Skift Take
Hotwire is calling out the online travel industry for its failure to focus on anything but price, price, price. As a discount travel business, that message drips with irony.
Dennis' Online Travel Briefing
Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Executive Editor and online travel rockstar Dennis Schaal will bring readers exclusive reporting and insight into the business of online travel and digital booking, and how this sector has an impact across the travel industry.
Online Travel This Week
I must admit that when I was writing recently about Expedia Group’s efforts to redefine its potpourri of brands, I wondered if its discount hotel website Hotwire was still part of the mix or whether Expedia had quietly shut it down with not many people even noticing.
It has been that long since we’d heard a peep from or about Hotwire.
But after struggling in recent years and undergoing several leadership changes, Hotwire is back with its largest ad campaign in three years. The advertising blitz, “Book Beyond Your Wildest Means,” targets Gen Z and Millennial travelers, some with a gaming bent, and relies heavily on Tik Tok, spots during the U.S. Olympic trials, and plenty of audio