Hackers Target Booking.com Partners to Steal From Customers

Alaska Airlines has been in the news lately for the carrier's proposed merger with Hawaiian Airlines, a move that Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci said will "expand options for West Coast and Hawai'i travelers."

Pickpocketing is rife on the London Underground, new statistics have revealed.

Airbnb’s departing Global Head of Hosting Catherine Powell will receive her current base salary and her outstanding equity awards will continue to vest as she stays on in an advisory role through June 30, 2024.

Booking Holdings Chief Financial Officer David Goulden said this week that the flagship Booking.com brand launched its short-term rental business as a supplement to hotels “15-plus years” ago, which is roughly around the time Airbnb got going in San Francisco.

Amazon Web Services had a weeklong conference last week, where it shared a slew of updates to services that travel companies are using to build tools powered by generative AI.

While recently planning a trip to Aspen, which is going through its biggest winter expansion in half a century (read more here), I was chatting with a local tourism representative and told her I was going to look into flights. Her response? “You want to fly United.” When I checked, United was indeed the easiest and most affordable way for me to fly to Aspen.

It’s not without its tensions, but Google and Booking Holdings have long had a mutually beneficial relationship: Google gets billions of dollars from Booking’s ads, and Booking benefits from all of the customers Google sends along.

Skift Analysis: Vacasa‘s debut into the public market in December 2021 had a significant impact on the short-term rental industry. Being one of the largest branded property managers in the U.S., Vacasa plays a crucial role in various aspects of the short-term rental sector and serves as an important indicator for the industry’s overall performance.

Airbnb recently reminded hosts that it plans to shutter its email alias feature September 30. The feature enables hosts and guests to email and share documents, such as PDFs of property guides, passports and other IDs from their regular emails accounts without having to log into Airbnb.

Hungary’s short-term rental hosts who offer their properties on Amsterdam-based Booking.com haven’t been paid for several months, leaving some having to decide whether they’ll need to shutter their businesses, according to published reports.

Happy hump day, folks! I hope your week is going easy. We have a long one today. Let’s get into it. 

Hope you’re having a good week so far. Hello from across the pond — I’m in London bringing you a European edition today. I was here to moderate a panel discussion at the Short Term Rentalz Summit yesterday and it was delightful.