Breaking news and insights about online travel booking, online travel agencies, travel startups, venture capital investments, and more essential news about digital travel.
Seth Borko, Skift Research
Oyo promises a new type of hotel company. It’s an asset-light brand that seeks to connect the global long tail of mom-and-pop hotels through its tech and distribution platform. But can it live up to the hype? Skift Research dives deep into Oyo’s business strategy and financial performance.
7 hours ago
Dennis Schaal, Skift
Touring Bird gained no traction in the real world outside Area 120, and for all the inroads metasearch has made in hotels, flights, and cars, it has really struggled in emerging categories where the products aren't cookie-cutter such as in vacation rentals, and tours and activities. After all, when experiences are unique or varied, comparing them is hard.
7 hours ago
Jasmine Ganaishlal and Spencer Lee, Skift
This week in digital news, Booking.com has launched a flight partnership in Europe, but travelers still have to go through a third-party site. Meanwhile, Agoda is starting to offer flights without the hassle of platform redirection.
2 days ago
SkiftX
Consumers are so overwhelmed by choice these days, they sometimes simply give up on travel plans altogether. Brands like American Express Travel are hoping to end that lamentable state of affairs by combining old-school service with new technological tools that make the complete “customer journey” both high tech and high touch.
2 weeks ago
Raini Hamdi, Skift
Flights are the next big thing for all of Booking Holdings’ accommodation platforms, not just Booking.com but Agoda and Priceline in Asia. In the region, where super-apps have taught consumers they can book everything on one app, and where even airlines want to be online travel agencies, it isn’t surprising Agoda is offering flights.
4 days ago
Sean O'Neill, Skift
Melbourne, Australia-based luggage maker July was one of several travel startups that announced collectively more than $21 million in funding this week.
5 days ago
Dennis Schaal, Skift
Airbnb is on a path toward spending as much as $2 billion in sales and marketing in 2019. When you consider that Airbnb will likely have to start spending more with Google as it adds more hotels onto its platform, then the company's supposed competitive advantage over Booking Holdings and Expedia Group on that front appears a little less attractive.
5 days ago
Yixin Ng, Skift
Line Travel Japan’s new rewards initiative is a neat, innovative way to upsell online travel agencies, but it represents a whole lot more. It's a sign of loftier metasearch ambitions to own customers in a fight against common enemies — the lowest-price quandary and the Google behemoth.
6 days ago
Sean O'Neill, Skift
The online juggernaut isn't satisfied with dominating urban markets. Airbnb wants to take the beaches and the mountains, too, in the battle for short-term rental bookings. So the company is becoming savvier in how it approaches local property managers.
6 days ago
Sean O'Neill, Skift
Sabre's acquisition of Radixx is yet another sign that the travel technology giant is shoring up its competitive position vis-à-vis its rival Amadeus in the lucrative market for selling airlines operational technology.
6 days ago
Raini Hamdi, Skift
India’s largest online travel agency may beat analysts’ expectations and break even sooner rather than later. Ctrip, which now owns nearly half of the company, could be a factor. Another is boosting hotel content, which offers higher margins than air.
6 days ago
Dennis Schaal, Skift
The Booking.com flight partnership with eTraveli doesn't seem particularly seamless because travelers still have to hop over to a third-party site, Gotogate, to complete their reservations. Still, the deal is another step in Booking.com's evolution from hotel-only provider in its early days to well-rounded online travel company.
1 week ago
