News

The right celebrity can add credibility and boost branding for a travel startup or lifestyle brand, but it is ultimately up to team, with their heads down executing, to bring a concept to startup stardom.

Despite all of the ignorance he sees, the Hotel Fixer thinks the U.S. hotel industry is in fairly good shape as long as educational resources are directed at "teaching the craft of hospitality and service." But, don't let hotel consultants rob you blind.

U.S. cities, barring NYC, are still not the most expensive large cities to do business in. Thanks to its mining boom and rising currency value, Australia clearly has a problem on its hands.

If the DOT wants to make an example of Southwest, a company that makes about $2.7 million per day, it's going to have to levy fines quite a bit heftier than this.

Altimeter Capital's new venture capital fund won't be exclusively devoted to travel startups, but expect to see it making news along the lines of Concur's larger Perfect Trip Fund, which indeed concentrates on travel.

Barger is seeking to maintain JetBlue's middle ground between ultra low cost and network carriers, but investors' new love affair with Spirit Airlines and others of its type will keep the pressure on JetBlue management.

Year Two. Skift it, we're building it!

Anyone who boards a commercial airline sees that there are privileged and not-so privileged passengers in the eyes of the airline. United Mileage Plus reinforces and widens the great divide by providing more bang per mile for elite flyers on lucrative intercontinental routes.

Admittedly, a one vendor list, but enough data to draw trendlines. And London is still the most global city for business, and expensive too. Maybe it really should solve that Heathrow problem, fast...

Google Maps is the world's biggest funnel to destination-specific information, and it only makes sense to focus content on those users. Whether or not Zagat's distinctive ratings system and brand voice will continue to rise to the top remains to be seen.

What does matter to most travelers are the price, connections, and time the flight takes -- in that order. If you happen to get on a nice, new Airbus plane? Well that's just a bonus.