2015 Archives

The travel agency of the future will combine the knowledge of experienced travel agents with the ease of online booking.

It was a helluva ride but the Expedia-Orbitz deal was never in serious jeopardy because there is plenty of competition despite the Expedia-Travelocity-Orbitz consolidation. But if Expedia gets greedy in the future and uses its new powers unwisely, you can bet that regulators will pounce.

Introducing The Takeoff, a video series from Skift and Amadeus exploring the key elements of the startup mindset, and what it takes to transition from early stage travel startup to next level innovator. The first episode is on Vision: the driving force behind every disruptive idea.

Jacobs' enthusiasm for digital is that of the recently converted. Considering the very basic functionality of Ryanair's website and apps in the past, and hearing hints of what is in store for the upcoming launch, it will be a significant leap forward for the airline.

Many tourism bureaus are trying to drive visitors to their lesser visited destinations, but Tourism Ireland's region-specific campaigns are more comprehensive, and according to the data, more successful than most.

It's no surprise that business travelers want a premium experience while on the road, and it looks like more companies are splurging on pricy flights and hotels.

We said all along that increased competition from Booking.com and TripAdvisor's burgeoning power as a hotel-booking site would be enough to get the Expedia-Orbitz deal approved. The Antitrust Division saw Google as an up-and-coming force in flight and hotel bookings, as well.

United CEO Oscar Munoz Munoz is saying all the right things and needs to reassure MileagePlus members before more of them bolt to other airlines. But after years of poor performance, members of United's loyalty program and other customers will want to see concrete results, not just the verbiage.

With so many photos and videos of cruise ships already out there, it's hard to believe that more multimedia can help sell cruises. Word of mouth is still the most powerful marketing for cruise lines.

Since the creation of American Airlines’ frequent flyer program, what was meant to be a simple scheme to encourage repeat business has evolved into a shadow currency funding a large business sector that reaches across to all travel products and to banking institutions. It’s difficult to imagine all of that crashing overnight, or that it would be allowed to crash at all. If Jacobs happens to be right, then it’s bound to crash eventually, but there should be time to see the bright lights coming from the opposite direction.