2016 Archives

Airlines and travel agents are Sabre Corp.'s most important constituencies -- other than shareholders -- and now the company has former airline executives serving as CEO and executive chairman of the board. These airline connections aren't the only reasons the board selected these executives but their experience certainly can't hurt.

The selection of Glenn Fogel as CEO is likely one that will please Wall Street as he represents stability and is highly regarded inside the travel industry and beyond it. Is it purely coincidence that the Group announces its CEO pick after eight months of looking, hours before Expedia's Trivago is slated to price its IPO? Probably not.

TripAdvisor's investment into Traxo isn't a huge surprise when you consider the challenge of itinerary management for consumer travel companies selling a variety of different products in one place.

In the end, it turns out Pitbull's love of the people of Florida is stronger than his love of confidentiality (and money).

Will the Amazon Echo eventually become the new iHome docking station of the past? Will this technology be outdated in just a year or more? And more importantly: Is this what people really want from their hotel experience just yet?

Is there a big enough market for travelers to track flights through push notifications and wait weeks or months to buy instead of going to a website and entering their itinerary details? Hopper, Hitlist, and others think Millennials and others will shop this way but there is skepticism about how large these businesses can become.

The hospitality industry continues to tweak its various loyalty programs. But is this what customers really want?

Trivago is saturating certain markets with TV advertising. Google Trends data suggest this may not be as effective as the company wants investors to surmise.

This study sample is very small, so it's worth noting that these findings should be taken with a grain of salt. However, it does show that, despite hotels' best efforts to push loyalty and direct bookings, hotel marketers can't assume an "if you build it they will come" mentality toward their own websites.

Tune in to hear Booking.com CEO Gillian Tans talk about how the company is trying to build products that meet higher consumer expectations.