The Skift Travel Podcast

Skift Research’s Online Travel Agency Factbook is your one-stop shop to understand the global universe of online booking sites. We collected data on and built individual profiles for the 11 largest publicly traded online travel agencies. We analyzed the scale, revenue, growth, profitability, historical performance, and customer acquisition ability of each OTA. Join Skift founding editor Dennis Schaal and Skift Research Senior Analyst Seth Borko as they discuss the report's findings and what they mean for companies including Airbnb, Booking, Expedia, and more in 2022. For more insights into the business of travel, visit skift.com/news.

Clear's previous experience vetting travelers and moving them quickly through airport security put it in an excellent position to take on the challenges of identity, health, and vaccination in the (hopefully) coming post-Covid panic world. "Cyber and privacy and data security are in our roots, but also we have a brand that’s continually communicating about privacy, data security and what we’re doing," said CLEAR CEO Caryn Seidman Becker while speaking with Skift Senior Travel Tech Editor Sean O’Neill at Skift Global Forum 2021. Listen now for the full interview. Read more coverage of the travel industry at skift.com/news

Cancellations and closures are on the rise as countries react to the Omicron variant. What does this mean for a recently optimistic travel industry? This special episode of the Skift Podcast features Skift founder and CEO, Rafat Ali, looking ahead to early 2022 and what impact the Omicron variant may have on the travel industry. Read more about travel and coronavirus at https://skift.com/coronavirus.

Hopper has big plans ahead in its ongoing mission to continue being the best at lowering the cost of travel for consumers — it’s betting on the future of superapps for travel, which are already popular in Asia. “There will be a Western global superapp for travel — it may be owned by Google, Facebook or Alibaba, but it will be a superapp and we’re trying to become that,” said Frederic Lalonde, CEO of Hopper, at Skift Global Forum, in conversation with Skift founding editor Dennis Schaal. Listen now for the full interview. Read more coverage of the travel industry at skift.com/news

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky acknowledged that enough affordable housing is a major challenge but argued that the new flexible nature of work wrought by the pandemic will see people migrating to city corridors and other less-dense locales where residences can be less expensive. In a fireside chat Tuesday with Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali at the opening event for Skift Global Forum 2021, Chesky said previously people needed to live in a certain city to work but with remote working taking hold people have more options. Listen now for the full interview with Skift CEO Rafat Ali.  Read more coverage of the travel industry at skift.com/news

Like many airline chiefs, Doug Parker is “bullish” on the future, particularly after a surge in demand for transatlantic flights after the travel ban lifted on Nov. 8. But American Airlines is poised to begin 2022 as a larger airline — despite labor woes. Speaking at Skift Aviation Forum on November 17, 2021, Parker said business travel will return to 2019 levels, at some point. Listen now for the full interview with Skift Airline Weekly Editor Madhu Unnikrishnan.  Read more coverage of the airlines industry at skift.com/airlines

The world’s largest hotel company plans to juggle global growth over the next few decades with a major step forward in its sustainability efforts. Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano announced September 22, 2021 at Skift Global Forum a company plan to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050. The measure would follow criteria and recommendations of the Science Based Targets initiative — a partnership among climate non-profit CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. Listen now for the full interview with Skift's Cameron Sperance Read more coverage of the hotel industry at skift.com/hotels  

“We will win customers on quality,” Kirby said at the Skift Aviation Forum on November 17, 2021. And he had plenty of examples quality improvements to cite: The addition of premium-heavy “high-J” Boeing 767-300ERs that fly to Europe, the Bombardier CRJ-550 that met pilot contract rules while bringing a dual-class product to smaller cities, and a return of in-seat entertainment screens to its domestic mainline narrow-body fleet to name a few. And, while further out, United is investing in new spaces in Denver and Newark, and possibly in Washington, D.C. Listen now for the full interview with Skift contributor Brian Sumers.  Read more coverage of the airlines industry at skift.com/airlines

For this episode of the Skift Podcast, we're featuring a conversation between William J. Hornbuckle, Chief Executive Officer and President of MGM Resorts International and Skift Hospitality Reporter Cameron Sperance. The two discuss the return of big events and the changes and opportunities ahead for large hotels. The conversation took place online at the Skift Hospitality and Marketing Summit on June 16, 2021.  To take part in future events, find the one that suits you at live.skift.com.

The recent Skift Short-Term Rental and Outdoor Summit brought together leaders from online rental marketplaces, investors, startup founders, and outdoor recreation operators for interviews with Skift editors and research analysts. We uncovered what might happen next in both sectors as their growth outpaces the rest of travel and the big questions facing these sectors.  This session features a discussion with Allen Mask, Managing Partner of CōLab, and Laurence Tosi, Managing Partner & Founder of WestCap Group, along with Seth Borko, Skift Senior Research Analyst, on May 19, 2021. Read more coverage of this session in the story "Will It Be Airbnb, Sonder — and Then Everyone Else?"