Sean O'Neill

Sean O’Neill is Skift’s Senior Hospitality Editor. Sean’s forte is reporting, and he’s broken multiple hotel industry scoops. He has also conducted 1:1 interviews on stage with the CEOs of Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Hyatt, and Wyndham.

Online Travel

Trivago Urges Independent Hotels to Get More Involved in Digital Marketing

Public companies rarely take on projects where the benefits may not appear for years to come. So kudos to Trivago for risking that with its marketing tools for hotels. That said, the effort is still a risk.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

Travelport CEO Is ‘Super Skeptical’ About American Airlines Strategy

American is creating a new distribution path that might tweak the role companies like Travelport play in distribution. Travelport boss Gordon Wilson tells us he's skeptical. We remain undecided.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

SkiftX

Kayak Acquires Assets of Struggling Brazilian Metasearch Company Mundi

Skyscanner had been sniffing around Brazil's homegrown metasearch leader Mundi and checking its books. Kayak appears to have swooped in to shore up market share.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

Flight-Search Company Vayant Travel Sold to PROS for $35 Million

Vayant is a tech vendor that has never caught the imaginations and wallets of travel companies to the same degree as a few of its peers have. This has all the attributes of a soft landing.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

american airlines direct distribution sabre

Business Travel

American Airlines Revives Direct-Connect Moves While Sabre Questions Feasibility

American is reviving its direct-booking conflict with distribution middlemen like Sabre. Advances in technology and fat profits at U.S. airlines make the threat more plausible now than a decade ago.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

Sabre Axes 900 Workers to Revamp Some of Its Business Lines

By cutting the management ranks, Sabre's new CEO Sean Menke addresses a gripe of "management bloat" among workers writing on review sites like Glassdoor. He also wisely cuts costs to fund new investment.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

Amadeus Notches Steady Growth on Southwest and IHG Deals

Amadeus continued to have strong financial performance in the first half of the year. Trends point to it continuing to be a juggernaut of travel distribution in the near-future.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Online Travel

FabHotels Secures $25 Million in a Goldman Sachs-Led Round: Travel Startup Funding This Week

FabHotel's franchise model joins peers OYO and Treebo in a promising effort to tame the famously fractured budget segment in India by applying consistent standards of service and marketing.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Ferry Unardi of Traveloka expedia investment

Online Travel

Expedia to Invest $350 Million in Indonesia Booking Site Traveloka

Expedia's minority investment in Traveloka, a household name among travel players in Indonesia, makes sense. The company has struggled to gain share in Southeast Asia and a partnership can fill the gap.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago

Airlines

Alaska Airlines Plans to Launch in 30 More Markets by 2018

Alaska has been so well run that we expect its early transition hiccups to be ironed out before they cause United/Continental-level disasters.

Sean O'Neill | 9 years ago