Skift Take
Going global in the events sector is tough. Eventbrite has the added pressure of being a public company, and investors have soured on the company's potential despite its ambitious plans for a global event technology platform.
Eventbrite’s initial public offering last year boosted optimism around the event industry that the increased visibility of the power and profit of events would be good for the sector overall.
Eventbrite has struggled out of the gate, though, and investors are concerned the company lacks a path to profitability. It may be that all the optimism was premature as Evenbrite takes longer to integrate Ticketfly. Check out my story parsing the latest bad news for the company.
We’ve also got the latest reporting on proposed taxes on the service sector in states across the U.S. and a thought-provoking Megatrend on the value of experiences in our age of tech burnout.
If you have any feedback about the newsletter or news tips, feel free to reach out to me via email at [email protected] or tweet me @sheivach.
— Andrew Sheivachman, Senior Editor
The Future of Events and Meetings
Eventbrite Off to Fragile Start as Public Company With Revenue Concerns: Is the bottom falling out for Eventbrite? Not really, but it needs to turn a corner soon to make investors more confident in its future. It takes time and money to build a global platform, and it looks like Eventbrite could be running out of time.
Would Tax Law Proposals Kill Travel Agencies in Some States? As states look for new sources of tax revenue in the service-driven economy, businesses like travel agencies are viewed as likely targets. Part of the problem is ignorance among legislators of how agencies operate and why added taxes would be devastating for many.
Real-World Experiences Gain Value in an Era of Tech Burnout: Travel companies are honing their own technological innovations even as Silicon Valley acknowledges the dangers of tech overload. Travelers must find a balance.
Around the Industry
Singapore’s Changi Is Changing the Idea of What an Airport Can Be: An airport is hardly the place people want to come to and spend hours, but Changi Airport Singapore looks set to change all that when its Jewel project opens next month.
Google Quietly Releases Its Hotel Booking Destination With Potentially Huge Implications: Within months, Google has rolled out new features in flights and hotels that, we dare say, make it a convenient one-stop shop to book travel sans encumbrances. Given its dominance in search, hotels and online travel agencies are on another planet if they are not feeling wary.
Airbnb Is Buying HotelTonight: Here’s What That Means: Will Airbnb stick to its boutique and independent-only stance on hotels? This could put it at a serious disadvantage when it comes to competitors like Booking or Expedia in the long run. But if Airbnb winds up offering a wider swath of hotels, it could boost its brand even further. Either way, it’s guaranteed to be interesting. We’ll get the popcorn ready.
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Skift Senior Editor Andrew Sheivachman [[email protected]] curates the Skift Meetings Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Wednesday.
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Photo credit: Attendees stare at their phones at the Collision Conference. Collision Conference / Flickr