Weekend Review: Hotels and Booking Sites Battle Over Consumers

The Travel Industry's Daily Agenda-Setting Newsletter

July 15, 2017 View in browser

What Happened This Week Despite being a summer week, things weren't slow. We broke news of Hyatt's deal with Booking.com as part of the former's strategy to better negotiate a new contract with Expedia. Alternately, we brought you the story of a big UK brand that could care less about online travel agencies — 9 out of 10 people book direct. In the airline world, both Delta and United demonstrated that even if you devalue loyalty points or drag passengers your profits will still rise. The other truism — at least for now — is that passengers may complain, but they'll book the cheapest flight possible. — Jason Clampet, Editor-in-Chief Skift Global Forum Featured Speaker Announced As Skift expands into the business of restaurants, we closely follow those at the top of the industry creating change. We are delighted to announce René Redzepi, founder and head chef of noma, as a speaker at this year's Skift Global Forum. Learn More Digital Exclusive: Hyatt Signs Deal With Booking.com as Hedge Against Expedia Impasse As their contract expiration deadline looms, Hyatt and Expedia are maneuvering for position with Hyatt property owners. The new Hyatt-Booking.com agreement gives Hyatt some leverage but it likely wouldn't fully make up all the ground if the chain goes completely dark on Expedia. Blockchain Will Disrupt Expedia and Airbnb, TUI CEO Says Blockchain is essentially a large immutable database which, due to its security features and decentralized nature, can pose a threat to traditional intermediaries. Companies are looking to expand blockchain to tackle the current travel distribution landscape. Kayak and Amazon Echo Now Offer Voice-Powered Hotel Booking Kayak is the first online travel player to let shoppers book hotels via Amazon's smart speakers. While the concept has promise, its price comparison process still has to improve before it becomes useful to the average traveler. The Hotel Chain That Doesn't Need Booking.com or Expedia Premier Inn's proportion of direct bookings is pretty eye-opening, but the brand operates under a particular set of circumstances. If it decides to ramp up its international expansion, it will be interesting to see if it chooses to make more use of online travel agents. Business Travel Airbnb Moves Into Corporate Travel Mainstream With Concur Integration As Airbnb becomes bookable through the online booking tools of corporate travel management companies, its acceptance in corporate travel policies will likely rise as well. Half of Business Travelers Want to Avoid Human Interaction on the Road Dealing with humanity can be annoying, and it can be even worse when you're traveling for business. More robust technology tools, however, can help automate and streamline many annoyances for business travelers. Millennials Are Attending Events in Droves Because of Fear of Missing Out Millennials value experiences over things, so getting them to your event is easy. But once they're there, will they look up from their phones long enough to engage? Airlines United Airlines Financial Forecast Rises Despite Dragging Incident Did customers book away from United Airlines after security officers called by the airline beat up a passenger in Chicago? Probably not, considering how well the airline performed financially in the second quarter. Delta Says Travelers Still Love Airline Credit Cards Even Though Miles Are Worth Less Yes, airline frequent flyer programs probably were more lucrative a decade ago. But savvy travelers can still get a lot of value out of the programs and their affiliated credit cards. U.S. Airlines Are Making Their VIP Lobbies Even More Posh No, these special airline VIP lobbies are not new. But all three full-service U.S. airlines are investing in them, with each trying to one-up the other. If you're a regular coach customer, you likely don't care. But if you have access to these lobbies, you're probably pleased. Tourism Brand USA Is Facing Declining Contributions From Travel Brands This Year Brand USA has a difficult task these days of appeasing a White House with unfavorable views of foreigners while still spreading a welcoming message in key international markets. U.S. Mayors Are Backing Innovation Districts To Transform Cities' Brands With the federal government deadlocked in intractable partisan debate, mayors across the U.S. are stepping up to drive progress by cultivating their innovation economies. A growing number are developing innovation districts to elevate their cities' brands. What Travel to North Korea Says — And Doesn't Say — About Adventure Travel The death of a young American illustrates the continuing risk for niche operators committed to taking travelers to remote and risky parts of the world, including North Korea. They're called risky for a reason. For Gmail users: If you are using the tabbed inbox, Skift emails may be pushed to the 'Promotions' tab. To get updates from Skift direct to your primary inbox, drag and drop this email to that tab. You received this email because you are subscribed to Skift Weekly Review Newsletter from Skift.

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