Articles tagged “tech”

Online Travel

Booking’s Connected Trip Vs. Hopper’s Fintech Strategies

Booking Holdings and Hopper are attacking travelers' anxieties in wildly divergent ways. Booking is trying to soothe them, while Hopper doesn't mind a little angst if it means more fintech revenue.

Dennis Schaal | 2 weeks ago
Booking’s Connected Trip Vs. Hopper’s Fintech Strategies

News Blog

Sonder Gets a Chain Code in Sabre and Amadeus to Push Move Into Corporate Travel

Sonder has been trying to up its footprint in corporate travel, announced that it now has a chain code, SS, in the Sabre and Amadeus global distribution systems. Business travelers at an airport. Source: Getty Images When travel agents are looking to book corporate clients in Sonder properties, having that chain code makes it easier…

Dennis Schaal | 3 weeks ago

News Blog

Ex-Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza Thinks Electric Planes Face Huge Commercial Challenges

The future commercial use of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, or eVTOLs, will be "highly challenging," according to former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza, who's a fan of the technology's potential, but thinks industrial and military applications would take place first. The Archer Aviation Maker aircraft on its first flight in December 2021. Baldanza,…

Dennis Schaal | 1 month ago

Online Travel

Hype Over New Online Travel Disruptors Is So Overblown

Old entrants like Google and hotel brands will likely be much more disruptive to the future of online travel agencies than Chase, Uber, and Travel + Leisure.

Dennis Schaal | 3 months ago
Hype Over New Online Travel Disruptors Is So Overblown

News Blog

New U.S. Tourism Strategy Calls for More Touchless Tech

From facial biometrics at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints to visas that don't require boarding foils, the new U.S. Department of Commerce strategy to boost international arrivals calls for tech improvements to better verify identities and expedite the travel process. Passport kiosks. Department of Homeland Security. Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhsgov/16460568027/in/photostream/ Among the recommended tech-oriented actions citied in the…

Dennis Schaal | 4 months ago

News Blog

The Complexity Headache That Expedia CEO Peter Kern Inherited in 1 Slide

Ever wonder about the daunting challenge that Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern inherited from predecessors Dara Khosrowshahi and Mark Okertstrom when Kern took the chief executive spot under Barry Diller in 2020? The pandemic notwithstanding, Expedia Group captured its infrastructure issues in one slide as part of an investor presentation at Cowen 50th Anniversary Technology,…

Dennis Schaal | 4 months ago

Short-Term Rentals

Bosses of Futurestay and Evolve Split Over Best Strategies for Short-Term Rental Owners

Myriad ways exist for hosts to build their short-term rental businesses. And if the choices are complex today, just wait for the rush of new vendors and operators seeing gold in them hills.

Dennis Schaal | 5 months ago
Bosses of Futurestay and Evolve Split Over Best Strategies for Short-Term Rental Owners

Online Travel

Expedia: You’ll Have to Wait Longer to See Hard Data on Our Rebuild Progress

Expedia Group is still very much caught up in making over the company. Is it working? Company officials are basically telling Wall Street — trust us, we think this is going to be good.

Dennis Schaal | 8 months ago
Expedia: You’ll Have to Wait Longer to See Hard Data on Our Rebuild Progress

Hotels

India’s Oyo Hotel Startup to Target $9 Billion Valuation in IPO

Among Softbank's holdings, Oyo does not appear to be another WeWork calamity. However, under the glare of being a public company, Oyo would be challenged to get to profitability, and to remedy its ongoing brand reputation challenges.

Dennis Schaal | 8 months ago
India’s Oyo Hotel Startup to Target $9 Billion Valuation in IPO

Short-Term Rentals

Sonder Underwhelms in Public Debut

Sonder's delayed stock market debut came to be, finally. Now with a $310 million injection of proceeds from private investors, and tapping into a $165 million credit line, the company can go about its business trying to build the next household name hospitality brand.

Dennis Schaal | 8 months ago
Sonder Underwhelms in Public Debut