How Deem Wants to Reinvent Itself After Enterprise Deal

If you’ve followed the growth and drama at Deem, it may be a shock that the company has finally found a landing spot at Enterprise Holdings.

I spoke to Deem CEO John Rizzo about what the company’s acquisition by Enterprise Holdings really means, and Deem’s plans for the future. The company expects to double in size in coming years, with a particular focus on engineering and sales; after a period of refocusing, the company wants to start innovating again soon. Check out my story below.

We’ve also got the latest on Sabre’s strong earnings and how traveler sentiment tracking has turned into big business.

If you have any feedback about the newsletter or news tips, feel free to reach out via email at [email protected] or tweet me @sheivach. 

— Andrew Sheivachman, Senior Editor

Airlines, Hotels and Innovation

Deem Plans Growth With Backing From Enterprise: With support from Enterprise Holdings, Deem plans on growing and refining its existing products. On the horizon, though, lurks the promise of a new travel platform to help the company evolve in a competitive global corporate travel market.

Independent Meeting Planners Fight Back Against Commission Cuts: It’s been just over a year since Marriott made its move, the first in a wave of such measures. But instead of getting knocked down by the trend, independent meeting planners are finding ways to take control of their businesses.

Sabre’s Bottom Line Got a Lift From U.S. Tax Cuts: A U.S. tax law change benefited travel distribution giant Sabre in more ways than the typical company due to some particularities in its business. The savings appeared to help give the company the flexibility to acquire the tech vendor Farelogix late last year.

Traveler Sentiment Tracking Gets Spotlight With Medallia’s Intent to Go Public: Customer-experience software companies Medallia, which is planning to go public this year, and Qualtrics, which SAP has just acquired for $8 billion, are receiving cash injections that should rev up their services. That’s significant news for travel businesses that depend heavily on positive customer sentiment but increasingly face customer survey fatigue.

Oneworld Woos Airlines to Connect With Less Than Full Membership: There’s much to expect from Oneworld in its 20th year of service, but partners joining with Connect status may be the most interesting development to watch for.

The Future of Travel

Rail Is the Next Big Thing for Asia’s Online Travel Platforms: After low-cost carriers, the next big thing that will change the way Asians travel could be rail. A rail-volution is in the air and online travel platforms want in. But it’s not that easy. Here’s why.

Travel Advisors Make the Most of Post-Trip Phone Calls in a Digital World: Following up with clients after a trip is a critical part of the travel-planning process. However, getting clients to truly open up about their experiences takes finesse.

Indonesia Competes With Asian Neighbors in Airport Expansion Drive: For a change, welcome news for Indonesia, which was hit last year by a series of disasters. The country is slated for a rapid airport expansion. It needs it, as the domestic market is huge while the government wants more foreign arrivals in its bid to reduce dependence on oil and gas.

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Skift Senior Editor Andrew Sheivachman [[email protected]] curates the Skift Corporate Travel Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Thursday.

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