Lufthansa Vs. Sabre + Viral Airline News Tool + Europe's Outbound Travel Slows

The Travel Industry's Daily Agenda-Setting Newsletter

December 10, 2018

Editor's Note W​hen it comes to stories that go viral, none seem to have quite the velocity of those focusing on bad things happening to an airline, whether it's a crash, a plane stuck on the tarmac for hours, or a soused passenger dropping F-bombs at the flight attendants. ​This instantaneous, real-time news is just a reality for airline PR executives and for their counterparts in the press. Behind much of this hyper news cycle is a company called Dataminr that Senior Aviation Business Editor Brian Sumers profiles today. Dataminr uses artificial intelligence to monitor and scrape social media to set an agenda that is sometimes news, and oftentimes not. Reporters and PR executives are adversarial by nature, but we are sure they can both agree on one thing: their mutual love-hate relationship with Dataminr. — Tom Lowry, Managing Editor How Airbnb Is Building a Vacation Rental Platform for the Future Sponsored by Airbnb Once a cottage industry operated by entrepreneurial property owners, today's billion dollar vacation rental market is undergoing massive growth, driven by digital platforms that are evolving in tandem with their users' needs. Read More Top Stories Registration Open for Skift Megatrends 2019 Launch Events Our annual Megatrends magazine is released each January through a series of intimate and highly engaging events. This year we're visiting multiple locations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. RSVP today to claim your spot! How Artificial Intelligence Determines Which Airline Stories Go Viral As a Dataminr executive told us, "There is no such thing as a secret now." If it happens on an airplane and someone puts it on social media, it is bound to become news. That's just how it goes now, for better or worse. HotelQuickly Disaster Raises Questions on How Travel Search Giants Vet Advertisers It's simply a matter of odds that companies will face cash crunches, as HotelQuickly appears to have done. But global travel search companies need to detect problems sooner so that they can quickly put a pause on referring consumers to troubled companies before too many victims pile up. Lufthansa Ratchets Up Pressure on Sabre Over Distribution This year Lufthansa made a series of small moves that, when looked at together, reveal a doubling down on its multi-front strategy to pressure Amadeus, Travelport, and especially Sabre to conform more to its preferred airline distribution practices. Connect the dots, and it looks like a low-grade war. Amtrak Sleeper Car Attendant Brings Old-Fashioned Hospitality to the Rails Business travelers and commuters may be Amtrak's bread and butter, but many leisure travelers have decades of warm feelings for its sleeper cars, and the old-fashioned hospitality they afford. Uber CEO Hopes IPO Will Solve Its Saudi Arabia Investor Problem Uber needs to shed its Saudi Arabia investment as long as Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman remains in power, and the country bombs innocents in Yemen. Uber's leaders know they have to do this, but how they dump their Saudi investment and the extent of the divorce remain to be seen. Returning to Supersonic: One Company's Plan to Go Back to the Future Competition is heating up for supersonic travel and Aerion has established an interesting team to speed up high-end business travel. If it works, the glamour of high-speed crossings will finally return, and the world will open up a bit more. Europeans Traveled Abroad More in 2018 But the Pace Slowed Europeans did more outbound international travel this year than last year. The pace of growth was not as torrid as in the past, however. Experts forecast a similar modest growth rate for 2019. WebBeds and 3 Asian Wholesalers Form First Bedbank Coalition to Share Supply Hotel chains and airlines have formed alliances, why not bedbanks? The first bedbank alliance by four Asian players may be the first of its kind, but what's more important is whether it can work. After all, if it looks so logical and easy, why didn't anyone do it sooner? Popular Now Expedia CEO: Google Is Our Biggest Competitor It's rare to have an Expedia CEO speak so candidly about Google's threat to his own company. After all, Google knows how to punish companies when it wants to. Given Barry Diller's recent statements, and Okerstrom's view, there must be a lot of concern in Expedialand behind the scenes. Peloton Vs. SoulCycle: The Battle Heats Up There's no denying SoulCycle has a huge competitor on its heels. Whether Peloton has surged past the studio-class brand is still unclear. Regardless, SoulCycle needs to find a way to regroup — and fast — if it wants to remain the leader in the stationary cycling space. Travelport Close to Being Taken Private by Activist Investor Travelport has only been on the public market for four years, but hedge fund Elliott Management believes it can engineer a leveraged buyout that will unlock more value from the company. A spin-off of payments unit eNett is a likely early goal. 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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