Online Travel News

These articles delve into the latest trends, technologies, and strategies that are shaping the online booking landscape, ensuring that industry insiders stay informed and prepared for change. These stories cover essential topics such as the development of innovative booking platforms, the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in personalizing travel options, and the impact of mobile technology on customer behavior. Additionally, the news stories highlight the growing importance of user-generated content and reviews in shaping consumer decisions, and the role of social media in the online travel booking ecosystem. Skift’s stories examine the competitive landscape and offer insights into the successes and challenges faced by major online travel agencies (OTAs), startups, and traditional travel companies transitioning to the digital space.

News Blog

UK Travel Agency On the Beach Sets New CEO Start Date

The UK’s On the Beach Group has now said chief financial officer Shaun Morton will take up his new position as CEO on June 30. The confirmation follows the London Stock Exchange-listed company's completion of its search for a new finance chief to replace him. Now Jon Wormald will be taking the role, the company…

News Blog

Booking.com Became Major League Baseball’s Official Online Travel Partner

Booking.com, which has marketing relationships with the International Cricket Council and the Union of European Football Associations, is playing ball with Major League Baseball. Pictured is a Spring Airlines A320 bedecked as Booking.com as seen on July 7, 2018. Source: Flickr.com/ Kwok Ho Eddie Wong https://tinyurl.com/4m6a58jf The company will officially announce today that it has…

News Blog

Booking CEO Glenn Fogel Cites Generative AI’s Promise and Hurdles

Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel cited the "explosion of interest" in generative AI (artificial intelligence), but counseled that it would be prudent to be patient about delivering on its promises. Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, pictured here speaking at Skift Global Forum in September 2022 in New York, is keen on more tech investment.…

News Blog

Online Travel Agency Wheel the World to Offer Guaranteed Accessibility and Price Match

Online travel agency Wheel the World, which serves travelers with disabilities, announced on Thursday that it's offering guaranteed accessibility and price match for hotel rooms booked on its website. "We have identified those details of accessibility and the rooms that have those details,” Wheel the World CEO and co-founder Alvaro Silberstein said, adding that the…

News Blog

GetYourGuide Relaunches Originals With Homepage Refresh

Tours and activities online booking platform GetYourGuide has unveiled a fresh look on its homepage this week, and with it, a new series of Originals by GetYourGuide. The Originals offering, previously put on hold towards the end of 2022, was run in partnership with local operators in popular destinations. Now the operator has shifted the…

News Blog

Tripadvisor Names Appointees to Fill Out Reorganization of Its Core Business

Tripadvisor filled in the blanks, naming two executive appointments to flesh out a reorganization of its core business that the company disclosed during its fourth quarter earnings call a week ago. Sanjay Raman, who had previous stints at Airbnb, Greylock and Google, starting working in January as chief product officer, a new position within Tripadvisor's…

Skift Research

Online Travel Booking Trends During the Pandemic

Are the channel wars coming back? The pandemic brought a wave of direct bookings but our latest survey data suggests that this trend may not last. Plus, we find surprising shifts in booking site usage and share among American travelers.

Online Travel Booking Trends During the Pandemic

News Blog

Caesars Now Sells Flights and Vacation Packages

Caesars Entertainment is adding an online travel agency business model, as it launches a new website that lets guests books flights as well as their accommodation. The resort operator’s new “Caesars Rewards Travel Bundle” venture, as reported by Skift’s Daily Lodging Report, is powered by Snowstorm Technologies. To coincide with the new Caesars website (caesars.com/flights-hotels)…

News Blog

AI Wars Comes For Travel Planning, As Bing Relaunches Around ChatGPT

The Microsoft-owned also-ran search engine Bing has relaunched around conversational chatbot technology powered by ChatGPT, the new sensation owned by OpenAI. In an event today, the CEOs of Microsoft and OpenAI gave a demo of the new Bing, and it will be open to all in coming days. The refreshed Bing provides a chatbox with…

News Blog

Booking.com Returns to the Super Bowl With Ad Featuring Melissa McCarthy

It's tough for a National Football League team to make a return trip in two consecutive years to the Super Bowl, but online travel company Booking.com will be doing just that with a fourth quarter advertisement during the telecast. Here's the advertisement: https://youtu.be/GizRGO3PVD8 Booking.com Chief Marketing Officer Arjan Dijk announced on LinkedIn that the Amersterdam-based…