Two Bids for TAP Air Portugal, Two Very Different Charm Offensives
Lisbon has made clear that price alone won't decide TAP's future. One bidder arrived in Portugal with a spade; the other enlisted Delta's Ed Bastian.
All Categories
Airlines
Is Verified Identity the Missing Link in Airline Direct Booking?
Airlines are investing heavily in direct bookings, loyalty programs, and more flexible offer creation. But the bigger opportunity may depend on something more basic: knowing who travelers are, what communities they belong to, and how to recognize them in ways that build lasting relationships.
Frontier’s Q2 Shows an Ultra-Low-Cost Carrier Can Raise Fares Too
Frontier Airlines saw record revenue in the second quarter on higher airfares and a readjustment in capacity following Spirit’s liquidation.
Business Travel
Permira-Backed Engine Buys Options Travel to Build Corporate Booking Tool
Engine is a startup that spent a decade selling hotel rooms to businesses that never hired a travel management company for help. Now it's just bought a TMC, and plans to build the booking software it thinks all business travelers should use.
Skift’s Farnborough Cheat Sheet: Key Aircraft Deals Explained
Fewer orders than the hype promised, and most of the big money spent by companies that don't fly a single passenger.
IATA Makes Surprise Pick for New Leader, Skips Airline Veterans
IATA has picked its first leader from outside the airline industry in four decades. The gamble is whether member carriers will take their cues from an economist who has never run an airline.
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
Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Cites ‘Self-Inflicted’ Problems, Weak Outlook Into 2027
Demand pressures are expected to carrying over into 2027, but CEO John Chidsey says the company’s problems are largely "self-inflicted" and fixable.
Iran War Dents Royal Caribbean’s Revenue Forecast
Cruise line operators are underperforming the market for the first time post-COVID as war in the Middle East weighs on bookings.
Awe, Not Excess: The Market Signal Luxury Travel Can’t Afford to Miss
The affluent traveler's definition of luxury has shifted faster than most operators realize. Lindblad Expeditions is proof that the brands built around depth of experience and purposeful discovery are gaining a competitive edge.
Experiences
Sustainability Doesn’t Sell Itself — Sell It as an Experience Instead
Experience premiums are bankable; sustainability premiums are not. Both poll more than 70% on the question of whether they matter to travelers, but only one shows up in wallet share.
Mount Olympus Is Finally a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Managing a Tourism Surge Is Its Next Hurdle
After a 12-year campaign, Mount Olympus and its wider area has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tour operators welcome the designation as a boost to tourism — and environmental protection.
Tripadvisor To Sell TheFork for $700 Million to Fuel Its Bet on Experiences
The sale gives Tripadvisor the cash to chase the $1 trillion experiences market through Viator.
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
Grab Takes Taxis Across the Singapore-Malaysia Border
“Travel companion” Grab clearly isn’t ready to say goodbye at the border. With its cross-border taxi pilot, Grab is stretching the definition of “last mile” into an international one, keeping travelers in-app the entire way.
Uber CEO Says Travel Rivals Like Expedia Can’t Match Its On-the-Ground Edge
Khosrowshahi said there's the usual tension with partners about Uber's travel ambitions, and he obliquely cited Expedia's shortcomings post-booking. If Uber gains traction in travel, you can expect Khosrowshahi to one day step away from the Expedia board, and all of those conflicts to get exacerbated.
Airbnb’s Latest Service Expansion: Rides From the Airport
Pre-booking rides to your Airbnb or hotel may ease the journey when arriving in an unfamiliar destinations, but there doesn't seem to be anything Airbnb-ish about the new service partnership. Maybe Airbnb gets less unique as it grows?
Hotels
UK Pubs and Clubs Get Tax Cuts. Hotels Get Left Out — Again
UK hotels have been excluded from two rounds of government business rates relief. The sector is pushing back, and the numbers show why.
Accor and Treebo Call Off Deal in India: Scoop
Accor's 300-hotel target by 2030 was never going to hinge on Treebo alone, but the exit strips out the one partner that gave the joint venture genuine reach into the tier-two and tier-three towns.
AI Is Deciding Which Hotels Get Considered — Hospitality Revenue Leaders Need a Budget Response
AI is pushing hotel discovery earlier in the traveler journey, forcing commercial leaders to rethink who owns visibility, how to measure success, and whether more budget should move upstream before demand reaches traditional booking channels.
Luxury
When Hospitality Fails, The Problem Might Be the Guest
The best hospitality is not a flawless one-way delivery. It is an exchange — and the guest has to bring attention, curiosity, and presence.
Not For Sale: Sandals CEO Shuts Down Deal Rumors
The all-inclusive operator's executive chairman says he isn't selling the company, despite rumors, but is instead pouring tens of millions into properties to drive rate premiums.
Marriott to Enter Branded Apartment Rentals: W Hotels Comes First in 2027
The hotel company's first branded apartment rentals, opening in Cleveland in 2027, will mark a new turn for a real-estate business that has become central to its luxury strategy.
Media and PR
‘Come Back Anytime’: How Travel Brands Courted World Cup Fans
Official FIFA sponsors spent millions locking up World Cup rights, but some of the most effective marketing may be based on response time.
‘Hey @British_Airways’: Norwegian Air Shows How to Get Free World Cup Buzz
Two carriers with no official World Cup sponsorship have generated one of the tournament's biggest travel marketing moments – all without paying FIFA a cent.
Marriott Outspends Rivals on TV, But Airbnb Owns the World Cup
Marriott outspent every hotel brand on national TV, yet Airbnb's World Cup ads have out-reached Marriott's so far. Marketers should note that focus, rather than budget, wins marquee experiences.
Meetings
UAE Bets on Discounts, Insurance, and New Visa Markets to Refill Hotel Rooms After Iran War Hit
The UAE is running two recovery tracks at once — emergency incentives to plug a war-driven demand hole and multibillion-dollar infrastructure bets. The gap between those timelines is the story.
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.
Online Travel
Expedia Acquired AI Trip-Planner Layla: Exclusive
Is Layla substantially more advanced that the ever-increasing number of other AI trip-planners out in the wild? Hiring additional tech talent will be a benefit of this deal regardless of whether the Layla platform exists as an independent entity a couple of years from now.
Airbnb’s Next Act: Tickets, Then a Wallet
Airbnb spent seven years watching attractions ticketing from inside Tiqets, let Expedia buy the company, and is now hiring to build its own ticketing business.
Jay Carney to Exit Airbnb. Lime Veteran Appointed Policy Chief
The choice of a cities-and-operations operator to succeed a former White House press secretary on policy strategy signals that Airbnb could be reverting to a more of an aggressive regulatory ground game in the years ahead.
Podcasts
Airbnb Has Car Rentals Now. What Does That Make It?
Airbnb wants to be the only travel app you'll ever need, but its new car rental tie-up hands the wheel to Expedia — the same OTA that's buying CarTrawler, the partner now filling that gap.
We Graded Our Biggest 2026 Travel Megatrends
The world's most powerful passports are changing, and so is the balance of global travel.
Inside One of the World’s Most Remote Luxury Hotels
Maybe real luxury has nothing to do with polish or thread count. Maybe it's relinquishing control entirely, so a broken boat engine becomes the best part of the trip instead of a complaint. That's a far harder product to scale than a five-star spa, and it's exactly why remote adventure lodges keep pulling in guests who already have everything money can buy.
Short-Term Rentals
Casago Sold Nearly All Vacasa’s Property Manager Acquisitions and Turned Many Into Franchises
It was quite a fall from grace for Vacasa, which as a private company in 2021 had a private valuation of $4.5 billion. Casago acquired it for less than $100 million, and now the last of Vacasa's remnants have been sold off.
Airbnb Paid $81 Million for a Building in NYC — the Only One It Now Owns
Airbnb abandoned its asset-light strategy just a tad, purchasing a New York City building for $81.5 million. It will be an office — there are no plans to "Airbnb" it.
The Hospitality Secrets That Built America’s #1 B&B
On this episode of Suite Success, host Katie Cline sits down with Marco DiDomizio, hospitality strategist, real estate broker, consultant, and coach at InnAdvisors. Before advising hotel owners across the…
Skift Originals
Karak Chai, Luxury Retail, and the Invisible Millions of the Gulf Hub Airports: An Audio Essay
The largest purpose-driven travel flow on earth passes through the most commercially aspirational spaces on earth, and the dissonance is jarring if you stop long enough to watch who is actually walking past the glittering Hermes store...
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.
Startups
Don’t Start a Travel Startup
Fourteen layers of advice from fourteen years of watching where the bodies are buried, from the founder of Skift.
Fora Travel Is Focused on Growth and a Small Acquisition Helps Build AI Tools
Fora Travel has the luxury of being private and can build its business — seemingly at a decent pace — without getting second-guessed in quarterly earnings calls.
India’s Travel Space Heats Up as Niche Players Gain Significance
India’s maturing travel market is allowing for more niche players to strengthen their bases, and it seems like investors are backing this movement.
Tour Operators
Travel Advisories Are Back and the Gulf Is Out With Flight Deals and Easier Visas
Gulf hotels were already struggling before this month's headlines. A hoped-for recovery may get pushed out further.
UAE Travel Agencies Report Delays in Payments From Saudi Clients
The Saudi-UAE rift is reaching travel through the banking rails first. The thing to watch is whether it reaches demand next.
Norwegian Air To Buy Nordic Leisure Travel Group in $843m Bet on End-to-End Travel
Why settle for just the airfare when you can own the whole holiday?
Tourism
U.S. Makes Visa Bond Program Permanent — Visas Granted to Targeted Countries Drop 83%
Overstays from the targeted countries are down, but so is demand for tourist visas.
Mexico Will Spend $115 Million Fighting Rotting Seaweed as Hotels Slash Rates
Mexico officials will invest in specialized vessels, offshore barriers and monitoring systems to tackle record-levels of sargassum — but the tourism industry wants more emphasis on environmental solutions.
India’s Inbound Problem: With Its Marketing Budget Gutted, Government Enlists Air India and IndiGo
India is compensating for shrinking marketing budgets by giving its airlines a bigger role in selling the country overseas. But this alone won't fix the structural challenges that continue to hold back inbound tourism.
Travel Agents
Fora Travel the Unicorn: It Raised $60 Million at a $1 Billion Valuation
Fora Travel has carved out a nice niche for itself as it taps into the desires of a younger generation of travel advisors passionate about travel and looking for side hustles. Its $1 billion valuation came after just five years in business.
Europe Visa Bottlenecks Push UAE Residents to Rethink Travel Plans
The visa queue will clear. The question is whether leisure demand comes back with it.
Dubai Strengthens Passenger Rights Rules to Rebuild Traveler Trust
Dubai’s passenger rights framework means one regulator, one rulebook. The details around enforcement are still to come, though.
Travel Technology
Who Owns Travel: The Sovereign Wealth Map of 2026
We mapped who owns travel's physical layer in 2026 and it came back sovereign, but the money is not as patient as it used to be, and after the Saudi-UAE rift, not as unified either.
Google Is Leaning on Travel to Sell Its AI Ad Story
Retail and finance drove Google's search ad revenue this quarter. But Google chose travel — IHG for its newest ad format, Booking Holdings for cloud and AI-powered transactions — to show investors where its AI business lines are converging.
Inside the Math of Fora’s $1 Billion Valuation
Fora’s $1 billion valuation rests on one bet: its existing advisors will keep booking more, allowing the platform to grow without taking more from them or from hotels.
Venture Capital
Who’s Next After EasyJet? We Size Up 10 Possible Takeover Targets
A U.S. buyer has done what none of EasyJet's past suitors managed: It got the airline's board to the table.
Airbnb’s Brian Chesky Is Creating an AI Lab
Is Brian Chesky development of a new AI Lab outside of Airbnb an acknowledgement that building AI capabilities within Airbnb hasn't been up to par? Or are some tech developments like AI too large to sit out without having more skin in the game?
Brook Bay Capital, Inovia, and Highgate Technology Ventures at Skift Data + AI Summit 2026
If you are pitching travel AI to investors, lead with cost savings you can put on the income statement, not revenue lift you can only promise — measurability is what closes the deal.