Glenn Fogel travel tips

Good morning, readers. I was off the clock when this broke Monday night, but among the latest short-term rental alliances to sue a big city is one in Dallas. 

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, May 3. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Booking Holdings has been engaged in building a “connected trip” — where travelers might book a flight accommodation and attraction on Booking.com — over the past few years.

Global tourism is facing extensive tasks and challenges. Whether it’s a shortage of skilled workers, climate justice or the impact of artificial intelligence – at the ITB Berlin Convention 2024, 400 top speakers from international companies such as Booking, Google, Microsoft and Airbnb will discuss new strategies for a travel industry in transition in more than 200 sessions.

Global tourism is facing extensive tasks and challenges. Whether it’s a shortage of skilled workers, climate justice or the impact of artificial intelligence - at the ITB Berlin Convention 2024, 400 top speakers from international companies such as Booking, Google, Microsoft and Airbnb will discuss new strategies for a travel industry in transition in more than 200 sessions. Countdown to the world’s leading industry think tank: In the first week of March, the Berlin exhibition grounds will once again become the most important meeting place for the travel industry. From March 5 to 7, the ITB Berlin Convention 2024 will bring together numerous international experts under the motto „Pioneer the Transition in Travel & Tourism. Together“ on four live stages as part of 17 themed tracks during ITB Berlin, providing an exciting exchange of ideas. The challenges of advancing digitalization and the increasing application possibilities of artificial intelligence are just two of the many topics that can be expected to generate intensive debates at the convention. Convention participation is included in the trade visitor, exhibitor and press ticket for ITB Berlin.

Online travel agency Booking Holdings revealed lower expectations for the first quarter and full year of 2024 as travel demand in the United States begins to normalize following a post-pandemic surge.

Spanish regulators levied a $530 million fine against Booking.com in the fourth quarter in a draft decision, Booking Holdings announced Thursday.

Reverse stock splits are almost never a good sign and companies have a tough time recovering. They do it when their shares are in the basement and they’re at risk of a delisting.

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.

The problem surfaced in late Summer — Booking.com’s short-term rental hosts in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America cited financial hardships because the company wasn’t paying them for guest stays.

Booking Holdings reported a record number of room nights booked in the third quarter and strong gains in its flights business. It expects growth to continue but noted a caveat: Business has slowed down in the Middle East because of the Israel-Hamas war and the company’s current forecast assumes no further expansion of the conflict.

Booking.com says its problem getting payments to European and Asian hotel partners is mostly fixed and that it is even making manual payments in some cases.

Booking Holdings has viewed its planned $1.7 billion acquisition of Swedish-based company eTraveli Group as a coup in its attempts to boost its flight business. However, the European Commission has blocked the deal, arguing that the deal would increase Booking.com’s hotel market share in Europe.

Glenn Fogel, Booking Holdings CEO confirmed Wednesday that Booking.com has extended its contract with eTraveli and would continue to build its fledgling flight business as it is set to appeal the European Commission’s objection to the acquisition.

Booking Holdings’ proposed 1.63 billion euro ($1.7 billion) purchase of Swedish peer ETraveli Group was blocked by EU antitrust authorities on Monday after the company failed to allay concerns about its dominance in online hotel reservations.

Next week will be our 10th annual Skift Global Forum, happening September 26-28, 2023 in New York City. After several years of recovery, it’s clear this year is finally a moment when the industry can finally look ahead to the long-term, while also adapting to a rapidly changing digital future that will be more autonomous and more connected than ever before in history. 

Artificial intelligence has been a major discussion in travel over the last year, and that’s why the theme of the Skift Global Forum is Connection in the Age of AI.

The European Commission is set to block Booking Holdings’ $1.8 billion deal to acquire Sweden’s eTraveli Group, a critically important transaction that’s been in limbo for nearly two years.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, November 9. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, January 17. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Whether it is out of ego or for personal financial incentives, companies sometimes do mergers and acquisitions for the wrong reasons, and many academic studies show that takeover deals generally turn out to be “losers.”