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
American Airlines’ decision to soften its approach on distribution with travel agents and advisors garnered most of the industry’s attention this week. Otherwise, the holiday week for many was relatively quiet. Enjoy....more
Booking.com’s “gatekeeper” designation under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and artificial intelligence’s increasing influence on online travel garnered much of the attention this past week. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update again features a wide variety of stories, including an important update on the much beleaguered spokesman for metasearch site, Trivago. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update features multiple stories and perspectives on AmexGBT’s newly announced acquisition of CWT and Booking.com’s decision to drop its own sustainability ratings. I hope you enjoy....more
This week’s Update features a variety of topics including the latest on Indonesia’s efforts to regulate OTAs, Spotnana’s new “event” travel booking tool and new record marketing spending by the largest OTAs (no surprise)....more
Booking Holdings’ recent earnings release garnered much of the industry’s attention this past week for a variety of reasons, including legal. It will be interesting to watch how important changes to the legal landscape affect...more
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 one of several stories published this past week regarding the escalating fight between renegade airline Ryanair and several of the large online travel platforms. We’ve also included a few stories...more
This past week was dominated by stories regarding AI’s application and use in the travel industry (we’ve included only one of those stories) and recent activity on resort fees (two stories this week). Some highlights...more
It is earnings season, which makes for a longer Update than usual: - Expedia Enjoys Strong Third Quarter Results. While I am still working my way through the recent Expedia Group earnings call transcript, news of the...more
From the number of announcements this past week by travel industry members detailing their new online small and medium business initiatives, someone must have deemed last week “small and medium business week.” We’ve included...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including the latest on Hopper and its apparent ongoing transition. Enjoy....more
The EU Commission’s official decision to block Booking Holdings’ planned purchase of eTraveli (a decision that Booking has publicly criticized and committed to challenging) garnered much of the news this past week, as well as...more
This week’s Update features two stories on Booking Holdings’ pending acquisition of eTraveli, which remains under EU review. Enjoy....more
It was another relatively quiet week in the industry other than news late this past week that the Texas AG had filed suit against Booking Holdings over its platforms’ deceptive display of resort fees. Some highlights from the...more
After several slow weeks in the industry, this past week featured a number of important updates, including earnings releases and calls from Booking Holdings and Expedia Group. Transcripts from the two companies’ earnings...more
This week’s “vacation edition” Update features only two stories, the subjects of which have been featured in prior Updates. We will be back with our regular Updates next week!...more
This week’s Update features a wide variety of stories, including two on the growing influence of fintech products and their suppliers...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including an update on the major online booking platforms’ latest quarterly marketing efforts. Highlights include...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including updates on Ryanair’s attempts to stop platforms’ scraping of fares and other content from its website. We will continue to keep monitor Ryanair’s claims against...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including updates on CWT and Booking.com. Enjoy....more
It was another slow week in the online travel industry. Following up on our observations from a few weeks ago, we feature a story on banks’ now undeniable interest in travel. We also include a story on payments. This story is...more
With the Fourth of July holiday falling on Monday, last week was a relatively slow week in the online travel industry. Enjoy....more
After a few quiet weeks, last week produced a number of stories that caught our attention and made it into our weekly Update, including two interesting stories on customer reviews. Enjoy....more