Dennis Schaal Archives

Dennis Schaal is Skift’s Founding Editor and Executive Editor. Dennis has been a reporter focusing on online travel and short-term rentals for more than two decades at Skift, Tnooz, USA Today, and Travel Weekly. He is well-known for tough one-on-one interviews on stage at Skift events, including with the CEOs and top execs of Expedia, Uber, Booking Holdings, Priceline, Kayak, Hopper, and more.

Online Travel

Spain’s eDreams Odigeo Doubles Subscribers to 2 Million in 6 Months

Well, looky here. It isn't just short-term rentals and digital nomads "reinventing travel." eDreams Odigeo claimed a piece of that boast as it projected turning travel's business model upside down and having more than seven million members in its Prime subscription program by mid-2025.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Lindsay Nelson, chief marketing officer for Tripadvisor

Online Travel

A Top Exec for Tripadvisor’s Beleaguered Subscription Business Forced Out

The dominos are falling over the dashed hopes for Tripadvisor Plus. Chalk up CEO Kaufer and Chief Marketing Officer Lindsay Nelson as among the casualties with potentially more to come.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Startups

OTA Insight Nabs $80 Million in Funding From Spectrum Equity

The SiteMinder IPO in Australia served as inspiration for numerous travel tech and data intelligence companies, including OTA Insight. The latter hopes that Spectrum Equity can help OTA Insight make a similar leap.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Business Travel

Business Traveler Loyalty on Flights Up for Grabs Coming Out of Pandemic

Whether it is hotels offering sporadic housekeeping or over-overcrowded airport lounges, service levels across the travel industry have plummeted coming out of the pandemic. Loyalty indeed is under severe pressure.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Airlines

Aircraft Leasing Exec Cites Frustration Over Boeing’s Production Problems

Boeing's challenges make for an uncompetitive environment given the current state of the aircraft-manufacturing duopoly. And Boeing's woes seems formidable.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Online Travel

Amazon Ads Wants to Help Travel Outfits by Sharing Its Customers’ Buying Habits

It's not just all about Amazon Web Services anymore when Amazon reaches out to travel industry customers. It is still early days but Amazon Ads may one day crimp travel brands' spending on Google and Facebook.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Online Travel

What Will Tripadvisor Look for In Its Next CEO?

If the revamped Tripadvisor Plus turns out to be a flop — and it very well could be — don't put all of the blame on CEO Steve Kaufer. The board of the Liberty Tripadvisor-controlled company went along with the plan, despite obvious rate parity issues, every step of the way. Kaufer's successor will inherit the challenges.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

booking holdings ceo glenn fogel at skift global forum 2021

Online Travel

Booking Holdings Buys Getaroom for $1.2 Billion to Expand Partnerships

Booking Holdings hasn't given adequate focus to its partnerships business in the past, ceding much ground to Expedia Group on that front. Acquiring hotel distributor Getaroom will give potential affiliates another reason to sign up.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Hotels

Sonder Forecasts Improved 2021 Outlook as Public Debut Awaits

Sonder debuted in France in the third quarter and expanded its presence in Mexico, but these development will all take a back seat if the company can indeed see its ticker symbol trading before the end of the year.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Online Travel

Apple Privacy Changes Could Give More Leverage to Big Online Travel Agencies

Personalization initiatives aside, Apple's privacy changes are a great win for travelers, but a big headache for online travel companies. The result is the biggest players have the potential to gain advantage over smaller competitors.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago