Articles tagged “subscriptions”

Skift recently hosted the Loyalty & Subscription Summit. Download the post-event report to learn about travel’s new frontier of subscriptions and the new rules of loyalty in 2021 and beyond.

A Friday earnings call helped analysts quantify the potential of Tripadvisor's new direct-to-consumer subscription product. New numbers for the company as a whole were also hopeful. But wary hotel chains, resentful online travel agencies, and raging virus variants still pose risks.

The pandemic has proven the resilience of loyalty programs. But it has also suggested the need for travel brands to supplement their loyalty programs with subscription-based products that address complementary needs.

Naysayers might say subscriptions don't work in the travel space, but proponents say it's about execution. The keys to being successful are adaptability with the changing times, customer needs, and authentic relationship building — easier said than done, of course.

Access, curation, and creating value for both consumers and suppliers are critical to the success of Tripadvisor's new subscription product, says a top executive. The company's still working out the kinks with Tripadvisor Plus, but the early word is promising.

Expedia wants to help people find a new travel companion — namely Expedia. We've heard online travel agencies and others vow to become to become less price-oriented before, but fickle deal hunters will make that a tough pledge to fulfill.

Subscriptions look set to be big business, with the needle currently swinging to higher quality holidays and experiences.

A new business model shall set you free. That's the underpinning of Flight Penguin, with the former Hipmunk gang vowing to overturn the coziness between online travel players and their big-spending partners. Google, Kayak and Expedia have nothing to fear; they will hardly notice.

It's hardly an accident that Tripadvisor is transitioning toward a direct-to-consumer business model after years of Google's hotel-comparison search eating into Tripadvisor's business.

Private equity firm Certares is leveraging its brand assets the way a Booking Holdings might do when Booking.com shares inventory with sister company Priceline. This isn't the usual private equity playbook.