Good Sunday morning from Seattle... Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 19, 2024, is below. This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including news on the latest fines to be levied on...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 12, 2024, is below. Marriott and its launch of a new small and medium sized business travel platform garnered most of the...more
7/16/2024
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
Amazon ,
Booking.com ,
Business Travel ,
Carnival Cruise Lines ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
MasterCard ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Travelers ,
Wells Fargo
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending December 1, 2023, is below. This week’s Update features of variety of stories – resort fees, potential new EU traveler regulations and Ryanair’s continued pursuit of OTAs....more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including the latest news on the new cottage industry of resort fee litigation and Amazon’s growing (yet understated) significance in the travel industry. Enjoy....more
8/30/2023
/ Airlines ,
Amazon ,
American Airlines ,
Class Action ,
Fees ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Hyatt ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers
This week's Online Travel Update is below. As evidenced by the number of stories in this issue, it was a busy week in the online travel world, ending with what appeared to be a distributor dogpile on competitor Hopper. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update features two stories detailing fintech’s growing influence on online travel. Regular readers of our Update know that we’ve featured a number of fintech and payment related stories this past year, with...more
6/6/2022
/ Airlines ,
Amazon ,
FinTech ,
Hotels ,
MasterCard ,
Mobile Apps ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Popular ,
Tourism ,
Travelers ,
Wyndham
This week’s Update leads with an important Data Privacy Update from Eva Novick, the newest member of our firm’s privacy and data security team. If you currently operate a loyalty program (or plan to introduce one soon), I...more
2/21/2022
/ Airlines ,
Amazon ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Change ,
Cruise Ships ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Data Privacy ,
Expedia ,
Hotels ,
Online Platforms ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Priceline ,
Travelers
For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving this week, happy holidays. This week’s Update features a wide variety of stories, including PhocusWire’s annual list of the 25 hot travel startups. Enjoy....more
11/29/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Advertising ,
Amazon ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Expedia ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Popular ,
Sales & Distribution Agreements ,
Startups ,
Sustainability ,
Travelers ,
Wyndham
Last week was earnings week for many of the public online travel companies, and we’ve included stories summarizing those releases for several of the largest – Expedia Group, Airbnb, Booking Holdings and Sabre. We’ve also...more
11/15/2021
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
Amazon ,
Booking.com ,
Competition Act ,
Expedia ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
India ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Ryanair ,
Surcharges ,
Travelers
This week’s Update features stories on Google’s recently announced online third-party tracking changes, the (permanent) nature of virtual experiences, growth of “digital” kitchens and important updates on what group events...more
3/15/2021
/ AirBnB ,
Amazon ,
Booking.com ,
Cookies ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Partnerships ,
Private Equity ,
Rental Property ,
Subscription Services ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor
Unlike our short Update last week, this week’s edition is filled with several important stories....more
2/15/2021
/ Amazon ,
Booking.com ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Discount Pricing ,
Expedia ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor ,
Vacation Rentals
As evidenced by our list of stories below, it was a relatively quiet week for online travel....more
With this week’s Update, we welcome Amazon back to the distribution discussion with its recent introduction of Amazon Explore. Enjoy....more
10/12/2020
/ AirBnB ,
Amazon ,
Booking.com ,
Business Development ,
Business Opportunities ,
Capital Raising ,
Certifications ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Popular ,
Rate Parity Agreement ,
Travelers
With 2020 now upon us and 2019 in the rearview mirror, I thought this would be a good time to take a look back at the stories (and the themes that the stories represent) we covered in 2019 that I believe will have the largest...more
1/7/2020
/ AirBnB ,
Amazon ,
Booking.com ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Rental Property ,
Short-Term Lease ,
Travelers ,
Vacation Rentals ,
Wholesale
It should come as no surprise that stories detailing the unexpected resignations of Expedia’s top two senior executives are featured prominently in this week’s Update. Rather than just recirculating the usual industry...more
This week’s OTA & Travel Distribution Update features a number of stories on recent changes at Google with regard to the way in which it displays vacation rentals and the market’s response to those changes. Enjoy....more
This week’s travel-shortened OTA & Travel Distribution Update features two stories detailing two recently announced unique partnerships, one between Accor and Air-France-KLM and the other between Expedia and Lufthansa. We...more
7/16/2019
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
Amazon ,
Booking.com ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Fees ,
Google ,
Hotels ,
Lufthansa ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Partnerships ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Sales Commissions ,
Travelers
Hopper Focuses on Hotel Bookings -
("Hopper ramps up hotel booking with global private rates and price tracking," Phocus Wire on Jun 20, 2019)
Over the past few years, we have featured a number of stories about Hopper...more
The week’s stories remind us how quickly things continue to change in the distribution landscape. Enjoy....more
5/28/2019
/ Amazon ,
American Express ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Booking.com ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hotels ,
Keyword Search ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Safety Precautions ,
State Attorneys General ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor
This week’s Update includes a report on the EU Commission’s widespread examination of online platforms’ pricing practices and an update on the much-publicized standoff between United and Expedia. Enjoy....more
3/4/2019
/ Amazon ,
E-Commerce ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Joint Venture ,
Online Platforms ,
Partnerships ,
Price Transparency ,
Rental Property ,
Technology Sector ,
Travelers ,
United Airlines
Travel Agency Hit With TCPA Class Action Over Cuba Texts -
Law 360 - Cybersecurity & Privacy on Aug 10, 2018 (subscription required)
An online travel agency that arranges trips to Cuba got slapped with a proposed class...more
8/20/2018
/ Amazon ,
ATDS ,
Class Action ,
Expedia ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Rental Property ,
Smart Devices ,
TCPA ,
Telemarketing ,
Text Messages ,
Travelers
Our weekly OTA & Travel Distribution Update for the week ending June 22, 2018 is below. This week’s Update features not one, but two stories (offering perspectives from both the hospitality and technology industries) on...more
This week’s OTA & Travel Distribution Update is below and is full of interesting stories. Enjoy....more
3/16/2018
/ Amazon ,
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ,
Competition Authorities ,
Costco ,
Denmark ,
Google ,
Hotels ,
Investigations ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Pricing ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Travelers ,
Trivago
Our weekly OTA & Travel Distribution Update for the week ending December 1, 2017 is below. This week’s Update features a variety of distribution stories as well as a report on the latest rankings of the large hotel loyalty...more
12/11/2017
/ Amazon ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hotels ,
Hyatt ,
Microsoft ,
Online Distribution ,
Online Platforms ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Ryanair ,
Smart Devices ,
Travelers ,
Web Scraping
This week’s OTA & Travel Distribution Update for the week ending September 22, 2017 is below. This week’s Update features a wide variety of stories on distribution, short-term rentals and loyalty programs....more
10/3/2017
/ Accounting Standards ,
AirBnB ,
Amazon ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Delta Airlines ,
Expedia ,
Hilton ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Distribution ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Short-Term Lease ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks ,
Travelers