Weekend Review: Best Tourism Websites + Priceline Vs. Airbnb

The Travel Industry's Daily Agenda-Setting Newsletter

August 12, 2017 View in browser

We're near the end of earnings season, but this last week brought us plenty of headlines out of the digital travel world about Priceline, TripAdvisor, and more. Three topics — advertising, China, and Airbnb — were of particular interest to us and we dive into them below. This week we really dove into the changing world of travel distribution systems with reporter Andrew Sheivachman's very long look at threats to the existing players and opportunities for upstarts and new rivals. For anyone who doesn't think this topic is fascinating, we'll show you our visitor logs for this week. If you're feeling nostalgic this weekend, you can walk down memory lane with me as I wrap up our collection of anniversary stories with a look at the last five years of the travel industry. — Jason Clampet, Editor-in-Chief Free Webinar: Examining The Evolving Diversity of Modern Luxury Travel [SPONSORED] Sponsored by L.E.K. Consulting High-end travel and hospitality brands must adapt to evolving luxury consumer psychographics to provide personalized experiences aligned with the whims of today's upscale travelers. Register The Big Stories Channel Shock: The Future of Travel Distribution The global distribution systems aren't going anywhere. Innovation, however, is happening in the margins of the travel distribution marketplace, with airlines seeking to regain control of their destiny. 25 Best Tourism Board Websites in the World in 2017 The best tourism websites in the business in 2017 are emphasizing user-generated content from platforms like Instagram and doubling down on video to make destinations seem more real rather than a part of a traveler's imagination. Priceline Is Making a Land Grab on Airbnb's Turf by Adding Rental Inventory The Priceline Group is the colossus of hotel bookings but it is playing catch-up when it comes to vacation rentals. Yet CEO Glenn Fogel sounds determined to hone in on Airbnb's territory. Can TripAdvisor Blame Its Hotel-Bidding Slump on Expedia or Priceline? TripAdvisor is still a must-have marketing channel for online travel agency and hotel advertisers. But if the Priceline Group and Expedia tilt their spend more toward other marketing vehicles, there aren't a lot of other players with the marketing resources they have to make TripAdvisor whole. Marriott Partners With Alibaba to Court the Chinese Travel Market Even More Smart move, Marriott. Given the growth of the middle class worldwide will be led by China, it's incredibly insightful on Marriott's part to be doing all it can to establish loyalty and brand recognition with this crucial market sooner than later. Digital Trivago Urges Independent Hotels to Get More Involved in Digital Marketing Public companies rarely take on projects where the benefits may not appear for years to come. So kudos to Trivago for risking that with its marketing tools for hotels. That said, the effort is still a risk. Priceline Group Facing Tough Calls on China Expansion Priceline Group's CEO Glenn Fogel has repeated his view that Asia is the company's most important market. We don't think he'll try to acquire Ctrip. But additional moves are possible. IBM Watson-Powered Augmented Intelligence Seeks an Edge in Travel Marketing Five years ago, no one thought about IBM as being a big seller of digital marketing tools to travel companies. That's changed. Big Blue has landed some big deals. Yet the easy wins may be behind it. Guest Experience Disney's New Star Wars Hotel Sounds Like Next-Level Immersion Disney wowed everyone with this announcement. Now fans of the theme park company and Star Wars wait for the execution — and the price tag. InterContinental Hotels Won't Rush to Follow Rivals Into Alternative Accommodations InterContinental's new CEO Keith Barr seems happy — for now — to carry on with the work done by his predecessor. While rivals have explored other areas, IHG keeps doing the same thing, although it is developing a new midscale brand. Only time will tell which strategy is right. Marriott Unseats Wyndham as Best Hotel Loyalty Program in New Ranking Alaska Airlines continued to scoop up awards for its distance-based loyalty program while Marriott took advantage of its recent merger in this year's U.S. News and World Report's loyalty program rankings. Passenger Experience Qatar Airways Turns a Fare Mistake Into an Opportunity — Business of Loyalty When you add up the PR value for Qatar as well as the good will it engenders among travelers (especially those adding to their oneworld alliance point totals), the snafu was a smart move. Hawaiian Airlines Is Handling Customer Service Inquiries Via Text Message In the not too distant future, we expect bots will be sophisticated enough to handle almost all customer service inquires sent via text message. But we're not there yet, so it's refreshing Hawaiian Airlines is going with an all-human approach. JetBlue Switches to Customer Service Tool Built by Startup it Funded JetBlue will be one of the first airlines to build unified records of all the interactions that each customer has with it via phone, text, and so forth. We hope other airlines copy the move to improve their service. Tourism TUI Group CEO Downplays Overtourism Threat While TUI's CEO is right to point out the macro benefits of tourism in Spain, the company ignores the myriad of local issues in places such as Barcelona and Majorca that are turning locals against mass tourism. It is a self-interested issue to address for virtually the entire travel industry. International Visits to U.S. and Spending Declined in 2016 International visits to the U.S could have decreased in 2016 for many reasons, ranging from the pricy U.S. dollar to uncertainty surrounding U.S. politics. While data show continued growth into 2017, perhaps things aren't as positive for the U.S. travel industry as they seem. The Rise and Fall of China Outbound Travel to South Korea China outbound travel is booming and has a long way to go before maturity. Individual destinations should pursue the market, but be cognizant of the risks. South Korea serves as an example of what can happen when the Chinese government changes course. Business Travel Distribution Upheaval Comes Slowly — Skift Corporate Travel Innovation Report The global travel marketplace is ripe for evolution; we're still only at the early stages. Meeting Planners Sound Off on Their Biggest Challenges The challenges being faced by meeting planners are as wildly divergent as the events they plan. To succeed, they need to be informed, nimble, and tough. Travelport CEO Is 'Super Skeptical' About American Airlines Strategy American is creating a new distribution path that might tweak the role companies like Travelport play in distribution. Travelport boss Gordon Wilson tells us he's skeptical. We remain undecided. 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 Daily Newsletter from Skift.

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