Skift Take

This week in digital news, it's earnings season and the online travel agencies did not deliver. At least Expedia, Priceline, TripAdvisor, and Trivago are all in good company.

Throughout the week we post dozens of original stories, connecting the dots across the travel industry, and every weekend we sum it all up. This weekend roundup examines digital trends.

For all of our weekend roundups, go here.

>>Skift Tech Forum will explore the tech disruptions happening in retailing, merchandising, and distribution of travel, with customer centricity as the connecting thread running across all the topics: Announcing Skift Tech Forum in Silicon Valley in June 2018

>>The Priceline Group is in the catbird seat in online travel — for now — while Expedia is a much smaller company with so much ground to make up. Expedia’s Okerstrom is laudably talking tough about his ambitions to propel his company forward. But 2017, so far, has been anything but easy for the two newbie CEOs: CEOs of Expedia and Priceline Group — What Have You Done for Me Lately?

>>Try as it might, TripAdvisor is still struggling to gain traction with its hotel booking product. Non-hotel growth has been picking up the slack, and one has to wonder whether an even stronger focus outside of hotels is on the horizon soon: TripAdvisor Hotel Bookings Continue to Slide as Non-Hotel Business Surges

>>Did we just see an elephant fly? The Priceline Group, which is the largest spender on digital advertising in travel, just said TV commercials may be a better way to attract loyal customers. That’s even more surprising than TV-happy Trivago’s recent announcement that it would start devoting more resources to digital advertising. Don’t you love this industry? Booking.com Rethinks Digital Advertising in Favor of TV

>>This move could be a modest win-win for Trivago and HomeAway, which both fall within the broader Expedia Inc. orbit. But Airbnb and Booking.com remain fierce competitors for rental search, with Google waiting in the wings: Trivago Looks to HomeAway Vacation Rentals to Regain Some Mojo

>>Smartly, Priceline has shown no shame in capitalizing on the China opportunity through minority-stake investments. It works both ways, too. Numerous local players want a piece of China’s exploding outbound travel business. That means investments in western assets. Subscribe to our Skift Research to know more: New Research Available: Analyst Session + Data Sheet on Ctrip and China Online Travel

>>TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer was extremely political today in his response to questions about decreased advertising spend from metasearch partners. How the company will rejuvenate its hotel booking product remains an unanswered question as well: TripAdvisor CEO Was Coy About Pullback in Meta Advertising Business

>>The conventional wisdom is that major online travel agencies make it impossible for their smaller counterparts to break through. Kiwi.com is challenging that thesis, though it is very much early days: Czech Website Creates Itineraries From Low-Cost and Legacy Carriers

>>Lastminute.com Group’s traditional business of flight sales isn’t as profitable as it once was so growing metasearch makes sense. And while this deal isn’t a gamechanger it does represent an expansion into accommodation: Lastminute.com Group Buys Hotelscan to Diversify Metasearch Offering

>>Tech companies need to get out of the lab and test their products in the real world, meeting planners say: Planners Weigh in on the State of Meetings Technology Today

>>Technology can be a benefit, but it can also be a pain point when it comes to organizing and executing a meeting. Planners weigh in on what frustrates them most, and offer some solutions: The Current State of Event Technology — Meetings Innovation Report

>>Two deals in the space of a week show how serious Skyscanner is about improving the content it offers to customers. The days of it being a pure price-comparison site are definitely over: Skyscanner Buys Social-Review Site Twizoo in Escalating Content Drive

>>When Priceline sneezes, the online travel industry catches a cold: Online Travel Plunge Spurs Investor Wariness

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Tags: digital, Travel Trends, trends roundups

Photo credit: Online travel agencies like TripAdvisor struggled in the third quarter. TripAdvisor

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