Articles tagged “google”

Hotels

Google’s New Climate Push Won’t Penalize Hotels That Opt Out

What can make a travel companies truly put their money where their mouth is on sustainability? Threaten a lower placement on a Google search.

Cameron Sperance | 5 days ago

Online Travel

How Far Will Google Take New Hotel and Environment Claims?

It's a nice step for Google to provide more information about hotels' sustainability practices in search results. But will the company have the guts to get "political," in the eyes of some, and push hotel listings higher or lower based on environmental practices?

Dennis Schaal | 5 days ago

Online Travel

Google’s Ticketing for Attractions Off to Rough Start

Google's attractions ticket beta has been among its least elegant in travel to date. This has angered many tour operators because it couldn't have come at a more inopportune time.

Dennis Schaal, Skift | 2 weeks ago

Online Travel

Remember When Expedia Wanted to Reduce Its Reliance on Google? Big 180-Degree Shift Now

Critics blasted Airbnb for relying too heavily on Google advertising to obtain customers in 2019. But in the beginning of 2021, Expedia outspent all of its rivals on paid marketing and made some gains. Expedia and its Vrbo brand are making no apologies for it.

Dennis Schaal, Skift | 3 weeks ago

Free Read

Online Travel

3 Ways Brands Can Harness Customer Data as the U.S. Reopens

Familiar themes such as personalization, loyalty, omni-channel, and end-to-end experiences are still front of mind for travelers as the recovery begins, albeit with a refreshed focus. Access to real-time, accurate, and first-hand data needed to satisfy these demands — and others — is even more foundational for any travel or hospitality company post-Covid-19 than it was before.

Amperity + Skift | 3 months ago

Business Travel

Southwest Business Wants to Do More Than Just Fly Corporate Travelers to Meetings

What a difference a year makes. The airline’s business travel division has, finally, added Sabre, but is also preparing to add a shopping mall-style loyalty program. Will this complete its corporate-friendly transformation?

Matthew Parsons, Skift | 1 month ago

Online Travel

Did Kiwi Figure Out How to Hack Southwest for Flight Information?

Airlines have complained about the hidden costs of online travel agency web-scraping for years, but Southwest takes that sensitivity to a much higher strategic level. Kiwi apparently is adept at out-maneuvering Southwest's page-scraping roadblocks so the courts will have to sort it all out.

Dennis Schaal, Skift | 2 months ago

Online Travel

Google Launches Attractions Tickets Globally on Mobile

Eventually, Google's new Tickets feature may turn out to be one of the most important developments in a long time for the tours and activities sector. Google will certainly move to monetize the feature with paid ads, and it will ultimately expand to tours, and other products, too.

Dennis Schaal, Skift | 2 months ago

Online Travel

Former Expedia CEO Knew Copying a Rival Was a ‘Recipe for Death’

Business school students can probably debate this question endlessly and there would be merit in either position: Should smaller companies copy their larger rivals or vice versa? In the Google era, marketing power often wins the day — but differentiation still counts.

Dennis Schaal, Skift | 2 months ago

Airlines

UK Opens Travel and 9 Other Top Travel Stories This Week

In Skift’s top stories this week, the UK opens up more non-essential travel, Reserve with Google is ending, Hawaii's residents say tourism is worth its troubles and American Airlines sues Sabre — again.

Angel Adegbesan, Skift | 3 months ago

Online Travel

Google to End Tours and Activities Booking Next Month

Google's retreat in tours and activities booking services doesn't mean Google is becoming less powerful in travel. It's part of Google's strategy to wrangle consistency across its products in offering a combination of advertisements and free listings to gain an even wider audience.

Dennis Schaal, Skift | 3 months ago

Airlines

Icelandair Jumps Into a Void and 9 Other Top Travel Stories This Week

In Skift’s top stories this week, Icelandair's plan to return to normalcy, airlines wants to bring criminal charges against unruly passengers, shortages ripple through the travel industry this summer and investors back Outdoorsy as the new Airbnb.

Angel Adegbesan, Skift | 3 months ago