Sean O'Neill

Sean O’Neill is Skift's senior hospitality editor, reporting on hotels. Send him news tips at [email protected]. He's been a full-time journalist for two decades. He lives in Washington, D.C. Stop him before he starts another home improvement project.

Latest Stories

Ground Transport

Car-Sharing Startups BlaBlaCar and Turo Use NonTraditional Strategies to Boost Usage

Car-sharing marketplaces are finding that partnerships with automotive leasing companies and insurers may be a more cost-effective way to get the word out about their services than using traditional digital marketing efforts.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

Car-Sharing Startups BlaBlaCar and Turo Use NonTraditional Strategies to Boost Usage

Online Travel

Booking Tech Platform Triptease Raises $9 Million: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Triptease has successfully faced down legal threats from Booking.com over its tactics to help hotels boost direct bookings. The startup says it has signed up 17,000 hotels as clients.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

Booking Tech Platform Triptease Raises $9 Million: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Hotels

How Starwood Optimized Its Website Translation Speaks to an Industry Becoming Fluent in Data

Starwood recently changed its approach to the translation of websites for its 1,500 properties. Its move is a case study in how many hotel groups are getting savvier about using data to boost bottom line results.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

How Starwood Optimized Its Website Translation Speaks to an Industry Becoming Fluent in Data

Online Travel

Google Trials Travel Package Metasearch in the UK and Germany

Google revealed Tuesday that it is doing an early experiment in how to sell bundled flights and hotels via its travel search results. Package travel is huge in Europe, and Google's trial will be watched closely.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

Google Trials Travel Package Metasearch in the UK and Germany

Travel Booking

Expedia Plans to Increase Its Marketing Spend in Europe

Expedia has not been aggressive in its marketing spend in Europe lately. But its global head of retail, Gary Morrison, says that strategy is about to change.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

Expedia Plans to Increase Its Marketing Spend in Europe

Online Travel

Trivago’s Marketers and Engineers Are Equally Key to Its Success, Says Managing Director

Trivago gets critiqued for spending heavily on TV brand marketing. But Managing Director Johannes Thomas says it's part of a sustainable plan. We now tend to agree.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

Trivago’s Marketers and Engineers Are Equally Key to Its Success, Says Managing Director

Online Travel

Europe Is an Excellent Testbed for the Future of Travel, Say Investors and Entrepreneurs

Defying conventional wisdom in the U.S., leading venture capitalist and the founders of two venture-backed companies -- Trainline and GetYourGuide -- believe that Europe is an excellent testbed for creating travel companies that can scale globally. They make their case well.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

Europe Is an Excellent Testbed for the Future of Travel, Say Investors and Entrepreneurs

Online Travel

Travelzoo Closes Search Business and Sells Fly.com Domain

Travelzoo has sold Fly.com, the most under-leveraged internet domain name in travel. We hope the mystery buyer has better luck with it than the deals publisher did.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

Travelzoo Closes Search Business and Sells Fly.com Domain

Online Travel

Hundredrooms Gets $4 Million for Vacation Rental Metasearch: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Hundredrooms plans to challenge Tripping.com and AllTheRooms in vacation rental metasearch. Meanwhile, OneTwoTrip gets more funding, while Coras and Ithaca debut.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

Hundredrooms Gets $4 Million for Vacation Rental Metasearch: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Online Travel

Tours Platform Zozi Parts Ways With Founder and CEO, Lays Off Some Staff

The once lavishly funded tours startup Zozi says it is still healthy, though it had to lay off many employees. The restructuring will have Zozi de-emphasizing its consumer product to "double down" on its B2B reservation service unless another player swoops in for its assets.

Sean O'Neill, Skift | 7 years ago

Tours Platform Zozi Parts Ways With Founder and CEO, Lays Off Some Staff