Online travel newsletter tips

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.

Vacation rental property manager Vacasa saw an increase of homeowner “churn,” namely properties abandoning its platform, in the fourth quarter and into 2023, and forecast that its average gross booking value per home would dip this year.

Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel cited the “explosion of interest” in generative AI (artificial intelligence), but counseled that it would be prudent to be patient about delivering on its promises.

T.J. Clark, property manager Vacasa’s new chief commercial officer, is in the proverbial hot seat, charged with reversing unacceptably high rates of homeowners leaving the platform, and increasing sales after the company laid off up to 300 sales and marketing staff and 1,000 field personnel in January.

Having missed its deadline of launching an Indian initial public offering (IPO) by this month, India-based online travel company Yatra.com has now said that it is “hopeful and confident of getting the IPO done in the near term.”

Online travel agency Musafir is on the lookout for acquisitions to fuel growth across the Middle East and India.

I have known Brian Harniman, the head of strategy at digital transformation agency From since the early days of Skift — he was amongst the first online travel veterans to latch onto the potential of what we were building. Harniman is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years experience leading innovation in travel companies. He was on the founding team of Priceline.com and held executive positions at Kayak, Hickory Global Partners, Open List, Where I’ve Been, and more. He and I have talked about travel startups informally on and off for years.

Indian low-cost carrier GoFirst’s recent filing of voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings is unlikely to have a large impact on the market, said Rajesh Magow, co-founder, group CEO and director of online travel agency MakeMyTrip.

Hugo Burge, a British entrepreneur, startup investor, and arts supporter perhaps best known as the former CEO of both Cheapflights and then the Momondo Group, died at his home on Wednesday.

Spain’s eDreams ODIGEO on Thursday reported an annual loss slimmed by more than a third as the Spanish travel booking company posted a 29% jump in bookings.

We’re halfway into the year, and the short-term rental industry has been buoyed by summer travel picking up, despite prevailing economic uncertainty.  

Airbnb touted early progress Wednesday for its new listing service, where owners of multi-family properties allow tenants to occasionally rent out their units — in exchange for a share of the revenue.

Overseas travel bookings from mainland China are currently at just over half of pre-pandemic levels but are on course to return to the 2019 numbers by the end of this year or early 2024, the head of online travel agency Agoda said on Thursday.