Weekend Review: Can Southwest Keep Doing It? + Ugly Board Fight Hampered Tripping

The Travel Industry's Daily Agenda-Setting Newsletter

September 8, 2018

Editor's Note It's a theme we return to from time to time because it is relevant to so many businesses — how do you keep the innovation mojo going. In a chapter about Southwest Airlines from Skift's sixth anniversary book, For the Long Haul, Lessons in Business Longevity, we trace the origins of the airline's disruption and the challenges of trying to stay on top of its game. Southwest is no longer the low-fare airline in many of its markets, and it's had to offer new services that many other airlines do, as well. The dilemma is the kind of problem that keeps CEOs in any line of business tossing and texting all through the night. Read the story well before bedtime please. — Dennis Schaal, Executive Editor Skift Global Forum Announces Refill Not Landfill Partnership We've partnered with Refill Not Landfill to provide Skift Global Forum attendees with reusable water bottles to use throughout the conference and beyond. Haven't signed up yet? Only 33 seats remain! Register Now Top Stories Why Do National Airlines Still Exist? Many politicians fear their nations will be irrelevant if they abandon their money-losing flag airlines. That's probably a stretch. In most places, the market likely would fill the gap — provided the government got out of the way. But national pride is powerful, and few people want to see storied brands disappear. Tripping Sheds Most Staff After 'Ugly' Conflict Between Founders and Board Vacation rental metasearch isn't necessarily ahead of its time, although it certainly isn't easy given the complexity of the inventory and the required backend technology. Still, any company needs to execute to make a go of it, and that appears to have been a quality in short supply at Tripping. Google Is Rigged. Just Not the Way Trump Thinks It Is. Google clearly places its own travel businesses front and center in its search results to the detriment of competitors. Google argues that this benefits consumers. If you buy that argument, then you also probably believe that Google always knows best. Original Disruptor Southwest Airlines Survives on Ruthless Business Savvy Southwest has survived by being different. That gets harder, but the lessons of its past success may help define its legacy. The Texas-based airline is one of the subjects in Skift's recent sixth anniversary book, For the Long Haul, Lessons on Business Longevity, whose chapters we are excerpting for you here. U.S. Travel Shifts Focus to Domestic Tourism Amid Prolonged International Slowdown Any membership-based organization that wants to survive has to take membership feedback to heart. U.S. Travel is doing that in its move to double down on domestic travel promotion. With domestic tourism more than 60 percent of the U.S. travel industry, we wonder why this took so long. Skift Explores the Post-Experience Economy at ITB Asia Skift is defining a new term, the Post-Experience Economy. Skift CEO Rafat Ali joins seven innovators on stage at ITB Asia to discuss innovations that are defining the future of how people experience travel. Use code TV-Skift50 to receive 50% off your ticket! Skift Table We can't help but join in here to pitch the final lineup for the Skift Restaurants Forum. You can read about the speakers below, as well as dive into coverage of the industry over the last week. Either way, we hope your register to join us at the marquee event in a little more than two weeks. Thanks. Meet All the Speakers of Skift Restaurants Forum 2018 We're beyond thrilled to have these amazing participants, as well as attendees like you. Register now. Skift Restaurants Forum Preview: OpenTable CEO on Evolving With the Times For the past couple years, most talk about OpenTable has centered on its threat from competitors. But perhaps a healthy dose of competition is helping to drive change at the company that's still the leading provider of restaurant reservations in the country. Quality Kid-Friendly Restaurants Aren't Bad Business After All To raise a new generation of restaurant-loving customers, entertainingly educational initiatives might be more effective than the banishment of younger patrons. Skift Restaurants Forum Preview: How The Smith Measures Employee Happiness What does a successful restaurant team look like? How is it built? What are its values? These are the questions that restaurateurs are grappling with now more than ever. The ones who devote significant time and effort to seeking answers are the ones who will succeed in an constantly-changing industry. Editor's Picks A Rise in Peak Occupancy Nights This Year Is Helping Hotels More high-demand nights means more business, but can the trend continue? Getaroom Sold to Private Equity Firm Court Square Capital Partners Did Hotels.com co-founders Bob Diener and Dave Litman do it again with Getaroom? Certainly not on the same scale, but Court Square's acquisition of Getaroom looks like a winner for the duo, who self-funded their latest venture in travel. TripAdvisor Hints at Its Growing Interest in Vacation Package Search TripAdvisor offers a tiny number of flight-and-hotel deals bundled together. There are signs it wants to display more travel packages. But the product won't be the next big thing for the company. Airbnb for Work Brings Meeting Spaces and Experiences to Business Travelers Airbnb is going to integrate Airbnb Experiences and curated lists of meeting-appropriate homes into its booking tool. Initial feedback has been strong, so it's probably only a matter of time until Airbnb builds partnerships in other areas. Why Airlines Should Be More Creative as They Weigh Fee Increases Airlines need to increase revenue. We get that. But can't they be smarter about how they assess fees? 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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