Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Returns to Skift Global Forum for Fourth Consecutive Year

Melissa Dewalt caught the travel bug a decade ago when she drove from her home state of Pennsylvania across the country to California to visit her then-boyfriend. She then road-tripped north to Seattle.

Ski season is just around the corner, and the Ikon Pass is making it even easier to ski across the country by adding a new California mountain to the mix.

Still deciding on whether to attend the top global travel industry event of the year, Skift Global Forum, on September 17-19 but want to know what all will be discussed? We used AskSkift to ask “what are the top 5 key themes often covered at Skift Global Forum over the last 10 years?” Here are the results:

A few years ago, when flight prices were awfully expensive, I saw an Amtrak ticket from California to Washington, DC, for just $250 and snapped it up.

Back in March, Southwest Airlines announced it would be launching it first red-eye, i.e. overnight, flights; however flight schedules are revealing more details about new flight options for passengers.  The first overnight flights will depart on February 13, 2025, and arrive on February 14, 2025. These inaugural journeys depart from Las Vegas to both Baltimore and Orlando. The airline will also operate flights from Los Angeles to Baltimore and Nashville, as well as Phoenix to Baltimore. 

Skift Global Forum kicks off on September 17th with an opening reception at The Glasshouse (660 12th Ave at 48th Street) in New York City, running from 6-9 pm ET. This special evening will include insightful fireside chats with top executives from the travel industry, followed by an exciting reception.

Clarksville, a historic district of Austin, Texas, has lately emerged as a stylish dining and shopping enclave. Among the area’s most compelling new businesses is La Embajada, a design shop housed in a 1923 Craftsman bungalow. Combining the hospitality and interiors expertise of its founder, Raul Cabra — who has designed tableware for some of Mexico City’s most celebrated restaurants, including Rosetta and Pujol — La Embajada presents a refined, regionally diverse selection of Mexico’s artisanal offerings. A series of small rooms display vintage and contemporary furniture, from stately midcentury armchairs and 1970s glass sconces to a minimalist agave fiber rug by the Oaxaca-based textile artist Trine Ellitsgaard. The house is also an actual residence. Cabra often stays in the bedroom up the creaky stairs, and he’s recently made it available for short-term stays (bookings include a daily basket of baked goods from Austin’s Swedish Hill). Guests can purchase the room’s handmade décor, such as a pair of sleek bedside lamps in milky white onyx, a 1960s La Malinche dresser and a bedspread from a Michoacan manufacturer that once supplied Herman Miller. Downstairs, glassware, candles and gifts fill a section modeled after a typical general store in a small Mexican town. But La Embajada’s heart is its inviting kitchen, where visiting chefs cook elaborate meals and staff prepare ice cream and coffee. In another twist, every bespoke detail — including a hammered copper sink, caramel-colored tiles and waxed pine cabinets — can be custom-ordered for one’s own home.

Vrbo has a new ad featuring legendary Alabama University football coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban as a nightmare vacation rental host. He soaks in a hot tub with with a clearly unsettled couple seeking privacy, tells them they can shower for five minutes maximum, and warns there’s “no fun” allowed.

As the summer travel season comes to a close, travelers have a new way to save on fall getaways. JetBlue recently announced the «Game On» fare sale, which offers flights as low as $49. The promotion is a nod to the fall football season, however the fares can provide an affordable options for early fall vacations, or last-minute trips.  As an example, JetBlue shows a fare of $49 one-way from New York's JFK airport to Nashville, Tenn. for travel in both September and October.

As Skift Global Forum East approaches, we are excited to announce the two venues that will play host to this year’s gathering of travel executives, provided by our Official Venue Partner, Address Hotels and Resorts.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Scarlett Kiaras-Attari, a marketing executive and education content creator who moved to the UK for her studies. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I have long been a wine and spirits writer and frequent wineries, breweries, and distilleries when I travel. While on various trips with our now 5-year-old daughter, we have visited many different craft breweries , and she's even been to a distillery or two.