2019 Archives

We asked Skift's indefatigable team of reporters and editors to pick their favorite stories from the past year. Here's an inside look at how those stories came to be, how they were reported, and what it was like to put it down into prose.

Out-of-policy booking is a significant challenge in the business travel sector. Managers want employees to use approved tools and partners. But their business travelers frequently ignore those demands, choosing to purchase whatever is most convenient, cheap, or easy to use. Could hotel loyalty programs offer a solution to the impasse?

Dream Hotel Group had a choppy start in its attempt to expand in Asia. Now it seems to have given up on that dream.

Nobody has found the best formula for regulation of the short-term rental industry. But hotel groups and rental platforms both realize that the outcomes of early battles will set precedents for future laws. This might explain why they are so willing to confront and call each other out publicly.

This week in aviation, JetBlue announces Salt Lake City as its new headquarters, and Boeing halts production on the 737 Max. We also take a look at the top 10 industry developments in 2019 and Sun Country's unlikely deal with Amazon.

This week in digital news, Expedia Group Chairman Barry Diller went to Seattle HQ to spread some optimism, plus we have the details on Sun Country's new deal with Amazon.

This week in tourism, the longstanding Pure Michigan marketing campaign will soon go dark. For a minute, Brand USA was similarly in trouble, and we have the story behind Thomas Cook owing at least $12 billion.

This week in hospitality, Airbnb announced a series of measures to protect hosts from misbehaving guests. Meanwhile, U.S. hospitality chains confront labor shortages, and demand is growing for luxury tented camps as mindful travel gains traction.

This year was a tough one for the world's largest cruise company, and Carnival executives will likely be happy to see it end. But in 2020 many of the same challenges remain, particularly in regards to sustainability.

In search of a competitive edge, price transparency, and the ability to offer better service to their customers, travel agencies find value in indisputable data provided by aggregators such as Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC).