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.
Airbnb Mulls Removing Cleaning Fees as a Separate Charge
Hosts may be sabotaging their own bookings by levying excessively high cleaning fees. It is turning off many people to Airbnb, which is a concern for the company.
HotelTonight Founder Sam Shank Leaves Airbnb After an Extended Stay
HotelTonight is the fastest, and probably the most exquisite and feisty hotel booking app around. Regardless of its future with Airbnb, it created dozens of imitators, and set the standard.
Short-Term Rental Firm RedAwning Bought Channel Manager Lexicon Travel Technologies
California-based RedAwning announced it acquired channel manager Lexicon Travel Technologies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
TravelNet Solutions Acquired Revenue Management Firm Rented
Property management tech company TravelNet Solutions has acquired vacation rental revenue management company Rented.
Uber’s New Viator Partnership Highlights Increased Fragmentation in Online Travel
The online travel duopoly is dead — if it ever existed. New travel brands from sectors like banks and rideshare services are running amok.
Airbnb to Ease Host Sign-Up Process, Add More Search Categories
Airbnb is taking steps to increase its traction with hosts, namely to find new ones and to keep them. Its level of success will depend on how well it executes these changes in practice.
Tripadvisor CEO May Revamp Plus Membership Program
Tripadvisor hasn't made any decisions about Tripadvisor Plus, but the traveler membership program may reemerge in a different form.
HomeToGo Made Progress in Booking Strategy That Other Metas Abandoned
A public company, HomeToGo is still very small. However, in metasearch, albeit for short-term rentals, it is going places where larger rivals were unsuccessful.
Booking’s ‘Critical’ Etraveli Group Acquisition Runs Into Regulatory Snag
Booking Holdings' hoped-for acquisition of Etraveli Group is not a make or break deal for Booking, but its failure to close would be a setback for its connected trip strategy.