Skift Travel News Blog

Tripadvisor co-founder Steve Kaufer, who stepped down as CEO last year after 22 years at the helm, has just unveiled his next big venture.

Kaufer announced on Thursday that he’s launching Give Freely, a startup that aims to attract more funding for charities. Give Freely, a web browser extension that consumers can add to their Chrome or Safari app, enables users to make donations to a charity when they shop online.

The extension can be used at 10,000 online stores, a number that Kaufer hopes to expand. Users can then choose from more than 1 million charities to direct donations.

“We want to build a movement. We’re looking at the ability to help users in the U.S. and frankly all over the world save money while they’re shopping. That’s a clear value proposition for everyone,” Kaufer said, adding Give Freely is similar to Amazon’s discontinued AmazonSmile program that let consumers direct commissions to charities.

“And at the same time, whenever they are buying something, a donation is going to a cause they care about.”

While Kaufer said he doesn’t expect Give Freely to become as large as Tripadvisor, he’s hopeful the startup can change lives.

“If Give Freely can end up being used by 500 million users, that would be a fabulous impact on the world,” he said. “That would be billions of dollars a year going to charity, and I would be super proud of being able to help make that happen.”

UPDATE: The article has been updated to include an additional quote from Steve Kaufer.

Scandic Hotels Group has posted its third-quarter results today, with a $49.9 million net profit (559 Swedish krona) and a level of indebtedness that continues to shrink.

“We have delivered another record-breaking quarter and Scandic is standing stronger than ever. Scandic is continuing to make progress in increasing growth and has gradually become a more efficient and profitable company,” said president and CEO Jens Mathiesen.

Scandic operates 55,969 rooms across 269 hotels in the Nordics and wider Europe. The vast majority of its hotels are through long-term lease agreements with other operators, though, as Mathiesen states, an increasing chunk of the network is becoming Scandic’s own brands.

In September, Scandic opened its first Scandic Go with 124 rooms in Stockholm, it also signed two hotels under its Signature Collection that same month.

“We are now focused on growing our hotel portfolio with a stronger organization and intensified cooperation with property owners. For the fourth quarter, we expect occupancy at par with the same period last year at a higher average price per room,” added Mathiesen.

Looking at hotel-specific metrics, the quarter saw some of the highest revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rate (ADR) levels on record for Scandic. RevPAR was up 6.5% compared to last quarter at $83.4 (933 Swedish krona) while ADR was up 5.7% to $117.4 (1,313 Swedish krona).

As of September this year, Scandic’s debt stood at $173.9 million (1.9 billion Swedish krona).

Becoming A Better Company

Mathiesen said in the earnings call that the company has remained focused on efficiency and costs post-pandemic, owing this approach to the group’s strong quarter.

He said: “There’s been a lot of prioritizations of our resources. We are on top of the market when it comes to gaining and taking advantage of opportunities [such as] OTAs and online sales. We are focused on being agile and speedy in our commercial activities.”

“We want to have the best version of everything thing we do. We’re always looking for opportunities to become stronger.”

As for next year, the CEO was hesitant to make any big promises, but said his group would benefit from the strong macro environment of global hospitality. He said: “Right now, globally, the hospitality market is doing extremely well. We’re keeping up a high momentum. There’s a willingness to prioritize traveling and events. It’s holding up. When we look into next year, that’s what we expect. We are well prepared.”

Choice Hotels on Wednesday called on Wyndham Hotels & Resorts to return to merger talks while publicly responding to concerns Wyndham executives had raised about “execution risk” — including questions about regulatory scrutiny.

Meanwhile, Wyndham issued a statement saying its board of directors remains confident that its “standalone growth prospects offer superior, risk-adjusted returns. It once again rejected the hostile merger, which would value Wyndham at $7.8 billion (plus debt),

One issue in dispute is whether U.S. antitrust watchdogs would balk at consolidation. Choice Hotels has a 16% share of the branded U.S. economy hotel market, while Wyndham has 36%, the FT reported.

Executives at Choice said they had received advice that a merger would receive regulatory approval. (Choice is paying for legal advice from Willkie Farr & Gallagher.)

“Independent hotels comprise nearly two-thirds of the economy segment and close to 40% of the midscale segment,” said Choice Hotels.

On Wednesday, data from CoStar’s STR came up with a somewhat different figure, saying that “half of U.S. economy-class hotel rooms are unbranded.”

Choice Hotels executives also noted that major hotel groups such as Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott have this year announced new brands to compete in the premium economy and midscale segments. This fresh rivalry would add to the competitive landscape already featuring Best Western, Extended Stay America, G6 (Motel 6), Oyo, Red Roof Inn, and Sonesta.

Choice Hotels’ comments came on the same afternoon that Wyndham executives issued a release reiterating their disinterest in talks. It also came a day ahead of Wyndham’s earnings call.

Visit North Carolina has launched ‘For Real Fall Colours’, a new new campaign in partnership with its creative agency Luquire. 

The campaign cleverly utilizes the manmade ‘fall colors’ of New York, and transforms them using transparent leaf-shaped magnets and stickers to highlight the organic colours North Carolina has to offer during the fall season.

The magnets and stickers can be found across the city everywhere that portrays a pop of fall color – including brick buildings, taxi cabs, sidewalks and street signs.

You can view the 60-second spot below:

“Being new to North Carolina, I can tell you the fall color here is absolutely worth a trip,” said Glen Hilzinger, chief creative officer at Luquire.

“As part of our overarching ‘For Real, Visit NC’ campaign, we decided to literally reframe the manufactured colors New Yorkers are used to seeing in order to inspire them to see the real colors of North Carolina.”

The out of home element of the campaign will be supported by user generated content that will be shared across Visit NC’s social media platforms in the coming weeks.

Visit Sweden launched a new marketing campaign to remind the world to stop mixing up Sweden with Switzerland, the tourism board announced on Tuesday.

Called “Welcome to Sweden (not Switzerland),” the campaign kicked off with a playful message to Swiss public officials. In the video, Sweden proposes what the countries should promote to better differentiate themselves to end the confusion. Sweden, for example, proposes Switzerland talks about its financial banks while they talk about their sandbanks.

The campaign video includes a joke about U.S. President Joe Biden accidentally stating in 2022 that Switzerland was joining NATO instead of Sweden. Last year, 85,000 Google searches originating from the U.S. asked, “Are Sweden and Switzerland the same?” according to MyTelescope.

Many people can’t differentiate Sweden and Switzerland. About 50% of Americans can’t confidently tell the differences in Swedish and Swiss culture, according to a study commissioned by Visit Sweden.

The campaign also includes a dedicated webpage with key points on how Sweden’s different from Switzerland and a FAQ. “If people struggle to separate our two countries, we need to help them. We can’t change the names of our nations, but we can become more distinct,” said Visit Sweden CEO Susanne Andersson.

A Palestinian delegation was at ITB Asia tourism trade show in Singapore, despite the war and humanitarian crisis at home.

“Palestine is a tourism destination and a political state with a significant historical background,” said Majed Ishaq, director general of marketing for Palestinian ministry of tourism. “Come to our country through Palestinian tour operators. Spend money in Palestine and help to contribute towards our economy.”

Ishaq told Skift that the ministry had previously decided to attend the trade show and didn’t want to back out. “We had already booked a space and paid for the construction of the stand, making it impossible to cancel our participation.”

Ishaq said many tour operators from Southeast Asia work with Israeli tour operators to visit Palestinian areas and he also wanted to establish direct collaborations with these operators.

Ishaq expressed hope for a peaceful resolution and a gradual return to normalcy. Since the war between Israel and Hamas began earlier this month, travel to the region has shut down, with most major airlines suspending service.

South African Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille hosted a BRICS Tourism Ministers Meeting on Tuesday focusing on tourism recovery between the bloc of nations.

Tourism growth related to direct flights among Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa was discussed as a follow-up to the BRICS Summit the country hosted in August.

From January to August, the latest international visitor figures for South Africa rose to 5.5 million international tourists, a 70.6% increase compared to the same period in 2022. However, these figures are still 19% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

The Skift Travel Health Index, which assesses performance in key sectors such as aviation and hotels, shows that while India and Brazil’s travel recovery has seen steady gains in 2023, China‘s full recovery hasn’t been as clearcut as most of the global markets had expected. Russia’s war with Ukraine has significantly affected its tourism recovery, with the country continuing to see sanctions imposed against it.

We attended the Short Term Rentalz Summit last week in London that featured industry experts across Europe and highlighted aspects of the short-term rental industry in Europe.

As a reporter covering short-term rentals, I predominantly speak to and cover the industry in America and so I was really looking forward to meeting and interacting with folks across the pond, and I have to say the range of topics covered and voices represented was impressive. 

Awaze CEO Henrik Kjellberg kicked off the event with a keynote talk stressing the inherent need we all share to meet, interact and have meaningful social connections with each other and how travel plays an important role in that. 

Sally Henry continued on the theme speaking about the state of short-term rentals in data. Most striking number I retained from the presentation was that the Taylor Swift Eras tour contributed $10 million to the short-term rental industry in the US this summer and that Cincinnati, Ohio saw the highest growth in revenue per available rental of 88% annually. 

M&A in Short-Term Rentals

During the initial panel session of the day, Nam Quach from DC Advisory, Filip Lolis from Thayer Ventures, Virginia Bassano of Eight Roads, and Oliver Corkhill from Viadi Group delved into the future of investments and mergers and acquisitions in the short-term rental industry.

Nam Quach of DC Advisory stressed the importance of a stable period as a gap still exists between buyer and seller expectations. As people adapt to the new normal in terms of valuations, he remains optimistic that more transactions will occur.

And Phil Lolís of Thayer Ventures acknowledged the challenges associated with investing in a “pure operating platform” at present. He’s exploring the OpCo / PropCo model in search of a potential “Marriott of the short-term rental sector,” especially in the wake of Hyatt’s recent introduction of its vacation rental platform.

Growing Inventory

Steve Milo of VTrips and NUMA CFO Nick Abrahams  in Europe, shared their strategies for supply growth. Milo, highlighted the current emphasis on organic growth by attracting more property owners. This approach is chosen because the costs of equity and debt are presently too high for acquisitions. On the other hand, Abrahams, emphasized the need for operators to act more strategically to effectively monetize their assets. 

Julie Brinkman, CEO of revenue management solution Beyond, spoke about the latest trends and understand what travelers are searching for, citing examples like the Taylor Swift concert and the Indy 500 in Indianapolis as events generating high traveler demand.

Smarter Regulation 

I moderated the panel on smarter regulation featuring Paolo Lavaggi of the European Commission, Máire Ní Mhurchú from the Irish Self-Catering Federation, and Steve Lowy of the Association of Serviced Apartment Providers. As the European Commission nears the finalization of its proposed short-term rental accommodation regulations in Europe, Ní Mhurchú and Lowy expressed doubts about the effectiveness of current regulations in their respective markets. 

We discussed the definitions of what a short-term rental is, the influence of hotel lobbies in forming new legislation and its impact on tourism.

They agreed that regulation alone cannot resolve all housing-related issues, particularly concerning maximum stay limits and registration schemes in certain markets.

Looking ahead, they urged European governments to gather more comprehensive data and increase their understanding of the short-term rental sector’s significance to national economies. Their aim is to address affordable housing challenges without unfairly blaming the tourism industry.

The Great Debate

My favorite aspect of the entire conference was the debate and the motion was Direct bookings are more expensive than booking with OTAs. Opposing the notion was Janel Clark, program director at Hospa, an association for hospitality professionals. Clark’s argument was OTA commissions may be higher, but they’re good at conversions and the user experience, and have an integrated payment system. The cost of acquisition going through OTAs is lower, Clark said, and this acquisition cost includes the cost of the website, the booking engine, social media, paid search, and marketing. 

Louis Andrews, director and president of Ovo Network, which manages ski chalets in the French Alps, as well as Carla Chicharro, head of marketing at proper management software Lodgify, were on the direct booking side.

Andrews argued that it’s more expensive to book through OTAs for both guests and owners. The value of the booking direct is also greater. Direct bookings are more prominent in leisure markets than urban markets and Andrews added that it’s scary to be wholly dependent on OTAs especially in urban markets where supply is already restricted.

Chicharro said direct bookings allow hosts to set their own rules. But stressed that in order to succeed without relying on OTAs, it’s important to build a brand through a website with good content booking engine, payment systems. 

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed former United Airlines executive Michael Whitaker as the next administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Whitaker, who most recently was chief operating officer of Hyundai-owned urban air mobility startup Supernal, was confirmed with unanimous bipartisan support late on Tuesday. He is the first confirmed FAA administrator since former administrator Steve Dickson stepped down in March 2022.

“Whitaker is the right person at the right time to lead the FAA into the next generation of aviation,” American Airlines said in a statement. “His sterling qualifications in the industry and robust experience as a former FAA Deputy Administrator will be invaluable as the FAA modernizes our nation’s aviation system and maintains the highest levels of safety across the industry.”

The question of qualifications derailed the confirmation of President Biden’s first nominee to lead the aviation regulator, Denver airport chief Phil Washington. Washington, who was an advisor to Biden in the 2020 presidential campaign, was known as an effective leader of transit agencies in both Denver and Los Angeles. Senators, however, questioned Washington’s aviation know how and delayed his confirmation, which eventually led to him withdrawing from consideration in March.

Whitaker, in comparison, has experience at United, as a deputy administrator of the FAA, and in the emerging urban air mobility segment.

“Mike will take the reins at a pivotal time for the FAA,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said. “The national airspace is busier and more complex than ever and the challenges are many, from addressing serious close call incidents that have put the entire aviation community on notice, to the need to keep up the FAA’s momentum on air traffic control hiring and training, to continuing to be creative and collaborative with airlines to keep cancellations low after the spike in disruptions last summer.”

The FAA faces a shortage of air traffic controllers that was a contributing factor in the numerous delays at the New York-area airports this summer. Current forecasts estimate that, barring a government shutdown and a lapse in funding, it will take about five years to close the roughly 3,000-controller shortage across the U.S. Whitaker will lead these efforts in his new role.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with the administrator to address the critical issues facing our National Airspace System, including air traffic control staffing shortages and NextGen [air traffic control] modernization implementation,” aviation trade group Airlines for America said. “These complex challenges underscore why steady, permanent leadership at the agency is necessary, especially given the anticipated growth in demand for passenger and cargo air transportation.”

Air Canada has unveiled the first of its upgraded Airbus A321’s, featuring a host of new features that have been implemented to improve ‘customer comfort’.

The new aircraft, which has been redesigned from nose to tail, features a new cabin interior along with a range of new technologies, including a new in-flight entertainment system with bluetooth audio, free high-speed internet, larger overhead bins, upgraded seating, LED mood lighting and exterior cameras.

The new cabins will also see a reduced fuel consumption of more than 2.4 million litres per year when the work has been completed across the entire fleet, thanks to a weight reduction of approximately 240 kilograms. 

“We’re proud to welcome customers on board to experience the comfort, convenience, and connectivity of our latest cabins. These upgraded fleet interiors will align the A320s and A321s to the highly popular A220 experience, further strengthening our industry leading product offering,” said Mark Nasr, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Digital, and President of Aeroplan.

“Additionally, new features such as our inflight entertainment system streaming exterior aircraft camera feeds, Bluetooth connectivity, and free, fast internet connectivity will be extremely popular with travelers. We will continue advancing our product leadership by trialing more new in-flight experiences with this A321 and expanding those learnings to additional aircraft in our fleet.”  

Retrofitting on Air Canada’s remaining Airbus A321s and A320s will begin this fall and is slated to be completed by the end of 2025.