This week’s Update features a variety of stories – STRs, algorithm leaks and Hilton campgrounds (sort of): - Las Vegas Price-Fixing Case Is Appealed. A few weeks ago we reported on a Nevada federal district court’s...more
We’ve found fall to be the busiest of all seasons in the online travel world as everyone returns to work from summer breaks and the dates of the major online travel conferences are fast approaching. As you can see from the...more
New York City recently adopted Local Law 18, also known as the “Short-Term Rental Registration Law,” which requires owners and/or renters (hosts) who want to rent out their residential units for less than 30 days to register...more
Good Sunday afternoon from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending November 11, 2022, is below. Booking Holdings features prominently in this week’s Update as its planned acquisition of Etraveli...more
Last week’s Update features stories on two less frequently used social media platforms – Instagram and Snapchat – and details the brewing battle among banking companies for travel industry legitimacy. I hope you enjoy....more
This week’s Update features stories detailing recent fourth quarter earnings releases by TripAdvisor, Airbnb, Marriott and Sabre. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update features details on two recently filed lawsuits — one by American Airlines against Sabre and the other against Southwest Airlines by airfare discounter, Skiplagged. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update contains a variety of stories, including details of a recent court win for German hoteliers and the recent musings of the always entertaining, Barry Diller. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update features a number of stories on the growing short-term rental industry, including Sonder’s recently announced plan to go public. Enjoy....more
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
This week’s Update takes a close look at Booking Holdings’ recent fourth quarter and year-end earnings release. Enjoy....more
Beginning with this edition, we’ve rebranded the name of our weekly Update from “OTA & Travel Distribution Update” to “Online Travel Update.” Why, you ask, did we change the name that has served us so well these past five...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including the first of many upcoming profiles of PhocusWire's 2021 Hot Travel Startups focused on distribution and online travel. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including the big three industry players, Trip.com, Expedia and Booking.com; the always insightful update on the current status of airline distribution; and details on...more
Pandemic, protests and riots and now wildfires. To say 2020 has been a challenging year is an understatement. As I anticipated, with summer now officially behind us, things have again picked up in the distribution world....more
Parity Commitments Extended by Expedia and Booking.com - (“Expedia, Booking.com voluntarily extend 'price parity' antitrust commitments, Aug 14, 2020 via MLEX Insight) While the European Commission continues its...more
Below is an abbreviated version of this week’s OTA &Travel Distribution Update. Enjoy....more
Several themes emerged in this week’s stories, including the bullish return of short-term rentals and the continued direct booking efforts by airlines and the metasearch sites seeking to serve them. Enjoy....more
Perhaps it was Canada Day or the Fourth of July holiday weekend, but last week was relatively quiet in the distribution world. Enjoy....more
We cover the gamut of distribution topics in this week’s Update – OTAs, GDS, search, short-term rentals and wholesalers. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update again features more stories than usual. With so many in the lodging industry using the current downturn as an opportunity to question “business as usual,” we want to be as inclusive as possible. Enjoy....more
This past week, we saw a number of stories (including the one listed below) describing Booking.com’s potentially precarious financial position, which reveals just how broad of an impact this pandemic is having on the travel...more
While this week’s Update does not include stories about Coronavirus and its potentially disastrous effects on the lodging and travel industries, I’m sure it will only be a matter of time. We are already hearing stories of...more
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
Japanese distributor Rakuten leads off this week’s Update with a story detailing the circumstances leading to the distributor’s recent commitment to abandon all contractual parity requirements. Enjoy....more