Daily Podcast: Ticketmaster’s Travel Play

Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast discusses Ticketmaster’s entry into the travel ecosystem, Aeromexico’s investment in its loyalty program, and hotels that appeal to four-legged guests and their humans.

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Episode Notes

Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Several major online travel agencies will be selling tickets to live events later this year in a new revenue stream for them. U.S. ticketing giant Ticketmaster has reached a deal with activities tech vendor Redeam to distribute live event tickets to travel resellers, reports Senior Travel Tech Editor Sean O’Neill.

Dan Armstrong, Ticketmaster’s executive vice president of distributed commerce, told Skift that Redeam and its partners — including Viator and Expedia — will offer Ticketmaster access into the travel ecosystem. Ticketmaster estimates that 142 million traveled more than two hours to attend ticketed events in 2019, which Armstrong believes demonstrates a connection between live events and planning a trip.

Next, loyalty is big business for airlines, especially in regards to retaining lucrative corporate travelers that many carriers depend on. No surprise then that Aeromexico has reached a deal with investment holding company Aimia to buy back its loyalty program Club Premier, writes Airlines Reporter Edward Russell.

The Mexico City-based carrier will pay Aimia $405 million to acquire its roughly 49 percent stake in PLM, the parent company of Club Premier, both Aimia and Aeromexico said on Tuesday. The deal could close by the end of August and, if approved, would give Aeromexico full control of the loyalty program that had more than 6 million members in 2020. The sale is subject to Mexican antitrust approval.

Aeromexico believes that full control of Club Premier, which it already has a majority stake in, will enable the carrier to attract and retain business travelers as membership in the loyalty program grew 120 percent from 2011 through the end of 2019. The deal is part of Aeromexico’s settlement with Aimia as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring where it shed more than $1 billion in debt.

Finally, as nearly 20 percent of American households adopted pets during the pandemic, more people are exploring ways they can hit the road with their new family members. Thus, hotels are taking greater steps to court travelers and their pets, writes Contributor Carley Thornell.

The Clancy in San Francisco is one such property, having opened its doors to pets at the end of 2020. The hotel offers creature comforts such as pet beds, artisanal local dog treats, and a puppy menu in the on-site restaurant. Other noteworthy hotel pet programs include the Soho Grand’s guest-exclusive adjacent dog park and Cleveland’s Metropolitan at The 9 indoor dog park, the only U.S. hotel to have such a feature.

One travel blogger said it’s smart business for hotels to broaden their customer base by welcoming guests traveling with pets due to many properties already enhancing sanitation standards. However, another blogger said people who want to travel with their dogs face numerous challenges — such as many airlines having removed options to fly with a pet as well as increased flight prices.