Good Sunday morning and Happy New Year!! We are again providing a roundup of a few of the stories that we feel made the biggest impact in the online travel industry over this past year (and continuing into this year). ...more
1/7/2025
/ Accessibility Rules ,
Algorithms ,
American Airlines ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Booking.com ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fees ,
Final Rules ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Layoffs ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Price-Fixing ,
Travelers
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
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including interviews with two of the online travel industries major influencers, Ariane Goren of Expedia and Drew Pinto of Marriott. I hope you enjoy....more
This week’s Update features a wide variety of topics – Hopper, Capital One vacation rentals, Expedia layoffs and Hilton campgrounds....more
3/6/2024
/ Airlines ,
Capital One ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Hilton ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers ,
Vacation Rentals
The big news last week of course was Peter Kern’s announcement that he is stepping down as Expedia Group CEO in May. Peter’s announcement came as part of an otherwise robust quarterly earnings release for Expedia. What...more
This week’s Update features updates on several recently featured stories, including Booking.com’s ongoing payment and fraud challenges and new legislative efforts to limit junk fees....more
11/2/2023
/ Airlines ,
Booking.com ,
Citibank ,
Fees ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Partnerships ,
Ryanair ,
Travelers ,
Vacation Rentals
This week’s Online Travel Update is below. With summer now in full swing, it is no surprise that last week was another relatively quiet week in the online travel world. Speculation continues around the Expedia / Hopper...more
For the first time, our weekly Update delves into the world of artificial intelligence (AI). We’ve tried for several months now to avoid joining the chorus of voices proselytizing about the likely effects of AI, but as the...more
6/6/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Expedia ,
Fees ,
FinTech ,
Hilton ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Hyatt ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Priceline ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers
As evidenced by our list of stories, it was a relatively quiet week in online travel. The Texas Attorney General’s Office and its pursuit of hotel companies over their resort fee practices garnered most of the industry’s...more
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 5, 2023, is below. We hope you enjoy...more
5/9/2023
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
American Airlines ,
EU ,
Fees ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending February 17, 2023, is below. This week’s Update features a number of stories coming out of last week’s quarterly earnings releases by several of the largest online travel...more
2/23/2023
/ Airlines ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Fees ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Mobile Apps ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending January 20, 2023, is below. A new online cruise booking platform garnered most of the attention this past week, together with announcements regarding the continuing...more
With the Fourth of July holiday falling on Monday, last week was a relatively slow week in the online travel industry. Enjoy....more
Like prior weeks’ Updates, this week’s Update features stories on the growing phenomenon of fintech and its effect on the travel industry. Enjoy....more
Last week’s Update continues the theme of providing updates on a few lesser known distribution platforms – this week we feature Latin American distributor, Despegar, and Central and Eastern European distributor, the Szallas...more
This week’s Update features stories detailing recent fourth quarter earnings releases by TripAdvisor, Airbnb, Marriott and Sabre. Enjoy....more
2/28/2022
/ AirBnB ,
Booking.com ,
Call Centers ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Mergers ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Rental Property ,
Strategic Partnerships ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor
Our cruise industry friends make an appearance in this week’s Update, one of their first appearances in some time. Enjoy....more
11/9/2021
/ Advertising ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Cruise Ships ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Fair Trade Commissions ,
Hotels ,
Huawei ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
South Korea ,
Travelers ,
Trivago
This week’s Update features yet another story about Hopper as well as an important update on the future of keyword restrictions. Enjoy....more
11/1/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Hotels ,
Keyword Advertising ,
Keyword Search ,
Marriott ,
Mergers ,
Online Reviews ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Travelers ,
Virus Testing
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including stories regarding Expedia’s planned roll up of its loyalty programs and Marriott’s recently announced loyalty program partnership with Japanese e-commerce platform,...more
10/18/2021
/ Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
E-Commerce ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hotels ,
Marketing ,
Marriott ,
Mobile Apps ,
Online Advertisements ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Partnerships ,
Personal Data ,
Refunds ,
Rental Property ,
Subscription Services ,
Travelers
This week’s Update features a number of stories highlighting last week’s Skift Online Travel and Distribution Summit, as well as Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson’s incredible impact on Marriott and its view on online travel. Enjoy....more
3/1/2021
/ Airlines ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Google ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Refunds ,
Rental Property ,
Short-Term Lease ,
Subscription Services ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
United Airlines ,
Vacation Rentals
This week’s Update features a heavy dose of short-term rentals as the long-awaited Airbnb IPO finally arrives and many hoteliers seek to capitalize on growing (COVID-induced) traveler demand in this segment. Enjoy....more
12/15/2020
/ AirBnB ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Hotels ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
International Tax Issues ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rental Property ,
Short-Term Lease ,
Startups ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Litigation ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor ,
Vacation Rentals
This week’s Update features a number of stories on short-term rentals, which is a trend that we will likely see continue as interest continues to grow over Airbnb’s long-awaited IPO. Enjoy....more
9/28/2020
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Expedia ,
Hotels ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Rental Property ,
Short-Term Lease ,
Travelers ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE) ,
Vacation Rentals
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
This week’s OTA Update leads off with stories about two of the largest OTAs seeking to diversify their offerings through the addition of flights. As each of these travel platforms continues to evolve and seek to add more...more
10/28/2019
/ AirBnB ,
Booking.com ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Comment ,
Rental Property ,
Tourism ,
Vacation Rentals
...As for the Update, it was a relatively quiet week on the distribution front as opinions and viewpoints regarding the recently announced Expedia/Marriott agreement continue to roll in. What this agreement might ultimately...more
10/15/2019
/ Airlines ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Digital Currency ,
E-Commerce ,
Expedia ,
Fees ,
Hotels ,
Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Pricing ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Rate Parity Agreement ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Singapore ,
Startups ,
Travelers ,
Unfair Competition