Seth Borko

Cash levels have stayed higher than many economists feared and that has supported a surge in travel. But the trend points to more traditional spending patterns.

Vacasa is a leader in brand building within the short-term rental space, but Skift Research estimates it still relies heavily on third-party booking sites, like Airbnb, for the majority of sales. Management surely hopes to become a majority first-party business – and to earn the margin benefits that follow.

Travel sticker shock is giving way to anger for many consumers. But the inflation data suggests that most hoteliers have raised prices in-line with their rising costs rather than capturing excess profits.

Vacasa, like the short-term rental sector overall, is coming off of a pandemic-fueled growth spree and faces the question of what comes next. Can Vacasa tap into first-party growth while scaling back cash-intensive investments? With investor patience running thin, the clock is ticking.

Generative AI is poised to transform the travel industry. True, there’s plenty of hype out there. But even after Skift Research separates the chaff from the wheat, we find that a multi-billion dollar opportunity still remains.

Are the channel wars coming back? The pandemic brought a wave of direct bookings but our latest survey data suggests that this trend may not last. Plus, we find surprising shifts in booking site usage and share among American travelers.

The new year will give no rest to a weary travel industry. After years of work to dig out of the hole the pandemic put us in, travel in 2023 may find that the hardest part still lies ahead. The groundwork for growth is in place but achieving success will be no simple task.

Travel is back in full swing and Expedia Group and Booking Holdings are now fully recovered versus the pandemic. But under the hood, big changes are underway as these two booking sites revamp their strategies for the future.

Subscriptions are ubiquitous in nearly every industry other than travel. Why the disconnect? The time is right for building paid travel subscriptions, powered by shifts in traveler priorities and work-life flexibility. Learn how to build travel memberships by analyzing three innovative case studies in this latest research report.

Airbnb is moving away from Google and performance advertising but few others seem to be following in its footsteps. We believe most online booking sites will remain reliant on Google for top of the funnel marketing post-pandemic. This sets up the search engine to retain its dominant position in travel.