Weekend Review: Delta’s Check-In Favor + Airbnb’s New Apartments + Puerto Rico’s Confidence

One airline is giving some of its passengers a chance to skip check-in.

The Travel Industry's Daily Agenda-Setting Newsletter

October 14, 2017 View in browser

This is one of our favorite times of the year: Our annual Forum and all the work that goes with it is a few weeks removed, and we're also free to relive the event through the wonders of YouTube and embedding. So if you want to see some excellent interviews with travel leaders including the CEOs of Marriott, Expedia, or Delta and all from the comfort of your living room or home office, scroll down. This week we also have insight into an airline that's skipping check-in, Airbnb's rental experiment, and why first class matters — even if we never get to sit there. — Jason Clampet, Editor-in-Chief Video: Tucson's Creative Culinary Scene is Winning Over Meeting Planners [SPONSORED] Sponsored by Visit Tucson Tucson is emerging as one of the most creative culinary cities in the U.S. following its designation as a UNESCO Capital of Gastronomy in 2016. Watch Video Top Stories Trump Slams Puerto Rico But Island's Tourism Leader Expresses Confidence in Relief Efforts Many Caribbean destinations are on the road to recovery from recent storms, but they are also at the mercy of government relief efforts, which have fallen way short in some places. In Puerto Rico's case, the island is dealing with the federal government, which treated hurricanes on the U.S. mainland much more seriously. Delta Air Lines Scraps Check-In for Users of Its iPhone App This is a good development for passengers, who must wonder why they still have to check in for flights in 2017. But for many airlines, check-in still serves a valuable purpose. New Skift Research Report: Key Emerging Outbound Travel Markets 2017 As developed markets reach their saturation point in international travel expenditure, emerging markets are heading towards the pole position. Airbnb Experiments With Hotel-Like Concept Outside Orlando Airbnb is partnering to develop ersatz hotels replete with front-desk staff and keyless entry. The area outside of Orlando, which is known for periods of intense lodging demand, seems a good enough place to test this new concept. Skift Global Forum 2017 On-Stage Videos Are Now Live Like a book or movie you've decided to take in for a second time, we've discovered there is a lot of value in viewing these videos even if you attended the Skift Global Forum in person. In many of them, there is an abundance of insight to absorb. Hospitality Smart Hotels Don't Pander to Millennial Desires In an age of Permanxiety, there exists an opportunity for old, classic, elegant hotels to be newly relevant. High-touch and anti-digital is newly cool (for some). Hyatt Intends to Expand Program to Vacation Rentals It may soon be possible through Hyatt to earn hotel-loyalty program elite status by staying in a vacation rental. Aman Hotels Will Enter the New York City Market in Targeted Urban Push The Aman model of creating sanctuaries in remote settings has proven quite successful since the company's founding in 1988. But now, Aman is looking to translate its ethos into urban spaces. Flying Delta Doesn't Actually Want Anyone to Buy Basic Economy Delta has a message for passengers who don't like Basic Economy fares: Trade up and buy a better product. Southwest Airlines Will Fly to Hawaii as Soon as Next Year After years of hinting, Southwest will finally fly to Hawaii. This is good news for passengers, as fares may fall — if only slightly. Other airlines won't want to let Southwest win too much market share. Airline Data Powerhouse Needs to Evolve as Fast as Airfares Have The fare-filing clearinghouse ATPCO needs to adapt to airline distribution's rapid changes. Much depends on whether its new CEO can boost the organization's metabolism. Tourism Black Millennial Travelers Plan Trips Around Safety and Acceptance New data suggest that black travelers make decisions based on safety and acceptance, but should black travelers have to pay more than their white counterparts for those benefits? Hurricane-Spared Caribbean Islands Are Preparing to Welcome More Cruise Ships The cruise industry in the Caribbean quickly pivoted as it headed into its busiest season. While cruise lines might be able to scrape by relatively unharmed — it's easy to change ports when something goes wrong — the negative impact on destinations missing out on cruise sailings will be felt for years. China Challenges WTTC With Launch of Global Tourism Group China has initiated the formation of a new world tourism organization. The UNWTO, WTTC and PATA are exceedingly polite about it, but there are undercurrents of uneasiness about how much influence the new China-led World Tourism Alliance can wield. Tech Snap's New Feature for Hotels and Destinations Shows the Promise of Visual Search The messaging app bets it can leap into becoming a platform for discovering places and hotels. Odds are against the company. But odds are in favor of visual-first search becoming widespread. Leading Companies in Tours and Activities Emerge But There Is Still a Vast Sprawl of Competitors Below There is still a ton of consolidation to come in tours and activities as smaller consumer and tech companies, in particular, will get bought up or fade into the waiting arms of the usual suspects, which will pick up some of the pieces. 14 Apps to Calm Your Travel Mind Permanxiety is now a sad fact of life. But you may be able to stress less if you lean on a handful of smartphone apps that can help you avoid health risks, security threats, and other potential travel snafus. Business Travel Why Corporate Travel Needs to Prepare for Wilder Weather The recent hurricanes are expected to have mostly short-term impacts on business travel and economic forecasts, but they exposed serious weaknesses in companies' preparations for disruption caused by extreme weather. Immersive Experiences Are the Future of Events — Meetings Innovation Report It won't be enough to attend a meeting anymore. Conference attendees are going to need to see events in a whole new way — even if that reality is augmented. How Augmented Reality Will Impact Meetings and Events Move over virtual reality, there's a new reality taking over at meetings, conferences, and events. Augmented reality has the potential to change the way people see events — literally. 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.

Follow us Our address: 145 W 30th Street 5th Floor New York,  NY  10001  USA  Copyright © 2017 Skift, All rights reserved.

If you'd like to unsubscribe from this email, click here If you'd like to receive fewer emails, click here If someone shared this email with you and you would like to subscribe, visit our newsletters page on Skift