Prices of Greener Jet Fuel Rise With Oil Shock, Leaving Airlines Exposed
Sustainable aviation fuel was supposed to help airlines reduce their dependence on oil. The Iran war has exposed how far aviation is from that reality.
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Airlines
Can’t Fly or Won’t Fly? Why Airlines Aren’t Returning to Dubai Yet
Between insurance hurdles and tight capacity controls, the line between “can’t fly” and “won’t fly” in this complex operating environment is becoming increasingly blurred.
Iran War Forces Gulf Airlines to Loosen Loyalty Requirements
In the last 24 hours, two of the three biggest Gulf carriers have eased loyalty rules. A simple case of looking after the customer or a sign that disruption may outlast current recovery timelines?
Business Travel
SAP Concur Adds AI Agents for Expense Automation, Expands AmexGBT Partnership
SAP Concur unveils new automation tools and partnership milestones in New Orleans, though several key features remain in pilot or scheduled for later in 2026.
Hotels’ Business-Travel Problem: Demand Is Back. The Three-Night Stay Isn’t.
Shorter stays are quietly rewiring hotel businesses. Operators can’t rely on the old Monday through Thursday rhythm to smooth occupancy and pricing.
300% Increase In Private Jet Demand In UAE, Charter Provider Claims
The ongoing war in the Middle East has led to airspace closures and grounded planes, causing ticket prices to surge on high demand, increased fuel costs and rising insurance premiums.
Coronavirus
The Travel Industry’s Immense Potential for Growth
Despite the pandemic’s unprecedented challenges, the travel industry’s recovery is proving to be remarkable.
The Travel Industry Surpasses 2019
Today's edition of Skift's daily podcast looks closer at the recovery of the travel industry that have allowed it to surpass spring 2019 benchmarks.
Travel Makes a Complete Recovery
Today's edition of Skift's daily podcast looks closer at travel's coronavirus recovery, Airbnb's optimism, and Hilton's extended-stay moves.
Cruises
MSC Cruises Turns Its First Alaska Season Into a Marine Research Initiative
Alaska’s reputation as a bucket list cruise destination rests largely on its wildlife encounters, especially whale sightings. MSC Cruises is treating its first season in the region as a research opportunity, exploring how marine science can guide operations in high-density wildlife corridors.
Activist Investor Elliott Targets Norwegian Cruise Line — Decade of ‘Poor Execution’
Elliott has run this playbook before and isn’t wasting time calling for changes at Norwegian.
Carnival CEO to Chair Cruise Group, Says Emissions Cuts Are a Priority
Now that the cruise industry has moved past its pandemic recovery, Carnival CEO and chief climate officer Josh Weinstein’s focus on greenhouse gas emissions marks a notable shift, especially as the sector faces intensifying scrutiny over its environmental impact.
Experiences
China’s F1 Visitors Spent More, Stayed Longer
China has long been a powerhouse in outbound tourism. Now it’s trying to flip the script and do the same on the inbound side. But can it turn event-driven travel into something bigger than marquee sporting weekends?
Disney Taps New Leader for Powerful Parks and Experiences Division
It’s a big job: Disney’s parks business has become the company’s financial engine.
T20 World Cup Prompts Near 20-Fold Price Surge At Ahmedabad Hotels
It was never in doubt that Indians love to watch cricket. How much they're willing to spend to watch it live, is the more surprising part.
Food and Drink
Omakase, Fine Casual… and Burgers: Marriott’s Top Food Trends in Asia
Asia’s food culture, from hawker stalls to omakase counters, has always been vibrant. But it’s now also setting the pace for how food tourism might look globally in the years ahead.
How Tourism Homogenizes Cuisines and What Are Possible Solutions
There is a lot that can be done, both from an awareness and, even more importantly, from a policy perspective. Most of it requires changes that the travelers of today, seeking more authentic experiences, would welcome.
Magic Mushrooms in the Minibar
Some will always love a luxury spa. But psychedelics (think psilocybin soundbaths and mushrooms) are the phase in high-end wellness.
Ground Transport
Airbnb Is Testing Airport Pickups. Are Flights Next?
Airbnb likely sees how flights are driving Booking Holdings' connected-trip vision. The timing is unclear, but it needs flights if it wants to be a true "travel concierge."
Etihad Rail Would Cut Abu Dhabi–Dubai Trips to One Hour and Connect 11 Cities
The project’s adoption will depend on whether the ticket price is affordable to the daily commuter.
Dubai’s Flying Taxis Will Start With Airports, Resorts, and Business Districts
Issues we're watching: When will rates come down and will weight restrictions that limit luggage keep potential customers away?
Hotels
Is Marriott Preparing a New Brand? What Its Global Trademark Filings Reveal
Marriott’s global sprint to lock down ‘Matter Hotels’ looks less like routine brand protection and more like prep for a launch.
Accor Opens Investigation After Short-Seller Report Alleges Human Trafficking
Accor shares dropped sharply after facing trafficking allegations, which the hotel group denied. The event shows that even unproven allegations can quickly become a crisis for a global hotel brand.
Hilton Cuts Yotel Deal, Launches Select by Hilton
Hilton’s newest brand is aimed at bringing outside brands into its system without buying them outright. Yotel is the first test of that model.
Luxury
Hyatt CFO on Global Shocks: Wealthy Travelers Aren’t Canceling Trips
Hyatt's luxury-heavy customer base is rerouting trips rather than avoiding travel after recent violence in Mexico and a war in Iran.
Bilt Taps Luxury Hotels to Build Marketplace for Top Spenders
Bilt is trying to thread a needle in building a hotel booking platform without becoming an OTA that hotels resent. One of its tactics is to offer spending data on its most loyal customers to help luxury hotels provide personalized service for first-time guests.
Starwood Hotels’ CEO on Why the Revived Brand Is Staying Small
The original Starwood Hotels became a powerhouse through a scale game. The revived brand name is a bet that less can be more in today's world of digital distribution and marketing.
Media and PR
The Great British Airline Loyalty Battle
As many British Airways flyers brace for status downgrades, rivals are seizing a rare chance to convince the UK’s most valuable travelers that there’s another way.
Saudi Arabia Should Become the World’s Most Event-Friendly Country
Saudi has been running the mass events experiment for centuries with pilgrimage and is now building on it with sports, music, and entertainment. It’s time to scale those lessons….and build a tourism strategy that actually works.
The Validation Economy: How Western Travel Creators Monetize South Asia’s Need to Be Seen
This is a preview of where travel media is headed: destinations as identity theaters and creators as roaming interfaces between cultures and the algorithm.
Meetings
5 Ways Meeting in Ireland Balances the Best of Both Worlds
All too often, choosing a destination for incentive travel forces meeting planners to prioritize either a busy city or rural country, business or wellness, modern developments or rich cultural experiences. Here’s how planners get to have it all on the island of Ireland.
3 Ways Corporate Meetings in New Orleans Can Fuel Creativity
Beyond the everyday challenges of organizing memorable events that move the needle for companies, today's planners are under mounting pressure to inspire a burned-out workforce. New Orleans combines its rich history, deep culture, and modern innovation to host corporate experiences that spark creativity and foster connection.
Inside India’s Events and Meetings Aspirations
India upped its convention center game for the G20 Summit last year. Now, it is trying to drum up the marketing for these spaces across the country. But is India really MICE ready?
Online Travel
Tripadvisor Board Chair Greg Maffei to Step Down With Activist Investor in the Wings
Liberty's giving up voting control over Tripadvisor was the end of an era. The departure of Greg Maffei — with Starboard Value making a push to control the board — puts an exclamation point on it.
Travel’s Most Celebrated Number Is Its Most Meaningless
The travel industry celebrates loyalty member counts the way it celebrates sustainability commitments: loudly, frequently, and with very little evidence the numbers have changed anything.
Capital One to Make ‘Payout’ to Acquire the Hopper Tech and Employees that Built Its Travel Portal
It will soon be independence day for Capital One Travel, and Hopper adds to its own challenges.
Podcasts
The Iran War Broke More Than the Middle East
The Iran war exposed cracks across global travel, from broken systems and AI customer service failures to mounting pressure at U.S. airports.
She Turned a 300-Year-Old Italian Estate Into a Luxury Destination
On this episode of Suite Success, host Katie Cline interviews Carlotta Carabba Tettamanti, owner of Tenuta di Murlo, an 18,000-acre Umbrian estate in Italy that has been in her husband’s…
GMH Hotels: Hyatt’s Midscale Push, Delta Demand & Plane Drama
On this week’s Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast: Hotels Edition, Sarah Dandashy and Steve Turk unpack Hyatt’s push into non-luxury brands and smaller markets as the company works to…
Short-Term Rentals
Airbnb Appoints Former Uber Safety Exec as Global Head of Operations
Consider the complexity that Fuldner is walking into. Airbnb is tasking him with reshaping the company's teams and systems into a unified "intelligent platform." All this, while Airbnb is launching new verticals, and trying to become a native AI app.
ChatGPT Checkout Retreat, Expedia Reset and UAE STR Cancellations
On this week's Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast, Wil Slickers, Brandreth Canaley, and Jamie Lane break down the latest headlines shaping travel and short-term rentals.
Airbnb Faces World Cup Shortfall in NYC — New Jersey Is Dominating
Nice try Airbnb, but New York authorities do not appear ready to even temporarily lift the ban on short-term rentals during the World Cup.
Skift Originals
The Lessons Travel Buried After Covid Are Resurfacing in the Middle East
The travel industry edited Covid into a convenient story about resilient demand while ignoring the system’s fragility. We’re seeing the cost of that rewrite in real time.
Building in Travel Has Never Mattered More
Travel is where history gets physical. We're in it. Right where we should be.
Legacy Is When Your Ideas Outlive Their Attribution: The Skift Journey
Skift is an extended argument for a particular way of being in the world: intellectually rigorous, commercially viable, editorially independent, globally aware, personally authentic.
Startups
What a Siberian Startup and a Saudi Ticketing App Reveal About Travel’s Future
Two startups from two different worlds are quietly rewriting the rules of who controls the travel transaction, with fascinating implications.
Ugandan Startup Roamio Aims to Use AI to Connect Travelers With Local Operators
AI can dream up your adventure, but it’s connecting to the operators on the ground who actually make it real. That’s the challenge Roamio is taking on.
India’s Travel Startup Funding Is No Longer Just About Online Travel Agencies
These fundings reflect a broader trend: For India’s travel startup ecosystem, capital infusion is no longer about scale alone, but about where value is being created in the travel stack.
Tour Operators
Why a U.S.-Based Luxury Safari Company Is Suddenly Courting Indian Travelers
Micato Safaris supported India's inbound potential much before it saw a market where it can sell its luxury offerings. But now, it is time to change the strategy.
TUI Pushes AI and App Bookings as Cruises Drive Earnings
Cruises are carrying TUI’s results, but distribution is moving away from the web and toward apps and artificial intelligence.
Google Tests Ad Formats That Push Attractions Bookings: Scoop
Google is expanding its experiences' advertising business, heightening competition among online travel agencies and the attractions themselves.
Tourism
Iran Warns Tourist Sites Could Be Targets Worldwide
Such an overt, specific threat to tourism from an official government entity is rare indeed.
China-U.S. Visitors Numbers Rise, But India Levels Head Down
The U.S. may be regaining Chinese visitors, but it’s losing ground with higher-spending Indian travelers – and the Trump effect is in force.
U.S. Expands Visa Bond Requirement to 50 Nations
Continued tightening of U.S. entry requirements for travelers from more countries could hamper efforts to make 2026 a strong year for U.S. tourism.
Travel Agents
TBO’s North America Deal Begins to Show Up in the Numbers
The Classic Vacations acquisition hands TBO a new distribution footprint. It brings higher-value bookings and deep industry relationships. But that also means that TBO’s numbers will look messy until the integration is done.
Q&A: Inside Civitatis’ Push to Own the Spanish-Language Tours Market
Offering wide-scale travel experiences is one thing — curating high-quality activities specifically for the world's 850 million Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking travelers is another. With its relaunched app, Civitatis is dedicated to keeping the travel planning process simple and culturally resonant for its global audience of travelers.
Selectour’s New AI Aims to Fix The Booking Handoff Problem
For a travel sector eager to automate, the basics still matter — especially continuity between bots and human travel agents. Selectour and Kleio tackle the handoff problem, and the effort could prepare advisors for the agentic future.
Travel Technology
What OTA Investors Got Wrong About the ChatGPT Checkout Walkback
OTA investors celebrated OpenAI's checkout retreat. They missed how AI is already reshaping trip discovery.
OpenAI Pulled Back on Transactions. Google Is Pushing Ahead — Travel May Be Next
Google just shipped new commerce tools for retail. The travel industry is watching — and some developers aren't waiting for an invitation.
In a Crisis, Travel Companies Count on Humans — Not AI
After Covid exposed how brittle travel's customer service infrastructure was, the industry pitched AI as the fix. Now, with the Middle East chaos, much of the tech that was supposed to help vanished from the narrative.
Venture Capital
Travel Venture Capital Is Back, But Only for the Biggest, Safest Bets: 3 Charts
Early-stage startups face longer fundraising cycles and less capital.
Regional Air Travel Startups Raise Over $85 Million: Funding Roundup
The biggest airlines are behind on updating their tech systems and operations; regional airlines are even further behind.
Ramp Raises $200 Million for Expense and Biz Travel Management: Startup Funding Roundup
Startups for business travel management and flying taxis are still raising a lot of money.