Booking Holdings: Record Nights Booked and Middle East Impact

In anticipation of Skift Global Forum East, happening in Dubai December 12-14, I wanted to sit down with both our Middle East Report, Josh Corder, and Twenty31 Consulting (now Skift Advisory) Managing Director, Joe Naaman, to discuss a big picture view on growth and dynamics in the Middle East.

New Hotels in the Cayman Islands for 2024 Scheduled to open in Q2 2024 is Hotel Indigo Grand Cayman. The 282-room 10-storey beachfront property will provide an upper midscale experience featuring multiple restaurants, a 6,700 square foot ballroom, a pool deck and a rooftop bar. Indigo’s restaurants and bars around the world are known as a favourite destination for visitors and locals alike. With sustainability in mind, the hotel is being built to LEED standards, which ensures high-performance buildings that have less of an impact on the environment. Hotel Indigo will use a geothermal/ice storage combination and will feature insulated glazing throughout to reduce energy consumption. The latest in Cayman real estate developer, Dart’s, hospitality portfolio, Hotel Indigo is expected to generate several hundred jobs when it opens. In 2022, Dart launched its Hospitality Training Programme, which provides Caymanians with the opportunity to obtain first-hand industry experience via a three-month work experience within the Dart hospitality portfolio.

Revisiting Panem, the dystopian country in which The Hunger Games novels and movies are set, in prequel film The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes offered director Francis Lawrence an opportunity to present the world through a new lens. Set 64 years before those earlier works, the new film (based on a 2020 novel of the same name) showcases the familiar country just 10 years post-war—the thriving political Capitol, 12 outlying districts. As part of reconstruction, the Capitol has introduced the series' titular competition.

A growing number of wedding guests are bringing a new kind of plus-one to the festivities: their remote jobs.

Dubai is one of the Middle East’s most cosmopolitan hubs, so naturally, you’ll find the best of the region’s cuisine on the menu. The variety of Middle Eastern food on offer here is as eclectic as the food-loving city itself, from Michelin-starred fine dining to no-frills, hole-in-the-walls. Whether you want freshly baked gooey cheese fatayer or a hearty plate of steaming machboos (a spiced chicken and rice dish), these are the best Middle Eastern restaurants in Dubai.

One British childhood winter experience remains the same, despite all the changes of the past century. It’s the one where you gaze out of the window, mesmerised by the falling snow, and start fantasising about building an igloo or a snow cave, then sleeping in it overnight. A few fortunate kids get to follow that up, but for most the fantasy is quickly quashed. The blizzard stops, the snow melts, you lob some slush at your mates then go inside to watch Ski Sunday.

Booking Holdings, whose $1.8 billion deal to acquire Sweden’s eTraveli Group was blocked by European Commission earlier this year, paid out $90 million in termination fee this October, according to a nugget in its latest quarterly statement.

Dubai will stage its high-profile aerospace pageant next week against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that is pushing up demand for weapons while closing airspace and making flights longer and more expensive for some airlines.

Amadeus is nearly recovered in terms of revenue compared to pre-pandemic levels. Executives shared those details during an earnings call on Tuesday, as well as information about the impact of conflicts in the Middle East and technical innovations the company is developing. 

Research released today confirms that the strong performance from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates is behind the Middle East tourism industry’s full recovery from the pandemic.

Want to watch the sixth and final season of The Crown at an estate that has the royal stamp of approval from the British monarchy? Whether you’re looking to vacation like King Charles III or unwind like Queen Elizabeth II, here are a handful of stunning royalty-approved UK properties that any commoner can book.

Norwegian Cruise Line executives are optimistic about demand returning to the Middle East region in 2024 after cutting some trips in response to the Israel-Hamas war.