Skift CEO Shares Update on Short-Term Rental Summit

South Africa’s ministry of tourism and Airbnb have announced a partnership to regulate the country’s short-term rental industry.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, September 6. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Soho House is a brand with bona fide British celebrity and royal bragging rights: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had their first date at one in London. Soho Farmhouse, the brand's countryside inn a two-hour drive outside London, has hosted everyone from former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron to Princess Eugenie and (my personal favorite) top-selling U.K. band Girls Aloud.

If you search for short-term rentals on Booking.com, Vrbo and, to a lesser extent, on Airbnb in New York City for stays after Tuesday’s deadline mandating that hosts be registered, you’ll still find numerous listings that seemingly flout the rules.

Google is making it easier for travelers to score great deals on flights by getting even more specific with its trend insights.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, August 29. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

New York City’s Office of Special Enforcement has approved only 257 short-term rental host registrations — out of 3,250 applications — ahead of a September 5 enforcement deadline.

If you follow the short-term rental industry, you would have read or heard Sonder touting itself as “a leading next-generation hospitality company that is redefining the guest experience through technology and design” countless times.

Accor, the Paris-based hotel giant, said on Tuesday that Omer Acar will head its brands Raffles & Orient Express as of March 1. Acar will join Accor’s other brand CEOs in its luxury and lifestyle group (Fairmont, Sofitel & MGallery, and Ennismore) — all of whom report directly to group CEO Sébastian Bazin.

The vice chairman and CEO of Expedia Group, Peter Kern, covered a lot of ground during his session at Skift Global Forum in New York City in September. Kern gave his perspective on mergers and acquisitions, technology, and micro-services.

For the past decade, tens of thousands of travel leaders from over 70+ countries around the world have joined Skift in New York City to discover what comes next for the world’s most impactful industry at Skift Global Forum. This year will be no different – except, of course, bigger and better than ever before.

Theme park and resort operator Merlin Entertainments has appointed longtime sports and media executive Scott O’Neil as its CEO effective Tuesday. O’Neil replaces Nick Varney, who announced in April that he was retiring from the company he launched in 1999.