The Skift Travel Podcast

With more hotel booking options becoming available to travelers, hotel brands must consider their distribution approach and direct booking strategies. This Analyst Session discusses hotel distribution, with a particular focus on direct booking. As a supplement to our Skift Research Report of the same name, we discuss results from our Hotel Direct Booking Survey, which collected responses from 370 hotels around the world. Hotel distribution strategies are discussed, along with specific case studies of hotel companies. What You'll Learn From This Podcast Comparison of direct and non-direct channels Overview of commission rates and costs Case studies of hotel company distribution and direct-booking campaigns Get more travel insights with Skift Research. Subscription information at research.skift.com

As China's travel market continues to grow and Chinese travelers are increasingly booking online, Ctrip and the country's travel industry are poised for high growth. This Analyst Session offers a recap of Skift Research's report, A Deep Dive Into Ctrip and the China Online Travel Market 2017, and supplementary discussion. In the Session, we provide an overview of the Chinese travel market and insight regarding the size of this opportunity area. We discuss the particular consumer travel trends and preferences of Chinese travelers. We also provide a breakdown of major travel companies' roles in the Chinese market, and a deeper look at Ctrip from a financial and competitive perspective.   Also, take a look at our accompanying Data Sheet on Ctrip and the China Online Travel Market. What You'll Learn From This Podcast Overview of the Chinese travel market Unique consumer travel trends and preferences Roles of major Chinese and non-Chinese companies in the travel industry Deepdive into Ctrip Get more travel insights with Skift Research. Subscription information at research.skift.com

On this sponsored episode of the Skift podcast, we’re talking about what destinations can do to better forge alliances between tourism and tech. Our guests come from both worlds: London and Partners innovation relationship manager Danielle Sheerin joins research and insights manager Louise Wilks along with Katie Hegarty, lab program and community manager with the Trampery. This is a sponsored podcast produced by SkiftX in collaboration with London and Partners.

Anyone who follows travel knows that Expedia has been making a lot of news lately. Now-former CEO Dara Khosrowshahi left to take the top job at Uber, and Expedia promptly promoted its CFO Mark Okerstrom to the chief executive position. At Skift, we've been all over this story since the news broke late one recent Sunday night, so we put together a team to do a newsy conference call in early September about Dara’s legacy, his replacement, Expedia’s financial performance, and the opportunities and challenges ahead. We recorded that call, which is featured in today’s episode of the Skift podcast. 

On today's episode of the Skift Podcast, we're hearing from hotel experts who make a living helping travelers find standout properties. Our guests are Claus Sendlinger, CEO and founder of Design Hotels, and James Lohan and Tamara Heber-Percy, the founders of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a travel club that started out as a guidebook featuring under-the-radar boutique hotels. They spoke at Skift Forum Europe in London this year and sat down with us backstage in the Skift Take Studio.

This analyst call discusses the current state of destination marketing, with a particular focus on current and developing content marketing, digital advertising and data analytics strategies. Destination marketing is a changing landscape. Technological innovations and emerging trends in content marketing and data analytics are paving the way for numerous exciting opportunities for those working in the destination marketing space. Programmatic advertising is making automation and targeting easier, and a number of key players in the travel tech space have released solutions specifically designed for use by DMOs and convention visitors bureaus (CVBs). Facebook’s dynamic ads are yielding good returns and some DMOs are implementing video (and, in some cases, virtual reality) marketing strategies, refining how they work with influencers and exploring opportunities for partnerships with online travel agencies (OTAs). What You'll Learn From This Podcast Funding and spend outlook for DMOs Shifting spend from offline to digital and vice-versa Digital advertising channels and content Competing in an increasingly noisy digital landscape Get more travel insights with Skift Research. Subscription information at research.skift.com

Our guest on today's mini-episode of the Skift Podcast is Richard Solomons, the soon-to-retire CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group. He spoke at Skift Forum Europe this year and joined us backstage in the Skift Take Studio to discuss how IHG is trying to cater to both millennials and baby boomers, the way the company is keeping well-known brands relevant but comfortably familiar, the reason he isn’t really worried about Airbnb, and plans to expand the boutique Kimpton brand.

On today's episode of the Skift Podcast, we're talking about the way consumers comparison shop for travel. Our guests are executives from some of the top metasearch companies in the world: Trivago managing director Johannes Thomas, Kayak CEO Steve Hafner, Momondo Group CEO Hugo Burge, and Skyscanner CEO and co-founder Gareth Willams. Each spoke at Skift Forum Europe in London this year and sat down individually with us backstage in the Skift Take Studio.

On today's mini-episode of the Skift Podcast, we're talking about disruption in the airline industry. Our guest is Bjorn Kjos, the CEO of Norwegian Air. He spoke about low-cost transatlantic flights, competition from legacy carriers, the airline’s growth opportunities around the world, and the risks facing global travel. Kjos joined us in the Skift Take Studio backstage at the first ever Skift Forum Europe in London.

On today's episode of the Skift Podcast, we're talking about volatility in the world, and how the travel industry deals with it. Our guests are Olivier Jager, CEO and co-founder of ForwardKeys, which compiles tourism data based on reservations transactions, and Gerald Lawless, chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council. They joined us in the Skift Take Studio backstage at the first ever Skift Forum Europe in London.