Expedia and Booking’s New Strategies and Other Top Stories This Week

Expedia and Booking Rebuild for Post-Pandemic Landscape: New Skift Research: Travel is back in full swing and Expedia Group and Booking Holdings are now fully recovered versus the pandemic. But under the hood, big changes are underway as these two booking sites revamp their strategies for the future.

The Dawn of AI in Travel – and in Our Daily Lives – Suddenly Became Very Real This Weekend: The use cases of artificial intelligence (AI) in our daily lives, both personal and professional, just exploded exponentially. Worth thinking through, reading, and experimenting as much possible for the travel sector.

Europe’s Travel Prices Are Finally Falling — What Travel Buyers Are Doing: It’s the first time that prices are cooling off this year, but experts warn this deflation won’t last long with more “correction cycles” to come.

Rosewood Hotels Aims to Double Luxury Footprint This Decade: Rosewood practices arbitrage, luxury-hotel style. The company seems to believe that the three most important words in hospitality real estate are experience, experience, and experience.

Why Small Luxury Hotels Think Tiny Is Mighty in the Post-Pandemic Era: Demand for “small, mindful” travel is supposedly on the upswing, and Small Luxury Hotels of the World is looking to take advantage. But can the marketing organization move the needle in the shadow of giant hotel groups?

Full Video: United Airlines Chief Customer Officer at Skift Aviation Forum 2022: Even more important than introducing innovative products is learning whether and how people will use them. United Airlines seems to be paying attention to that, and the company is willing to nix something if it doesn’t work.

Standard International CEO Says Lifestyle Hotel Growth Plan Isn’t ‘Drag and Drop’: Standard chief executive Amber Asher is one of the smartest people in hotels. But The Standard International has so much going on it, we wonder if the company can manage it all.

A Tour Operator Flips the Playbook by Embracing Travelers’ Passions, Not Destinations: Passion-based itineraries might sound like the latest hype in tours and activities, but it is being fueled by the everyday interest of people who are turning their hobbies into thriving businesses — and by extension, unique travel experiences.

Middle Eastern Destinations Lead Global Travel Recovery: The latest data underlines the strength of the travel recovery in the Middle East, thanks in large part to the FIFA World Cup. What next after the World Cup is the million-dollar question here.

Hilton Grand Vacations Sees Inflation Boosting Timeshare Sales: They’ve got a pitch for you. What’s more, you won’t enter any commitments by reading this personal preview of their strategy.