Travel
Hotels Could Become One of Ixigo’s Two Biggest Businesses
Ixigo has the product and a steady stream of customers. What remains is the hard part of convincing budget travelers that the room they book online is the room they’ll get.
Advertisement
Topic
Online Travel
Travel
Airbnb Joins Vrbo and Marriott In Paying Guests When It Rains Too Much
The idea is that paying travelers when rain passes a certain threshold can help increase conversions among those worried about weather spoiling their plans. The question is whether guarantees will spread to other types of weather — like the extreme heat seen in Europe this summer.
Travel
The Quiet Rise of Loveholidays on a 20-Year-Old Business Idea
UK’s Loveholidays didn’t invent dynamic packaging — it built its muscle through scale. The big test ahead is whether it can replicate it in Europe.
Business
Klook Withdraws U.S. IPO, Citing Market Conditions
Klook may have pulled its IPO, but the pitch hasn’t changed. Experiences are still one of the least digitized parts of travel, and that’s a lot of runway. The catch? Viator, GetYourGuide and the OTAs know it too, and Klook needs to move fast before they close the gap.
Travel
AI Travel Advice Is Less Personal Than It Seems
For now, AI personalizes the message, but it doesn't personalize the recommendation.
Travel
Is Airbnb’s Dynamic Pricing Launch a Step Toward Becoming a Hotel-Like Franchisor?
In addition to dynamic pricing, Airbnb has floated the idea of adding more products and services for hosts, ranging from design services to financing. The soft franchise model might be more appropriate for individual hosts who don't require multi-platform distribution.
Business
India Is Now Skyscanner’s Biggest Market, and Nearly Half Its Searches Go Abroad
Indians aren’t going to book a trip just because you’ve been selling them the destination. They want to see the value first.
Travel
Vrbo Faces Blowback on Rising Commissions, Plans to Ease Rate Parity Rule
From a competition perspective, Vrbo is catching up to Booking.com and Airbnb in pushing the fee burden onto hosts. Eliminating or greatly reducing guest fees has great optics, but travelers will end up paying for them in the form of higher rates.
Advertisement
Travel
Kayak and Skyscanner CEOs: Metasearch Isn’t Dead — It’s Evolving
The test is whether deep live pricing and trust engineering beat horizontal agents on convenience alone.
Travel
Airbnb Is Rebuilding Its Luxe Program for High-End Homes: Scoop
Airbnb's rekindled push into luxury is its latest revival of initiatives dropped during the pandemic. Among them, Airbnb has expanded its hotels and experiences businesses, and frequently says that it will eventually debut flights.
Business
India Now Has a ‘Digital Tourism Stack.’ Can it Fix a Fragmented Market?
India is betting that open digital infrastructure can make its vast, fragmented tourism supply easier to discover, book and eventually surface through AI.
Travel
Hopper’s Co-Founder and B2B Boss Left The Company
One source said Dakota Smith had a lot of credibility in the B2B space, Hopper's most important division.
Travel
Hilton Isn’t ‘Blocking’ New AI Agents. But They Can’t Always Get In.
Hilton's CEO says he wants to make booking through AI agents easy. For now, Meta's Muse struggles to pull a price from hotel group sites, and OTAs may remain an easier door.
Business
Skift Creator Summit 2026: Building Trust to Influence the Transaction
Creator marketing has already proved it can generate attention. The next phase is building the system that connects attention to revenue.
Travel
Airbnb Launches AI Tools, Catching Up to OTA Rivals
Airbnb is not a first-mover in AI launches. That's OK: Kayak wasn't a first-mover in metasearch. The issue isn't necessarily timing, but whether Airbnb can offer AI products that are better than its rivals.
Travel
Hilton Tech Exec Says AI Agents Put OTAs ‘Under Real Threat’
Hilton CIO Michael Leidinger believes the OTAs' decline will benefit hotels, even while conceding that AI agents will likely charge commissions, too. The difference is that Hilton will get more bookings on its site and app.
Advertisement
Travel
Vrbo to Double Commissions as It Plays Catch-Up to Airbnb
Airbnb and Booking.com charge no guest fees. But Vrbo has stated that it will keep guest fees, although the amounts will be flexible. That lack of specificity will stoke host anger because this gives hosts little visibility into the actual prices their guests will have to pay.
Travel
Skift Webinar: When AI Becomes the Travel Agent — How Hotels Get Chosen
Join Skift and industry leaders for a webinar exploring how AI is changing hotel discovery and booking. Learn how travelers are using and trusting AI, why accurate property information matters more than ever, and what hotels can do now to ensure they’re accurately understood, confidently recommended, and easily booked.
Travel
Kayak Co-Founders Launch Lola — Booking Holdings’ New AI Assistant: Exclusive
Booking Holdings has spent years trying to stitch a trip together across separate apps. Lola wagers one assistant built from scratch, with a membership model and human concierge service, can finally hold it together.
Travel
Instinct’s App Is Fueled by Travel — Founder Says It’s Half of Volume
Instinct got travel's attention by handling bookings via text message. Now the real question is whether it can turn that volume into revenue — and travel may be the test case.