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

Ridesharing Firm Didi’s IPO Calamity Highlights Risks for Online Travel in China

Did Airbnb, Booking Holdings, Tripadvisor, Oyo, and Marriott, among others, squirm a bit upon learning of Chinese regulators' latest antitrust crackdowns, this time against ridesharing giant Didi and food-delivery and hotel booker Meituan? If not, they should.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Online Travel

Flight Discounter Skiplagged Asks Federal Court to Tell Southwest Airlines to Back Off

Notorious litigator Southwest Airlines is targeting a sometimes-legally agile Skiplagged. Instead of offering Southwest fare information for hidden-city flights, Skiplagged may find that those Southwest fares have gone missing.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Ground Transport

Hertz Puts Bankruptcy Behind It With Transformational Plans

Hertz's new ownership has grand plans to remake the car rental firm. Over the next few years, you'll find out if that really happened depending on your experience at an airport car rental counter near you.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Online Travel

Hotwire Tries to Hack Its Way Into Gen Z and Millennial Hearts

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 Schaal | 5 years ago

Experiences

Google to End Tours and Activities Booking Next Month

Google's retreat in tours and activities booking services doesn't mean Google is becoming less powerful in travel. It's part of Google's strategy to wrangle consistency across its products in offering a combination of advertisements and free listings to gain an even wider audience.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Online Travel

Expedia’s Brand Do-Overs Include Orbitz Putting Greater Focus on LGBTQ Market

Six years after uniting the Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia brands within Expedia Group, the company is now undertaking the grand experiment to differentiate their value propositions and target markets. If it doesn't work, brand consultants never get tired of offering their advice.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Online Travel

There Is A Good Chance Google Travel’s Ambitions Are About To Be Reined In, Legislatively

There is a long lobbyist-filled journey ahead for this House committee-backed bill to cut Google Travel down to size. But it's an important step that was almost unthinkable a few years ago.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Online Travel

Expedia Group Looks to Close the Lopsided Profit Margin Gap With Booking Holdings

Part of Expedia Group's long-running profit margin gap with Booking Holdings has been structural, but a significant piece of it has been inefficiencies. Expedia's Peter Kern is looking to bridge the great divide, but the outcome is far from assured.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Online Travel

Alienated Airbnb Hosts Shouldn’t Look to Vrbo as the Answer

Expedia's Vrbo isn't a global Airbnb killer, nor does it have to be. Vrbo will pick its spots, but that will be a disappointment to those hosts, frustrated and angry with Airbnb, who are looking for some company to take Airbnb down a peg.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago

Hotels

U.S. Travel’s Great Summer of Shortage

Some sectors will feel the labor shortfall versus surging travel demand more acutely than others. Solutions will be complex — and protracted.

Dennis Schaal | 5 years ago