Weekend Review: Marriott's Platform War + Top Startups to Watch

The Travel Industry's Daily Agenda-Setting Newsletter

June 9, 2018 View in browser

Editor's Note Travel Tech Editor Sean O'Neill did the research and selected newbies to include in our Skift Top Travel Startups 2018 feature, which you can peruse below. Don't overlook the chart in the story with the yellow circles; it is more than window-dressing. O'Neill divided the 20 startups in the chart into consumer-facing and business-to-business startups, and guess what? The vast majority of these startups are built around selling their products or services to other businesses. This has been a trend for travel startups for the past several years. The reasons are complex, but one that stands out is that Google's transition to a mostly paid playing field has made it very difficult for consumer startups to compete. — Dennis Schaal, Executive Editor Rethinking the Tech Stack: Hotels Find Hidden Benefits as They Seek to Streamline Revenue and Distribution Sponsored by Duetto The hotel industry is slowly making headway updating its "tech stack" software. While this type of technology has long been focused on helping properties boost revenue, today's solutions offer a range of cross-functional applications and benefits that can "connect the dots" between a wide variety of business goals. Read More Top Stories Skift's Top Travel Startups to Watch 2018 Better, faster, stronger. We pinpointed 20 venture-backed companies — mostly young — that promise breakaway potential. These startups prove that innovation is happening everywhere, from Atlanta to Ramallah to Queensland. Marriott CEO on Tech Giants: 'We Are in an Absolute War for Who Owns the Customer' Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson, along with his fellow hotel CEOs are right: It's not the "disruptors" like Airbnb that are the biggest threat, but the already established tech giants like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Alibaba, and others that are the real competition for the hotel industry. It's Not Just Airbnb — HomeAway Starts Adding Hotels Too While Airbnb has been brashly adding independent hotels, HomeAway has been quietly doing the same — although it has been using an entirely different business model given its ties to parent Expedia. Curation may have its place, but all of these companies realize that the more inventory and choice they give consumers, the more likely they are to spend on a stay. Television Host Anthony Bourdain Is Dead at 61 Anthony Bourdain's impact on travel and food really can't be measured. Emirates President Won't Rule Out More U.S.-Europe Nonstop Flights It's funny. Fifth Freedom flights — those are routes where an airline flies from a place other than its home country — account for roughly 1 percent of Emirates' capacity, according to the airline's president. And Emirates has only two such routes to the United States. But it's a hot topic among airline insiders, and it doesn't sound like that will change. Wyndham Hotels CEO on Life After Company Split: 'La Quinta Will Be Transformational' In the hospitality business, the big are getting bigger — and, we hope, getting smarter about how they communicate that to consumers, and how they keep their hotel owners and franchisees happy. This points transfer and status match between Wyndham and La Quinta is a good start. Editor's Picks What Accor's Interest in Air France-KLM Means for the Travel Industry AccorHotels, Airbnb, and everyone else in travel are clearly thinking about what it'll take to be the "super brand of travel" before other mega brands like Amazon and Google deepen their own investments in the travel space. The Highest Paid Travel CEOs in Europe in 2017 European travel CEOs are paid well by most standards — but not compared with their peers across the pond. Bermuda Court Overturns Same-Sex Marriage Ban in Win For Tourism Industry The Bermuda Triangle is legendary for making things mysteriously disappear. But one thing that wasn't lost in Bermuda this week was a legal understanding that a ban on same-sex marriage is bad for business and morally wrong in 2018. Thailand-Based Hotel and Restaurant Giant Minor to Take Over NH Hotels AccorHotels and the rest of the hotel industry have some competition in their respective quests to get bigger. Air France and KLM Will Stay Together Despite Recent Turmoil: KLM CEO KLM CEO Pieter Elbers is honest. He knows some of his employees question why KLM, which is thriving, needs its long-term marriage to Air France. But Elbers knows that in airlines, the biggest carrier usually wins. Plus, he knows there's no other way forward. For better or worse, Air France and KLM are probably together forever. 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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