The Skift Travel Podcast

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.

In this episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, Ankur Randev, Chief Commercial Officer of Highgate, discusses the current hospitality investment climate with Skift senior research analyst Pranavi Agarwal. The conversation covers topics such as the uncertain lending and investing activity, the luxury segment, advanced revenue management capabilities, and Highgate’s European expansion and investment in complex investments. They also discuss the blending of the hotel and short-term rental space, and the new type of demand that is arising from it. Randev discusses Highgate’s interest in the luxury and lifestyle segment and how the company plans to acquire more properties in this space. He explains Highgate’s advanced revenue management capabilities and how it has helped increase ADRs and ROI in luxury hotels. Randev talks about the blending of hotel and short-term rental spaces and the new type of demand that is arising from it, which Highgate is also exploring.

I have known Brian Harniman, the Head of Strategy at digital transformation agency From since the early days of Skift — he was amongst the first online travel veterans to latch on to the potential of what we were building. Harniman is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years experience leading innovation in travel companies. He was on the founding team of Priceline.com and held executive positions at Kayak, Hickory Global Partners, Open List, Where I’ve Been, and more. He and I have talked about travel startups informally on and off for years.This current episode’s context was sparked by a LinkedIn post I did a few weeks ago about travel startups in an age of artificial intelligence: “We are in the travel planning/inspiration/recommendations startups circa 2015 phase of AI boom now… dozens & dozens of them launched in the social media boom phase, all fizzled out because… no way to get enough usage frequency, and then drive to actual transaction which is where you make all money in travel…. I also won’t dump on any specific startups/single-feature companies that have launched, too early to write off all the innovation to come, but as with every wave 8/10 will fizzle out, one will get bought by a larger player & maybe one becomes next the next Airbnb. But even then…it will have to be all around transaction, that is where it is at in travel, nowhere else.”And Brian responded to any post with this: “Planning startups don’t connect well with booking sites – the outdated content and pricing kills demand or worse, creates anger with failed bookers. Content/recommendation startups don’t scale without spidering or autogenerating content, and that ruins their cred with users who are looking for “real” reviews and ratings. And yet, every travel startup competition has a company that is going to solve this problem for us.”Which was enticing enough to invite him on to The Skift Travel Podcast and discuss this more in depth. And so it was, amongst the most fascinating conversations I have had on travel startups in a long time and definitely worth your time to listen in. Some of the points we discussed: How a travel startup’s position in the transaction funnel corresponds directly to its survival.  How generative AI like ChatGPT is currently being deployed in travel booking. In this age of AI, if planning does come into the booking process, what happens next? Can the travel planning phase be shortened? The travel search box is broken. ChatGPT could be really instrumental in streamlining that down, what are the possibilities? Travel booking filters and why they are evidence of travel search being broken. Most travel companies don’t have a unique enough corpus of content for training data for AI.

Episode SummaryIt started with a Linkedin post. When Michael J. O’ Regan, a Lecturer of Tourism at Glasgow Caledonian University posted an academic article he wrote about why we should stop using the word “Overtourism” and the issues he sees with its usage since the time we at Skift coined the term in 2016 (the backstory on that here), it came across my feeds. And in a surprise twist, considering we were responsible for this term spreading, first across the travel industry and then as a widespread media term, I agreed with him. Here’s what I wrote: “This is a fascinating new academic paper arguing why the travel industry should stop using “overtourism” as a construct/phrase and as the person who coined that term in 2016 (he cites it in this paper), I agree with him! “Surprise twist, I know, but not for the reasons he outlines (read the paper) but because I agree that now post-covid, with so many layers of complexity involved particularly as tourism intersects with climate change, it is reductive and doesn’t bring out the nuanced solutions that are required. “The reductiveness was necessary when we first coined it, alarmism and inducing fear wasn’t a side effect, it was the intent, as I explained it here in detail two years after, and it was never meant as a phrase to demonize the travelers, as the paper says what happened after, but for destinations to wake up and take destination stewardship seriously. “It did its job, now time to move on.”To discuss the paper, his reasonings and more, I invited him to The Skift Travel Podcast, and we had a fascinating discussion.Here’s the summary of the discussion, the best way to get the full flavor of it is to listen to our podcast episode, below or in your fave podcast app.Michael discusses his research on the concept of overtourism, which he believes is outdated as term in the post-COVID era. O’Regan explains that the term has been successful in highlighting the challenges of managing tourism in destinations, but it also demonizes tourists, whereas the focus should be on sustainable tourism management. He also discusses his ongoing research on how newspapers cover the phrase and the metaphors they use to link overtourism. The interview also touches on the role of academia in engaging the public with research and ideas.There is an increasing number of professionals pointing out “overtourism” is not a useful analytical concept for measuring mismanagement and directing attention only towards tourists, rather than facilitators of tourism, such as policymakers and license providers. Destinations are trying to move beyond overtourism and look for other ways to talk about complex tourism issues beyond blaming tourists for all the ills. Post-Covid, the conversation is about recovery, and there is a need for a nuanced approach to tourism that considers the impact on climate change and how companies are responding by reducing their carbon footprint.O’Regan also questions the definition of quality tourists and its relevance in different destinations. He believes that backpackers are the quality tourists as they stay longer and use local services. The conversation also includes other phrases such as “regenerative tourism,” “sustainable tourism,” and “transformative travel,” and the need for managing tourism to reduce its unintended impacts on destinations. They discussed different tools that can be used to manage tourism, such as tourist taxes, regulating short-term rentals, and improving education on tourism and hospitality at the local level. Finally, they talked about Amsterdam’s efforts to improve the quality of life of people living around the airport.

Adam Harris, the CEO of hotel management software company Cloudbeds, has a great no-nonsense grasp of the macro – and micro – environment in the startup fundraising world.On this edition of the Skift Travel Podcast, Harris sits down with Skift CEO Rafat Ali to get a perspective on what it means for travel tech startups across the spectrum of maturity to be raising funding in this environment.This podcast was recorded before the Silicon Valley Bank and other bank meltdowns, which has added even more complexities to the already dicey tech startup fundraising world, and a new spotlight on venture capital world overall and its outsized role in the growth pathways startups take.

Parag Khanna is an author, geopolitical scientist and founder of Climate Alpha, an AI-powered analytics platform forecasting asset values and future-proof global real estate, as well as FutureMap, a data and scenario-based strategic advisory firm. Khanna, who has also spoken at Skift events, shares in this recent interview with Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali his perspectives on travel, globalization and immigration and discusses a key theme from his latest book MOVE: Where People Are Going for a Better Future.