Online travel newsletter tips

Expedia Group has completed another round of layoffs. Tript Singh Lamba, a senior vice president of the travel booking giant, sent an internal message about the layoffs last Thursday, which was obtained by GeekWire.

Google is one of the undisputed heavyweights in online travel. So when one of the key masterminds behind all of its travel platforms and products talks about where the search giant is heading, it’s worth paying attention to.

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.

Property manager Sonder is positioning itself long-term to take advantage of higher-spending business travelers, and added 200 corporate travel accounts — and a former CWT CEO to its board — during the third quarter.

Big Tech companies are laying off tens of thousands of people. 

Improved customer experience was the driving hypothesis behind Originals, GetYourGuide’s private label offering. Reports that it is ending raise the question of why.

California-based RedAwning announced it acquired channel manager Lexicon Travel Technologies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Online travel platforms that pay close attention to the unique curation of their tours and activities will own the longtail game of discovery.

On the Beach Group CEO Simon Cooper, who founded the UK-based beach holidays online travel agency in 2004, will resign his post within the next 12 months, and Chief Financial Officer Shaun Morton will take over the CEO duties, the company announced.

Travelzoo, a hotel and package deal publisher, said in a financial filing on Tuesday that it would ask its stockholders to approve making a metaverse experiences scouting business a wholly owned subsidiary of Travelzoo. The business, Metaverse Travel Experiences (MTE), is currently wholly owned by Azzurro Capital.

Before the pandemic, the tech startup ResortPass had partnered with a little more than 100 hotels, offering a software platform that can book guests for day use of their amenities. 

Rocked by a Covid relief financial scandal that led to the jailing and resignations of now-former CEO Fabio Cannavale and chief operating officer Andrea Bertoli, Amsterdam-based Lastminute.com’s shareholders elected Luca Concone as an executive director, and he’ll serve as CEO.

Something shifted in the last two weeks on the zeitgeist about the use of artificial intelligence in our daily personal and professional lives.

Vacasa Chief Commercial Officer Craig Smith left his post abruptly Monday just four months after taking the position, and TurnKey co-founder T.J. Clark replaced Smith in the role, Skift has learned.

HomeToGo, the Germany-based vacation rental business that went public in Frankfurt in 2021, said this week that it has started strongly in 2023 and is on track to break even this year.

TUI’s winter bookings might have been lackluster, but early summer bookings for the world’s largest tour operator have picked up, as the company plans to focus on giving more flexibility to travelers in booking flights, hotels and activities individually, in addition to its wholesale packaged tours, to grow its customer base in underrepresented markets. 

Booking Holdings officials have spoken for years about their aim to take market share in rival Expedia Group’s stronghold, namely the U.S., and Booking appears to be delivering on that goal.

Oyo, which advertises itself online as “India’s Best Online Hotel Booking Site for Sanitized Stays,” said it is performing well in the U.S. — after de-emphasizing its U.S. presence during the height of the pandemic.

German vacation rental marketplace HomeToGo’s revenue grew to €146 million ($155 million) in 2022, up 54 percent from the comparable period in 2021. This is well ahead of its initial guidance of €120-125 million ($127-$132 million) for 2022. The announcement is part of the company’s preliminary results for 2022. 

Thanks to excess supply and lower occupancy, luxury travel brand Inspirato will use online travel agencies including Airbnb and Vrbo to list its luxury rentals — but without the high-end frills.

There are few sectors in the travel industry subject to more of the rat-a-tat-tat pounding of deals, product launches, tactical competitive moves, and business developments than the global short-term rental industry, and that’s why Skift has decided to expand our commitment to the editorial coverage of the sector.