The Skift Travel Podcast

We’re back from our late summer break with a special live streamed panel discussion conducted by Skift's editorial team last week on September 5, the very day that New York City’s short-term rental crackdown went into effect.Skift Hospitality editor Sean O'Neill was joined on the panel by Executive editor Dennis Schaal, Travel Tech Reporter Justin Dawes, and Short-term rental reporter Srividya Kalyanaraman to discuss the details of the new regulations and how they effect hosts, travelers, hotels, the city, and the industry at large. Since this panel, Skift has reported that Airbnb—the brand synonymous with short-terms rentals—has lost 77% of its New York City listings over a three-month period. For this reporting and all of the latest news in the business of travel, visit Skift.com. And if you haven’t already, check out live.skift.com for information on how to attend the 10th annual Skift Global Forum in New York City this September 26–28, where we’ll feature leaders from throughout the travel industry on stage, including Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, who will no doubt have some comment to offer on the challenges posed by these regulations to Airbnb and other short-term rental players.Enjoy the conversation.

Today on the program, Skift Lead Producer Jose Marmolejos speaks with Miguel Neves, Editor-in-Chief of Skift Meetings and host of the Skift Meetings Podcast.This week, Miguel has been covering the sale of the core business of virtual event company Hopin—the pandemic era unicorn founded in 2019 that rose to a valuation of nearly $8 billion by August of 2021, but that by the following February had started laying off employees, culminating in its sale last week to cloud-based communications company RingCentral for a mere $15 million. As Miguel points out in his reporting: “That is billion with a b and million with an m.”In this conversation Miguel details the raise and decline of Hopin, how the established players in events never really had incentive to pursue virtual events outside of pandemic era lock downs, and the implications of the Hopin fire sale for the broader events industry. Check out Skift Meetings to find Miguel’s reporting, along with the latest guidance and inspiration for business event professionals, at meetings.skift.com.

Skift research analysts discuss key insights from the State of Travel 2023 report, highlighting the recovery of luxury hospitality and multi-day tour operators. They also explore Hopper's growth in the industry, potential risks, and the impact of AI on the travel sector, including emerging trends like blended travel and the competitive landscape between vacation rentals and hotels.

As we look ahead to the landmark 10th Skift Global Forum happening this September in New York City, today we take a look back at a panel session from Skift Global Forum 2016 correctly billed as "Legends of Online Travel".On the panel were: Brad Gerstner, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Altimeter Capital; Rich Barton, co founder and, at the time, Executive chairman of Zillow Group (he is currently CEO); Dara Khosrowshahi, then the President and CEO of Expedia (he is currently the CEO of Uber); Jay Walker, Founder of Priceline and CEO of Upside; and moderator Dennis Schaal, Skift’s Founding and Executive editor, who earlier that year had released the "Definitive Oral History of Online Travel", the authoritative account of the rise of the online travel agency. We revisit this session from nearly 7 years ago to assess just how prescient these esteemed speakers were as they discussed the future of online travel as seen from that far away time, still 3+ years before the onset of the global covid pandemic, and 6+ years from the broad release of ChatGPT, the widely-used generative AI tool that has sparked imaginations throughout the world and travel industry.As the panelists in this session point out, many of their predictions have been around since the 1990s ".com" boom and before, so what makes now the moment? The prognostications you’ll hear in this session give us some insight into the answer, and we can be certain that this question will loom large at the coming Skift Global Forum as our sessions look to tackle the theme of “Connection in the Age of AI”.

On Wednesday of last week, Skift broke the bombshell news that Expedia Group—the world’s leading Online Travel Agent—had decided to end its longstanding partnership with Hopper, a rival OTA that Expedia had nonetheless been providing hotel and vacation rental inventory for many years. What’s more, Expedia used their announcement to voice concerns about several practices employed by Hopper that they perceived to be detrimental to consumers.On this episode of the podcast Skift's Lead Producer Jose Marmolejos speaks with Skift's Founding Editor and Executive Editor Dennis Schaal (the journalist who broke that story), as well as Skift Research Analyst Pranavi Agarwal (who recently published the definitive deep dive report on Hopper’s business model and performance), about why this business relationship fell apart so suddenly and dramatically.They listen back to some clips from Dennis’ interview with Hopper CEO Frederic Lalonde at the Skift Global Forum this past September, get some unique insights from Pranavi’s unprecedented access to Hopper’s business while she authored her report, and dig into what this rupture could mean for Hopper, Expedia, and the entire online travel industry.

Skift Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia interviews Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam about the series of articles he's written recently for Skift.com that detail the plight of U.S. cities, how they are coping, and what they are doing to encourage both domestic and international tourists to return in the wake of the pandemic.You can find all of the articles referenced in this episode, as well as Dawit's continued reporting on the subject at Skift’s tourism hub.

Senior hospitality editor Sean O'Neill interviews travel tech reporter Justin Dawes about his experience on the floor of the Hospitality Industry Technology Expo and Conference, better known as HITEC. The conference bills itself as "the world's largest hospitality technology show," and Justin was there in Toronto last week covering it for Skift.In this interview, Justin talks about what he saw and heard at the conference from presenters and industry leaders, the current state of tech in the industry, and why—even amidst all the talk of AI, holograms and even robots—many hoteliers are talking about focusing on what matters: bringing their operations squarely into the 21st century, versus investing in tech for tech's sake.You can find all of Justin's reporting from HITEC at Skift.com, including comments from industry executives and videos of the cutting edge technology that was on display.

In late May, the Skift team returned from our annual retreat, which was held this year in Iceland. Still buzzing with the energy and lessons from that experience, we decided to share our insights in a special edition of the Skift podcast. CFO Michael Cunniff, Senior Director of Events Regina Yuen, and Human Resources head Mariana Ruiz joined CEO Rafat Ali to discuss their learnings about company retreats and the business of travel.As the conversation unfolded, they delved into the logistics and budgeting challenges of organizing company retreats. Cunniff and Yuen shared how coordinating flights, accommodations, and venues required careful planning and attention to detail, especially in a destination like Iceland with its unique logistical challenges.These Skift leaders reflected on the company’s growth and the increasing number of employees attending the retreats. They discussed how the retreats fostered a sense of connection and collaboration, both within teams and across the entire company. Ruiz emphasized how the retreats deepened personal connections and ultimately enhanced work synergy among staffers.

The short-term rental industry has experienced a major boom coming out of the pandemic, driven in large part by the surge in remote work.But what does the future hold, especially since the sector’s enormous recent growth may not be sustainable? Executives speaking at Skift’s Short-Term Rental Summit offered their thoughts about what comes next. To go deeper into short-term rentals, you can watch highlights from our June event or subscribe to the Skift Short-Term Rental Report.

In this special episode of the Skift Travel Podcast we introduce listeners to our newest show, the Skift Ideas podcast.Join travel industry thought leaders Rafat Ali and Colin Nagy on the new Skift Ideas podcast. On the Skift Ideas podcast we will immerse listeners in discussions regarding the latest innovations within the industry, focussing on the key topics of design, marketing, sustainability, experience and so much more. This first episode looks at the current state of creativity and innovation within the travel industry, and what ideas are already transforming the way we look at travel.