery store locations. But that doesn't mean that everything it touches turns to gold. The company's recent $2.3 billion investment in Vizio is one endeavor that investors will want to monitor closely. Walmart has made big acquisitions before One of the most notable acquisitions that retailer Walmart has made in recent years was This roughly $3.3 billion deal goes back to 2016 when Walmart was looking to compete online with (NASDAQ: AMZN). While the deal was less than a decade ago, it seems like a totally different time. Back then, Walmart's online presence wasn't particularly impressive, and Amazon was still in the early days of its growth. According to Walmart: The acquisition will build on and complement the significant foundation already in place to serve customers across the Walmart app, site, and stores and position the company for even faster e-commerce growth in the future by expanding customer reach and adding new capabilities. That's a bit of cheerleading, which is to be expected of a corporate event news release. The key sentence from that news release, however, was this: "Walmart and Jet will maintain distinct brands, with focusing on delivering the company's Everyday Low Price strategy, while Jet will continue to provide a unique and differentiated customer experience with curated assortment." In 2020, just four years after buying Walmart closed the website. Management extolled the benefits of the deal, which supposedly helped Walmart up its online retail game. But, in the end, really wasn't an investment win for Walmart. Walmart buys Vizio for advertising technology This brings the story to Vizio, which makes electronics and, more recently, has created a software platform for advertising. Advertising is a new growth initiative for Walmart. So, in some ways, the $2.3 billion Vizio deal makes sense. Given Walmart's market cap of over $700 billion today, it's not exactly a huge transaction. The problem is that Walmart hasn't been specific about what Vizio brings to the retailer other than some new software. During the company's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call, Walmart CFO John David Rainey noted: We're also excited about the addition of VIZIO and its SmartCast operating system to our portfolio of advertising capabilities. VIZIO will help us serve customers in new ways to enhance their shopping journeys while also creating new opportunities for advertisers to connect with customers and boost product discovery, empowering brands to realize greater impact from their advertising spend with Walmart. When pressed on the issue by an analyst, the company's U.S. head explained: The operating system in VIZIO is an impressive operating system. It works with very little friction. It's easy to set up and install. I have several of these personally, and I've acquired more since we started talking about this acquisition. I'm just really pleased with the way it works for the Walmart Connect business to have more ways to distribute advertising for sellers and suppliers; that's really exciting for them. We hope to be able to do that in a very efficient way. So, we're starting the process of integration. And over this next year, we'll be working on bigger plans for the brand as the teams get more time to work together. Neither of those statements offers a lot of detail about how Walmart actually plans to make use of Vizio's software. It seems more like Vizio has interesting software that could help Walmart, so they bought it, and now they'll try to figure out if that's true or not. This is clearly a glass-half-empty view of the situation, but given the outcome, it is one that investors should probably take seriously. After all, Walmart is a retailer, not an advertising company. Past efforts to broaden into different categories, like finance (such as check cashing), haven't exactly turned into huge wins, either. Walmart can afford to make mistakes Walmart is a giant company, and a $2.3 billion mistake won't be that big of a deal if that's what the Vizio purchase ends up being. That said, it isn't a good thing if the company wastes investor money or if it goes down distracting rabbit holes that don't pan out. This giant retailer won't suddenly become a bad company because of Vizio, but it could be an indication that, perhaps, Walmart should be giving more money back to shareholders because it is having trouble finding growth investments on which it is worth spending shareholder money. 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Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Will Walmart's $2.3 Billion Advertising Bet Work Out Better Than Jet.com?
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is one of the largest retailers in the world. It has achieved massive success with its large format box stores, Sam's Club stores, and its smaller grocery store locations. But that doesn't mean that everything it touches turns to gold. The company's recent $2.3 billion investment in Vizio is one endeavor that investors will want to monitor closely. One of the most notable acquisitions that retailer Walmart has made in recent years was This roughly $3.3 billion deal goes back to 2016 when Walmart was looking to compete online with (NASDAQ: AMZN). While the deal was less than a decade ago, it seems like a totally different time. Back then, Walmart's online presence wasn't particularly impressive, and Amazon was still in the early days of its growth. According to Walmart: The acquisition will build on and complement the significant foundation already in place to serve customers across the Walmart app, site, and stores and position the company for even faster e-commerce growth in the future by expanding customer reach and adding new capabilities. That's a bit of cheerleading, which is to be expected of a corporate event news release. The key sentence from that news release, however, was this: "Walmart and Jet will maintain distinct brands, with focusing on delivering the company's Everyday Low Price strategy, while Jet will continue to provide a unique and differentiated customer experience with curated assortment." In 2020, just four years after buying Walmart closed the website. Management extolled the benefits of the deal, which supposedly helped Walmart up its online retail game. But, in the end, really wasn't an investment win for Walmart. This brings the story to Vizio, which makes electronics and, more recently, has created a software platform for advertising. Advertising is a new growth initiative for Walmart. So, in some ways, the $2.3 billion Vizio deal makes sense. Given Walmart's market cap of over $700 billion today, it's not exactly a huge transaction. The problem is that Walmart hasn't been specific about what Vizio brings to the retailer other than some new software. During the company's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call, Walmart CFO John David Rainey noted: We're also excited about the addition of VIZIO and its SmartCast operating system to our portfolio of advertising capabilities. VIZIO will help us serve customers in new ways to enhance their shopping journeys while also creating new opportunities for advertisers to connect with customers and boost product discovery, empowering brands to realize greater impact from their advertising spend with Walmart. When pressed on the issue by an analyst, the company's U.S. head explained: The operating system in VIZIO is an impressive operating system. It works with very little friction. It's easy to set up and install. I have several of these personally, and I've acquired more since we started talking about this acquisition. Neither of those statements offers a lot of detail about how Walmart actually plans to make use of Vizio's software. It seems more like Vizio has interesting software that could help Walmart, so they bought it, and now they'll try to figure out if that's true or not. This is clearly a glass-half-empty view of the situation, but given the outcome, it is one that investors should probably take seriously. After all, Walmart is a retailer, not an advertising company. Past efforts to broaden into different categories, like finance (such as check cashing), haven't exactly turned into huge wins, either. Walmart is a giant company, and a $2.3 billion mistake won't be that big of a deal if that's what the Vizio purchase ends up being. That said, it isn't a good thing if the company wastes investor money or if it goes down distracting rabbit holes that don't pan out. This giant retailer won't suddenly become a bad company because of Vizio, but it could be an indication that, perhaps, Walmart should be giving more money back to shareholders because it is having trouble finding growth investments on which it is worth spending shareholder money. Before you buy stock in Walmart, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Walmart wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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