Where Travel Stands, 25 Years After 9/11
Twenty-five years after 9/11, travel has become remarkably easy for people the system is prepared to move. The growing divide is over who gets that treatment.
All Categories
Airlines
United Airlines’ CEO Wants The U.S. To Fund SAF Like It Funded Solar
Supply chain woes have long blocked the uptake of SAF, but United Airlines’ Scott Kirby sees potential in corn and soy currently grown for biodiesel. He wants more government support to firm up the industry — but criticized Europe’s approach.
Everyone Is All In on the Airbus A321XLR — Except Delta
More airlines are embracing long-haul flying on narrowbody jets — in a competitive transatlantic market, they allow airlines to launch service in smaller cities. However, Delta is not convinced.
Business Travel
Marriott Brings Loyalty Into Corporate Booking Tools With Spotnana Deal
Marriott's best weapon for winning business travelers is its loyalty program. But until now it couldn't show loyalty information inside the booking portals corporations force employees to use. Spotnana says it can fix that.
Navan Buys BoomPop to Push Into Meetings and Events
A public travel company growing 35% is buying its way into the meetings-and-events spend that managed travel never tamed.
EU Ends Border ‘Safety Valve’ as Airlines Warn of More Delays
The training wheels are off – Brussels now finds out whether Europe’s airports can actually stay upright.
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
Inside Abercrombie & Kent’s Multibillion-Dollar Bet on Crystal Cruises
The owner of Abercrombie & Kent is using the balance sheet of one of travel’s best asset-light luxury businesses to rebuild Crystal Cruises. Company filings, credit ratings, and bond documents show what that transformation costs.
Cruise Ports Top the Labor Day List and the K-Shaped Travel Gap is Narrowing
Airfare and gas prices are up, but research suggests Americans are committed to spending on travel.
Disney Has a New Metric to Capture Its Growing Bet on Cruises
Disney doesn't break out its cruise financials, but a U.K. subsidiary offers more details on the sector's growth.
Experiences
Hotels Have Focused on Coral Restoration — Palladium Is Betting on Seagrass Too
Coastal hotels rely on clear water and white beaches to fill rooms, but Palladium’s conservation work protecting them is still funded by its foundation rather than operating budget.
Klook Bets Creators Can Sell the Whole Trip, Not Just the Viral Attraction
The social media influencer’s “Like, Comment and Share” button just got a new friend… Meet the “Book” link.
Black Tomato Founders Sell 75% to Employee Ownership Trust — But Keep Control: Exclusive
The founders of Black Tomato have sold the majority of their shares in a deal that gives them liquidity while keeping decision-making power — and qualifies them for a potential tax benefit.
Food and Drink
How Wellness Hospitality Is Breaking Out of the Luxury Bubble
Health-conscious travel is entering the mainstream. Novotel’s Longevity Everyday model shows how hotel brands can extend wellness beyond premium retreats by embedding supportive choices into the ordinary rhythms of a stay.
The F&B Strategy That Starts With Winning Over Locals, Not Just Guests
As hotel owners look for growth beyond the guest room, restaurants and bars are playing a more central role in how a property attracts locals, builds identity, and generates revenue. Paris Society, part of Ennismore and the wider Accor Group, offers a model for turning F&B venues into destinations in their own right.
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.
Ground Transport
Uber to Lay Off 3,300 Employees, Reducing Management Jobs by 20%
Uber's reorganization doesn't directly impact its product portfolio, according to the company, but its attention is focused on core businesses.
Ixigo Tests Packaged Tours for Trains, Uber Becomes a New Distribution Engine
Ixigo is taking a smart, low-risk approach to packaged travel. Rather than build and operate its own tours, it is testing demand by putting IRCTC-curated trips on its platform. If travelers bite, packaged tours could become the OTA’s next major product category.
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.
Hotels
Google’s New Hotel Search in Europe: What it Looks Like Now
Google’s new user interface is meant to help the company avoid fines from EU regulators.
A Lost Year for Gulf Tourism
Rooms are filling at half-price, not at pre-war demand — that’s hurting big brands and independents alike, but only one side has the balance sheet to outlast it.
Wyndham Is Watching India’s Airports as Closely as Its Hotels
The 200-hotel target is only part of Wyndham’s India bet. The bigger opportunity may be getting Indian travelers to stay at Wyndham hotels wherever they go — from Jaipur to Athens and beyond.
Luxury
‘I Don’t Want Cookie Cutter’: Dorchester Collection’s Stand Against the Flattening of Luxury
Dorchester has an interesting market opportunity stemming from its iconic properties and a dial service culture. The challenge is to tighten and refine the basics without taking judgment away from the people who make each property worth returning to.
Luxury+Lifestyle: Can a Small Collection of Iconic London Hotels Out-Earn Big Brands?
The owner of The Connaught and The Berkeley has hired the man who scaled Six Senses to build an operating company for luxury lifestyle hotels it owns and doesn't own.
Biggest Innovators in Travel and Hospitality: Summer 2026
There is no shortage of launches and you can easily find the most expensive hospitality offerings. We're most interested in judgment that leads to truly exceptional service.
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
With Booking’s Etraveli Deal Still Blocked, Expedia Has the Edge in M&A
Expedia is making acquisitions to build its business while Booking in Europe doesn't have that option. Companies such as Uber would find it tougher to advance its superapp strategy in Europe if regulators deemed it to have a dominant position in particular markets.
European Vacation Rental Platform Awaze Felt Affordability Squeeze in 2025
Europe's largest holiday-rental group grew adjusted earnings and narrowed its loss in 2025, but revenue slipped, its cash position shrunk, and the group slid into net liabilities ahead of a 2028 refinancing.
The New Travel Loyalty Leaders Aren’t Hotels or Airlines — They’re Banks
Travel companies have spent years worrying about losing customers to online travel agencies. The bigger threat was already in the wallet.
Podcasts
Vrbo’s Biggest Product Push Yet, and What Hosts Need to Know
Vrbo just rolled out its largest-ever product launch, with 12 new products and features spanning advertising, pricing, promotions, payments, guest operations, and property management.
Fake AI Hotel Videos Are Coming for Travel
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down two travel distribution stories that are really about trust.
This Travel Tech Founder Says We’re Entering an Era of “Unlimited” Travel Demand
On this episode of Suite Success, host Katie Cline sits down with Tim Hentschel, co-founder and co-CEO of HotelPlanner, one of the world’s leading travel technology platforms.
Short-Term Rentals
EU Unveils Rules to Help Cities Crack Down on Airbnbs
Brussels has laid out a legal roadmap for restricting short-term rentals in stressed housing markets. Critics argue the rules lack oversight.
Google Strips Out EU Travel Search Features to Avoid More Fines
Google is scaling back certain search features in Europe as DMA enforcement escalates.
Europe Prepares New Law to Support Cities’ Airbnb Crackdowns
Brussels is looking to advance legislation that would clarify local authorities’ power to crack down on short-term rentals amid Europe's housing crisis.
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
Perk Is in No Rush to IPO as Revenue Nears $400 Million
Perk, the travel management tech company, says it can wait on an IPO as long as it keeps growing near 50% a year without burning cash. The choppy market debut of Navan, its closest rival, hints at one reason for its patience.
The Travel Industry Power-Struggle Map
Travel is not one market. It is a series of fights over who answers the traveler, who gets found, who owns the booking, who controls the inventory, who holds the wallet, and eventually, who remembers the trip.
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.
Tour Operators
Flagship Group Makes First Three Acquisitions For Experiences Roll-Up
Appetite for an experiences roll-up has long existed, but Covid put plans on ice. Now P&Ls have had a chance to rebound, and the timing is perhaps even better today, with experiences positioned as a counter-AI play.
Intrepid Partners With Air Canada Vacations Right as Canada Pushes For More Domestic Travel: Exclusive
The partnership launches as escalating trade tensions have politicians asking Canadians to trade U.S. travel for destinations closer to home.
What Happens to a Travel Company Owned by Private Equity for Too Long?
One of travel's best tour operators went to market and couldn't sell. The reasons tell you as much about where the industry is headed as about the company itself.
Tourism
Canadian Travel to the U.S. Grew for a 5th Month Despite Trade War — Still Down 27% From 2024
Many thought rising political tensions would mean fewer trips — the national data says otherwise. But not every state is seeing the same rebound.
Middle East’s Recovery Stalled Again: Skift Travel Health Index
The Middle East’s recovery remains vulnerable. Renewed travel warnings make a rapid rebound less likely, leaving accommodation providers focused on both rebuilding demand and recovering pricing power.
Flyadeal CEO Reveals Plans for Premium Economy and Long-Haul Network
Flyadeal’s move into connecting flights and premium economy marks a natural next step for a budget carrier scaling into long-haul.
Travel Agents
Saudi OTA Almosafer on Track for Year-End IPO Despite Iran War Disruption
Almosafer’s growth story now runs on domestic demand. That’s a bet on Makkah, the Red Sea, and Qiddiya outlasting a war that hit outbound travel first.
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.
Travel Technology
Meta Says Its Muse Agent Books Travel. Here’s How It Works
Meta’s Muse plugs directly into flights but shops the rest of travel through the open web. That puts the AI agent, not a travel integration, in control of where the search goes.
Marriott CEO Says AI Will Impact Hotel Distribution First
Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano was asked where AI is showing up in practice. He said the "biggest impact" so far has been on "distribution," or how travelers discover hotels online.
Why the Personal AI Assistant Hype Matters More for Travel Than Any AI Travel Product
The biggest shift in AI travel may be happening outside travel, as general-purpose agents learn to book, rebook, and act for the customer.
Venture Capital
Skift Capital Allocation Brief: A New Quarterly Read on Where Travel’s Money Goes
M&A, venture money, buybacks, take-privates, a free quarterly read on all the capital moving through travel, what it means, and a first look at the decision intelligence Skift is building.
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.
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.