Skift Take
For the sixth year, Skift IDEA Awards will recognize and celebrate excellence in design, creativity, and innovation across travel by spotlighting the brands and businesses that are driving the industry forward. See the 2024 finalists below.
It’s an exciting day at Skift HQ, as we reveal the hotly anticipated finalists for the 2024 Skift IDEA Awards.
The sixth edition of Skift IDEA Awards has been our biggest to date, and solidifies its standing as the travel industry’s most coveted achievement for excellence in design, creativity and innovation.
This year’s Skift IDEA Awards categories were split across five criteria groups:
- Industry Innovators: Forward-thinking projects that drive a sector forward and make an impact with consumers.
- Change Makers: Organizations elevating the Travel Industry’s role as a force for good by affecting meaningful change.
- Creative Thinkers: Marketing, strategy and technology that inspires and pushes the industry forward.
- Problem Solvers: Service providers who offer solutions, address business challenges, or use technology to guide the industry.
- Travel Technology: Technology providers offering innovative technological solutions that are guiding the industry forward.
Over 350 submissions were received this year, with 122 submissions making it through to the final round.
These submissions – which are proving the future of travel is imaginative, disruptive, and more purpose-driven than ever before – are now set to be reviewed and scored by our independent panel of judges, consisting of a selection of the industry’s most respected leaders and experts.
Take a look at the full list of 2024 Skift IDEA Awards finalists below:
INDUSTRY INNOVATORS
ACTIVITIES & ATTRACTIONS
- Camp Fimfo | Taking a Camp Resort to New Heights
- Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia | Wintjiri Wiru: Bringing an Ancient Indigenous Story to Life
- Paradero Todos Santos | Discover Baja California with Paradero Todos Santos
AIRLINES & AIRPORTS
- Buzz for Etihad Airways | Armani for Etihad Luxury Inflight Range created by Buzz
- SkyTeam | SkyTeam’s Carry-on Calculator
- Alaska Airlines | The Next Generation of Search, Powered by AI
- United Airlines | Revolutionizing Travel with Wellness-Driven Innovations
- JetBlue | Data-Activated Personalization Reaches New Heights
- PANYNJ Teterboro (TEB) GreenLandings® Initiative | Predicting Potential Problems Hours Prior to Arrival
BUSINESS TRAVEL
- Navan | Breaking the Expense Management Mold
- Mesh | A Unified Platform for Modern Enterprises
- Uber for Business | Pioneering Business Class in Ground Transportation
- Booking.com for Business | Taking Business Further, Faster
- BizAway SRL SB | Delivering the Future of Travel
- Radisson Hotel Group | Book It Easy
HOTELS
- TFE Hotels | Rethinking How the Hospitality Industry Approaches Innovation
- Attractions.io | Reimagining the Resort Guest Experience: A Butlin’s Case Study
- ULUM | Merging Nature and Luxury
- Sonesta | Reimagining the Self-Serve Retail Experience
- Nemacolin | A Getaway Like No Other
- Sandals Resorts International | Island Inclusive: Sandals’ Off-Resort Dining Program
TOUR OPERATORS
- Big Blue Adventures | Specialists in Company Offsites and Group Adventure Travel
- Apple Leisure Group Vacations | Beach Finder: Destination-less and Date-less Travel Search
- Rustic Pathways | Paving the Way for Transformative Student Travel
TOURISM
- Travel Alberta | Revolutionizing Tourism
- Cape Town Tourism | Limitless Cape Town
- Royal Commission for AlUla | AlUla, Forever Revitalising
- Tahiti Tourisme | Feel What We Feel Here in The Islands of Tahiti
- Hong Kong Tourism Board | Hello Hong Kong
- Destination Canada | Destination Canada’s Tourism Corridor Strategy Program
VISIONARY 2030 – Presented by Allianz Partners
- Tomu, Inc. | Enabling Aspiring Hosts and Hoteliers to Build Beyond Boundaries
- Steller | Building for The Two Largest Generations of Travelers
- Spotnana | Modernizing the Infrastructure of the Travel Industry
- Further by Design Hotels | Incubating Future Movements in Travel and Culture
- The Helicopter Company (THC) | Flying into New Horizons
- Purple Elephant Ventures | The Innovation Hub for Regenerative Tourism in Africa
CHANGE MAKERS
LEADERSHIP
- Mews | Matt Welle, CEO
- FIVE Holdings | Kabir Mulchandani, Founder and Chairman
- U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism | Joseph Boschulte, Comissioner of Tourism
- Red Sea Global | Rosanna Chopra, Executive Director – Destination Development
- Sandals Resorts International | Adam Stewart, Executive Chairman
- Trip.com Group | Jane Sun, CEO
PEOPLE & COMMUNITY
- Amadeus IT Group | A Social Innovation Network for impactful SMEs
- Spirit Airlines & Spirit Charitable Foundation | Inspiring Positive Change in the Communities Where We Live and Work
- Vail Resorts and Epic | The Gondola Gallery
- Tourism Cares | Putting Meaningful Travel on the Map
- Southwest Airlines | Repurpose with Purpose
- Valtech for Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority | Charlotte Love Notes
RISING STAR
- Elad Schaffer and Daniel Green, Co-Founders, Faye
- Meaghan Ferrigno, SVP, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Destination Canada
- Shelby Luzzi, Senior Manager, Sustainability, Destination DC
- Kristi Gole, EVP, Strategy, Global Hotel Alliance
- Patrick Norton, CMO and Partner, Brittain Resorts & Hotels
- Estuardo Ortiz, CEO and Founder, JetSMART Airlines
DEI CHAMPION
- SUMMIT One Vanderbilt | A Beacon of Inclusivity
- Women in Travel CIC | Fostering Inclusion in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry
- Booking.com | Supporting LGBTQ+ Travellers to Travel Proud
- Vail Resorts | Epic for Everyone
- Destination Toronto | Reflecting the Breadth and Diversity of Toronto’s People, Places and Culture
- Destinations International | Leading the Way to Championing Inclusive Destinations for All
SUSTAINABILITY
- Hurtigruten | From Farm, to Table, to Farm
- Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) | A Destination of the Future
- Banyan Group | Rewilding Cities, One Pocket Forest at a Time
- Trafalgar Travel | We’re saying NO to ”More Stuff”
- Beyond Green | Scaling Positive Impact in Travel
- Destination British Columbia and Partners | The British Columbia Tourism Climate Resiliency Initiative
CREATIVE THINKERS
CONTENT
- New York City Tourism + Conventions | NYC Local Legends
- BVK and Wyoming Office of Tourism | Wildly Wyoming
- Travel South Dakota | The Story of a State
- Explore St. Louis | Culinary Changemakers
- Praytell and Destination Canada | A “Crash Course” in Canadian Winter
- Tourisme Montréal | Bring the Flame to Montréal
MARKETING
- IAG Loyalty | Avios’ ’Everyday’ by IAG Loyalty
- Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority | Excessive Celebration Encouraged
- Visit Philadelphia | In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union
- Tourism Fiji | Fiji: Where Happiness Comes Naturally
- Travel Alberta | To Be Albertan
- Visit Greenland | Greenland’s version of AI: Local Knowledge
PHYSICAL EXPERIENCES
- Alliance for Downtown New York | A Walking Tour Incubator Grant Program for Lower Manhattan’s Tourism Entrepreneurs
- Meliá Hotels International | Paradisus: Transforming Into Destination Inclusive® Resorts
- Salesforce | Dreamforce
- BRC Imagination Arts | The Legend of Luna
- Saudi Tourism Authority | Saudi Tourism Invites Chinese Travelers to Lai Ba!
- G Adventures | GX Peru
CREATIVE DESIGN
- New York City Tourism + Conventions | New York City Tourism + Conventions Rebrand
- Gangverk for Lindblad Expeditions | Revamping Lindblad Expeditions’ Digital Presence
- Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority | VisitLasVegas.com Dynamic Content Hubs
- Clicktivated for Visit Greater Palm Springs | Transforming Destination Marketing and Driving ROI with Interactive Video
- Hyatt Hotels Corporation | A Scalable Design System and Web Platform for Hospitality
- HipMaps | Custom Maps With A Modern Twist
PROBLEM SOLVERS
BUSINESS OUTCOMES
- Mews | Enhancing the Guest Experience
- Radisson Hotel Group | The Club by Radisson Hotel Group
- Emerging Travel Group | RateHawk: Spread your wings
- Hotelverse | Boosting hotel conversion rates and revenues
- Streamline One by Inhabit | Transforming Vacation Property Management with an All-in-One Platform
- SuitePad GmbH | Pay For Results, Not Promises
DATA PROVIDER
- Destination Canada | From Insights to Impact
- AirDNA | Data to Set You Apart. Insights to Keep You Ahead
- 123COMPARE.ME | World Parity Monitor
- Legends | Powering a New Era of Personalization
- Beyond | Leading Innovation in Revenue Management and STR Data Intelligence with Search
TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
OPERATIONAL STREAMLINING
- Navan | Leading the “New Era of Retailing”
- Oracle | Re-envisioning the Call Center Journey
- PriceLabs | Hyper Local Pulse (HLP) Pricing Algorithm
- FLYR | Unlocking Freedom to Innovate for the Travel Industry
- TravelBank | Leading Cost-Saving Expense Management
- Guesty | Adapting to the Ever-Changing Needs of a Dynamic Industry
WORKFORCE EFFICIENCY
- TravelPerk | Using Technology to Enhance, Not Replace, Our Employees
- Navan | Efficiency Redefined
- Deem | Designing for Everyone
- CaptainBook | A Groundbreaking approach to Guide Scheduling
TRAVELER JOURNEY
- Duve | Personalized Guest Journeys
- Paytm Travel | A One-Stop Solution
- AirportLabs Limited | Pocket Flights: Flight Information Accessible for Everyone, From Anywhere
- Travel Alberta | Immersing Users in a One-of-a-Kind 3D Itinerary
- eSIM Go Powered by Breeze | Equipping Travel Brands to Fulfill the Needs of the Connected Traveler
- Joyned | A Social Revenue Technology Pioneer
SUSTAINABILITY TECH
- BeCause | Driving Sustainability Transformation in Hospitality, Tourism, and Travel
- Destination Wayfinder | Charting a Course for the Future, Together
- Thrust Carbon | Effortless Climate Compliance
- ATPCO and IATA | Making Emissions Data Understandable and Available
- Travelport | Sustainability Powered by Travel Tech
BEST USE OF AI
Congratulations to all of the 2024 finalists! Keep an eye out for the final results of the Skift IDEA Awards in August.
Tags: IDEA awards, idea awards 2024