The Skift Travel Podcast

Discover how weight loss medications like Ozempic and GLP-1s are reshaping travel experiences, potential winners and losers in the industry, impact on consumer behavior, and the evolving trends of experiential travel. Dive into the effects on financial reports, health benefits of drugs, government policies, and changing business models in the travel industry.

Pranavi Agarwal, Skift Senior Research Analyst, delves into Google Hotels' dominance, revealing which OTAs bid for bookings. Highlighting Google's role as a meta search engine, the podcast discusses its impact on online travel agencies and direct sites, its introduction of organic auction for travel listings, and its influence on the industry globally.

The recent earnings seasons provided a glimpse into how the largest publicly traded travel companies are faring in one of the more "normal" quarters in a number of years.So what are the main takeaways from earnings season? And which companies emerged as big winners? Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill and Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi joined Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit and Head of Research Seth Borko to discuss the results of earnings in this week’s Skift Travel Podcast.Read more about earnings this season at Skift.

In this special bonus episode, Skift Meetings Executive Editor Andrea Doyle speaks with Skift CEO Rafat Ali and Skift Head of Events Programming Brian Quinn about the "State of Conferences".

Last week Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced the company's renewed focus on Experiences with its “Icons” product launch. Skift Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit was in Los Angeles for the event and got to speak one-on-one with Chesky on a host of topics (including that pay question we promised you). In this episode we also dig into why Airbnb backed off of experiences after the pandemic, a potential Airbnb loyalty program and how Icons fits into Airbnb’s broader marketing strategy. 

Catch up on the importance of sleep tourism as Seth and Sarah discuss its emergence and growing importance in the travel industry.Building off of Sarah’s recent article in Skift, "The Science of Sleep: How the Travel Industry is Cashing on Tourism’s Latest Obsession,” they go into the growing fascination with sleep among Gen Z, the challenges of getting good sleep during travel, and the economics of sleep tourism.

Fresh off the heels of the release of annual financial reports, Seth and Sarah discuss everyone's favorite topic: executive compensation. They examine how those reported compensation numbers relate to the performance of the companies in question, including Airbnb CEO and Co-founder Brian Chesky's potential $1 billion plus pay package, which leads them to the question: should billionaires exist?

Our new co-hosts, Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit and Head of Research Seth Borko, introduce themselves and talk about what Skift is, how it's quite literally defining the business of travel, and preview some of the exciting stories and research on deck for Skift and the podcast.

As we look forward to the return of the Skift Short-Term Rental Summit on June 5 in New York, today we feature a conversation with Homes and Villas by Marriott International Vice President, Jennifer Hsieh, and Skift Senior Hospitality Editor, Sean O'Neill, that took place onstage at last year's summit.To join her and many other vacation rental executives and investors at this year’s Short-Term Rental Summit, visit live.skift.com for tickets and details. 

Vikram Oberoi, The Oberoi Group CEO and Managing Director, speaks with Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O'Neill. This discussion took place on stage at the inaugural Skift India Summit this month in New Delhi, India. on stage at Skift India Summit in New Delhi, India on March 20, 2024.To join the travel industry's best events in person, visit https://live.skift.com