Skift Travel News Blog

Swiss Air flyers will soon be able to connect to Interlaken and Lucerne on a single ticket. The airline will expand its “Air Rail” partnership with Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) to the two famed destinations in Switzerland from December 11.

The expansion comes as airlines as increasingly relying on rail partners for local, or regional, connections on the ground. This is especially popular in Europe where many major airports have intercity rail stations, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris Charles de Gaulle. And, in July, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn unveiled plans to join the airline confab, Star Alliance, as its first intermodal partner.

But for all the fanfare given these partnerships, many hurdles remain. A lack of signage at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport adds an unnecessary layer of difficulty to flight-train transfers. Elsewhere, airline executives speak of issues integrating reservations systems and other technology challenges. And then there is the simple challenge of physical infrastructure: Trains can only go where tracks exist.

The expanded Swiss and SBB partnership includes a new direct train — no transfer required — between Interlaken and the Zurich Airport. The airline touts “seamless” connectivity under the pact, including the ability of travelers to check in once — for example, on the Swiss app — and receive boarding passes for both the air and rail portion of their trips. Travelers can also earn points in Swiss’ loyalty program for the rail portion of their trips.

The addition of Interlaken and Lucerne comes just months after the airline and rail operator expanded their partnership to Munich in July.

Saudi Arabia’s flagship tourism project developer has rebranded to Red Sea Global (RSG) and said it would open three resorts in 2023 and 13 more in 2024, reported Al Arabiya on Tuesday.

Formerly known as The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), Red Sea Global has long been working on a project along the Red Sea and Amaala, a resort being constructed on Saudi Arabia’s northwest coast. Both efforts are part of the country’s efforts to diversify its economy by boosting new sectors such as tourism while using renewable energy.

On Tuesday, the developer said its mandate had expanded to oversee up to a dozen projects stretching the length of the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, with the potential to expand beyond the kingdom. It plans to open 16 resorts between now and 2024.

Red Sea Global is a closed joint-stock company owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

Booking.com said last week that it is working to help travelers choose more environmentally sustainable travel options through a new partnership with climate tech company CHOOOSE.

The Amsterdam-based Booking Holdings (NYSE: BKNG) marketplace helps travelers book lodging and a range of transportation options. 

The software made by Oslo-based CHOOOSE, which shares various pieces of emission-related info about specific bookings, can be integrated into other travel software platforms. Other clients of the company include SAP, Amadeus, Skyscanner, Southwest, Air Canada and more, according to its website. 

The goal of the new global partnership is to increase traveler awareness about the carbon implications of their trips, with the ultimate goal of allowing travelers to choose different carbon offsetting options through Booking.com, the companies said. The partnership will focus first on accommodation and later move to other products and services, including flights. 

Booking.com referenced its 2022 study showing that half of travelers say recent news about climate change has influenced them to make more sustainable travel choices. The company last year announced a program that would provide a badge to partners that have implemented a combination of sustainable practices.

“Together with CHOOOSE, we can provide information in a more transparent manner, and through trusted climate projects, can offer another way for travelers to make more mindful travel decisions,” said Danielle D’Silva, head of sustainability for Booking.com, in a statement. 

India’s competition watchdog has fined online hotel-booking company MakeMyTrip Group about $27 million (₹223.48 crore) and hotel chain Oyo about $20 million (₹168.88 crore) for anti-competitive behavior.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been investigating the companies since 2019, after a hotel body alleged that MakeMyTrip gave biased preference to SoftBank-backed Oyo on its sites and mobile apps.

OYO and MakeMyTrip said they were reviewing the order. Both companies said they believed their business practices were fair and lawful.

Some backstory, first: In October 2015, MakeMyTrip blocked its main competitor in the budget category, Oyo, from displaying listings on its site and apps.

MakeMyTrip had boycotted Oyo to nurture its attempt at branded budget booking properties, GoStays, and because it didn’t like how Oyo was using deep discounting to woo travelers to book directly instead of via agencies.

But the record-breaking growth, fueled by record-breaking funding, appeared to prompt MakeMyTrip to change its mind about the fight.

Smaller Oyo competitor brands, such as Fab Hotels and Treebo, disappeared from MakeMyTrip’s sites and apps.

In 2019, a major hotel lobby, the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) alleged that there were deals between Oyo and MakeMyTrip that gave preferential treatment to Oyo and thus were restricting market access to rivals such as Fab Hotels and Treebo and some other independent hotel operators with franchises in these brands.

“The Commission is of the view that the commercial arrangement between OYO and MMT-Go which led to the delisting of FabHotels, Treebo and the independent hotels, which were availing the services of these franchisors, was anticompetitive,” the CCI said in its order, accusing MakeMyTrip Group of misrepresentation the information on its site as being comprehensive and fair.

It was alleged that MakeMyTrip Group charged exorbitant commission brokerage fees to be listed for smaller players while offering Oyo comparatively favorable terms.

The commission held that MakeMyTrip and its sister brand GoIbibo held 63 percent of the domestic hotel online market share in 2017, which was the last time a new entrant, HappyEasyGo, debuted in the market.

Parity provisions in contracts, combined with discounting by online travel brands, were another area that the commission critiqued.

MakeMyTrip Group has put into contracts with hotel suppliers requirements for price parity hotel partners, where hotels can’t sell their rooms at any other online travel agency or on their own direct booking channels at rates below MakeMyTrip Group’s. Yet the online travel company retains its right to flex rates up and down to drive demand, such as offering rates below the average room rate.

It is likely MakeMyTrip Group and Oyo will appeal the regulator’s decisions.

Among their many complaints, the companies said in recent statements the investigation is devoid of any useful economic analysis and several concepts have been wrongly applied. MakeMyTrip Group also said it cannot be considered dominant in the online booking market when one looks at the bigger picture.

Six months after raising $30 million, a startup offering operations management software to small hotels has made its first acquisition. 

Barcelona-based Amenitiz said this week that it has acquired Ododo, a French company that offers online hotel training. 

The Amenitiz platform contains several features, including data transfer to online resellers, online booking, automation of daily tasks like payments and invoicing, and online marketing. 

The Ododo training service focuses on helping hoteliers learn how to increase bookings and become more profitable. 

Amenitiz clients will now be able to access the Ododo training for free, the company said. Especially during a tight labor market, Amenitiz said that providing the training tool is the next step in further supporting independent hoteliers

Marc-Antoine de la Rüe du Can, the founder of Ododo, will join Amenitiz as head of content. 

Following the acquisition, Amenitiz is launching The Hotel Club, a multilingual training platform through which any hotelier can access free training courses.  

In addition, Amenitiz plans to host in-person events regularly throughout Europe, with the goal of helping hoteliers expand their networks.

Amenitizp completed a Series A round of fundraising in April. The startup is part of a wave of companies offering cloud-based software to help small hotel companies sell online. Some others include Cloudbeds, Hotelrunner, Clock, Yanolja’s Ezee, SiteMinder, and Oracle Hospitality’s Opera Cloud.

Amenitiz said there are 700,000 hotels, bed and breakfasts, and vacation rentals in Europe, 80 percent of which fall under the company’s target clientele of independent properties with 50 rooms or fewer. 

Longtime Vrbo executive Jeff Hurst, who was chief operating officer of Expedia brands and formerly Vrbo’s president, is leaving the company.

This follows the exit in September of John Kim, who was president of Expedia Marketplace, and last month became executive vice president and chief product officer at PayPal.

Expedia Group announced earlier this week that Brad Bentley, most previously president and CEO of clean energy company Inspire, would become chief operating officer of Expedia brands, taking Hurst’s role.

Hurst had been with Expedia/Vrbo and predecessor company HomeAway since 2010.

Kim has worked at Expedia/HomeAway since 2011.

Following Expedia Group hiring former Google travel advertising director Rob Torres in April, Expedia stated this week that it hired Tript Singh Lamba, most previously head of head of product for YouTube ad monetization and personalization at Google, as senior vice president of consumer product for Expedia product & technology.

Bentley will report to Jon Gieselman, president, Expedia Brands, including Expedia, Vrbo and Hotels.com. Lamba will report to Rathi Murthy, Expedia Group’s chief technology officer and president, Expedia product & technology.

“Building long-lasting direct traveler relationships and operating more effectively with our capital allocation are core components of our B2C strategy,” Giselman said in the announcement statement. “It is critical to have a leader that understands all the complicated investment tradeoffs between customer acquisition, engagement, and retention, and can apply that experience to our planning, operating model, and daily operations. Brad’s substantial operational experience with direct-to-consumer products puts our Brands division in a position to thrive even more.”

Expedia didn’t announce a reason for Hurst’s departure, and a spokesperson characterized it as merely a leadership change after Hurst’s more than 10 years of accomplishments at Expedia and HomeAway.

Hurst didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Caesars Entertainment and SL Green confirmed in a New York Times story that they are partnering up to bid for a downtown New York City casino license.

The two plan to redevelop 1515 Broadway in Times Square as an entertainment and gaming destination.

Caesars Palace Times Square will even be designed to include a Broadway Theater for The Lion King.

Since they are renovating and not building from scratch, they believe it will give them an upper hand in the bidding since they can say they will open quicker.

It will be a very expensive bidding war with most likely 4 to 5 bidders for what we believe will be one available license.

This commentary is an excerpt by Alan Woinski in Daily Lodging Report. If you’re not a subscriber, you should be. Get news on hotel deals, development, stocks, and career moves. Sign up here, now.

A real estate mogul has made a small bet on the evolution of experiential wellness in hospitality by helping to back the growth of Canyon Ranch, a four-decade-old, destination spa resort brand. 

Vici Properties said it had tapped a loan facility for up to $200 million to fund the development of Canyon Ranch Austin in Austin, Texas, slated to open in 2025. Vici is a real estate investment trust affiliated with Caesars Entertainment whose portfolio includes 58,000 hotel rooms and casinos. Earlier this year, it acquired the Venetian Resort Las Vegas in a $4 billion deal.

Expansion Plans

The move came as Canyon Ranch, which has three full-service resorts, is pursuing a growth strategy by adding the Austin resort.

More ambitiously, Canyon Ranch plans to open urban wellness clubs. It plans to open mid-size, partial-service facilities in Houston (in early 2024) and Fort Worth, Texas (by the end of 2023), that offer integrated wellness in settings of about 30,000 to 40,000 square feet.

“Wellness is not just components like diet, fitness, sleep, and mindfulness, but it’s all of it delivered in an integrated way,” said Canyon Ranch CEO Jeff Kuster. “We want to be able to follow guests back home, so to speak.”

The company will also create a mobile app that helps customers receive guidance for meeting their wellness goals with the help of biometric data.

The idea is to help guests retain the well-being they found at the resort when they return to their urban lives. Having multiple touchpoints with customers could encourage loyalty and cross-selling as well as raise brand awareness among potential new guests, the company said.

“We are really excited by the evolving of the Canyon Ranch ecosystem because we believe, strongly, that all aspects of that ecosystem will motivate existing and potential clients to seek the ultimate Canyon Ranch experience at the resorts, including Austin,” said Edward Pitoniak, CEO of Vici Properties.

“Canyon Ranch is a global leader in the strength of relationship with their guests, and that’s because they create a client experience that truly encompasses the totality of the client’s life and aspirations,” Pitoniak said.

Vici also obtained a right to acquire a couple of Canyon Ranch’s properties in Tucson, Arizona, and Lenox, Massachusetts — if the wellness company chooses to sell the real estate. The brand would continue to operate the facilities essentially as a management company. Privately held Canyon Ranch isn’t believed to have had other significant external backers to date.

“In this environment, nothing’s being financed,” Kuster noted. “This just speaks to the vision of Vici to build out these pilgrimage-type destinations. It’s a way for us to get a significant ground-up property built in a really attractive market.”

Bet on Experiential Real Estate

Vici said its support of Canyon Ranch was part of a broader bet on “experiential real estate,” or property that offers consumers experiences they can’t easily replicate at home.

“This can be driven by the physical aspects and magnitude of the real estate,” Pitoniak of Vici said. “It can also be driven by the value of the experience being shared, at the same time, in the same place, face to face.”

Skeptics may wonder if a company delivering something as amorphous as wellness can successfully build a competitive moat with high walls to thrive. But Vici is bullish.

“In certain brand categories, the brand’s differentiation is based on the brand’s intellectual capital,” Pitoniak of Vici said. “What we love about Canyon Ranch is that the team has an unrivaled legacy, within global wellness, at continually advancing its intellectual capital around wellness and manifesting that intellectual capital in its guest experience innovation.”

“Competitive moats can’t be static,” Pitoniak said. “They must be defended every day, and, to use the old saying, the best defense is a strong offense, and we love the way Jeff Kuster and the Canyon Ranch team are on offense, especially as we enter a period of tremendous secular tailwinds behind wellness.”

Marriott International said on Wednesday it would buy the City Express hotel portfolio from Mexico-based Hoteles City Express for $100 million, as the hotel giant sought to push further into Latin America.

The deal includes 152 hotels across five brands, most prominently City Express, and will boost Marriott’s footprint in the Caribbean and Latin America by 45 percent — to 486 properties across brands. 

“We’re excited to enter a new lodging category — the popular affordable midscale segment where we see significant potential,” said Anthony Capuano, CEO of Marriott International.

The deal could close between the end of 2022 and the first half of 2023.

All owned and leased hotels will sign long-term franchise agreements with Marriott, while franchise agreements for co-invested, franchised and operated properties will be assigned to Marriott, with the option to sign a new contract. Marriott estimated franchise fees at about $10 million.

Most of the portfolio is in Mexico, but some hotels are in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Chile.

“At around $6,000 per room, this is a decent price,” said analysts at Bernstein in a report. “This makes Marriott the clear number one in Latin America (overtaking Accor).”

The lodging giant said it saw an opportunity to expand the brand, first in Central America and then in Latin America and possibly worldwide. It plans to add the “by Marriott” tag to the City Express brand as an endorsement.

“However, Hilton and IHG created their Americas focussed mid scale brands (Tru and Avid) organically and were able to grow them rapidly with entirely 3rd party capital and entirely new builds (no conversions),” Bernstein said. “Some of Marriott’s acquired hotels will be 20 years old. The [City Express] pipeline is just 5% of current supply.”

It was a day of validation for Luis Barrios, who founded Hoteles City Express in 2002.

The JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines merger is a step closer to reality with the approval of the latter’s shareholders Wednesday.

Investors in Miramar, Florida-based Spirit approved the $3.8 billion deal with more than 50 percent voting in favor. Shareholder approval was a key, though not final, step in merging the U.S.’ sixth and seventh largest airlines.

“Today’s vote is a major milestone in our plan to join with Spirit to create a high-quality, low-fare national challenger,” a JetBlue spokesperson said.

JetBlue and Spirit still must secure regulatory approval from the U.S. Justice Department before the merger can close. That is far from a guarantee with the Biden administration taking a firm stance against consolidation in major industries, and for additional competition.

Both JetBlue and Spirit argue that by merging they will be a more formidible competitor to the largest U.S. carriers — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. But the combination would also remove the country’s largest budget airlines, Spirit, leaving the market entirely to smaller Frontier Airlines.

In July, Frontier lost a bidding war with JetBlue for Spirit.

JetBlue and Spirit hope to secure regulatory approval and close their merger by the first half of 2024.