Booking Sees Room Night Growth Slowing Through the Summer

Vacasa was managing 40,000 homes at the end of the second quarter, 4,000 fewer than a year earlier, as owners express displeasure with rates and revenue, as well as with owner-company communications.

Beyond Simone Biles going for gold and the opening ceremony, one of the most talked about aspects of the Summer Olympics in Paris is the athletes village — and one of the biggest hotel companies in the world is in charge of maintaining it all.

Like others in the travel industry, Expedia Group saw a “challenging” global economy and “softening” travel demand in July.

Landal GreenParks UK, the UK’s fastest growing company offering holiday breaks in nature, has seen a 24% YoY increase in summer bookings driven by longer staycations in the Southwest region.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, August 7, and now here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today. 

A year ago, in the second quarter of 2023, Airbnb could boast 18% revenue growth. Its gross booking value climbed 13%, and room nights and experiences jumped 11%.

In this episode of the Skift India Travel Podcast, Booking.com’s Country Manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia, Santosh Kumar, and Skift Asia Editor, Peden Doma Bhutia, dive into the latest trends, insights, and initiatives in the travel industry. They focus on inclusivity and the evolving behaviors of Indian travelers.

There has been a resurgence in the use of travel agents since the pandemic – and even before – especially for luxury trips.

Pantone is just like us, in the sense that they, too, are setting their intentions for the year — one filled with strength and energy. The Color of the Year for 2023 is Viva Magenta, which the company describes as powerful and empowering. “Viva Magenta is brave and fearless, and a pulsating color whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration… [It] revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint.” A year surrounded by joy and self-expression sounds like a year well spent to us.

Singapore’s Changi Airport – the world’s most awarded airport with 680 awards to its name – has today released new figures for the first half of 2024, showcasing sustained post-Covid recovery. Changi Airport registered 33 million passenger movements from January to June 2024, representing 99.4% recovery in passenger numbers compared to the same period in 2019, and exceeding 2023 figures at 120%.

Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel said he’s disappointed that the company’s U.S. short-term rental portfolio doesn’t “have near the number or the type of home accommodations in the U.S. to be fully competitive.”

Amid the cafes and boutiques of Athens’s Kolonaki neighborhood is a housewares shop that’s also a showcase for Greek craftsmanship. It’s the first brick-and-mortar location for Crini & Sophia, the brand that the former interior and set designer Maya Zafeiropoulou-Martinou founded in 2022. Its wood-and-rattan shelves, two-tone marble floors and furniture are all made by Greek artists, while one window is decorated with a vinelike steel and spray-paint piece by the Cypriot sculptor Socrates Socratous. The shop’s goods are designed by Zafeiropoulou-Martinou, whose inspirations include the colors in Francis Bacon paintings and the Amazon rainforest. Linens are produced in Portugal before being embroidered in Greece with patterns that often take cues from antiques on view at Athens’s Benaki Museum. Hand-painted ceramics and glassware are made in partnership with artisans in New York, Greece, Italy and France. When it comes to designing your own table, Zafeiropoulou-Martinou encourages layering. “The pattern isn’t just the plate or the tablecloth,” she says of her pieces, “but a puzzle of the two on top of each other.”