News
India Is Where the Voice-First Travel App Gets Built
20+ hour, 26+ min ago (135+ words) India has the literacy gaps, the linguistic diversity, the voice-first consumer behavior, and now the sovereign AI stack to build voice-first travel. No other large travel market combines all of them at this scale. Co-founder Aloke Bajpai's Linked In post…...
U. S. Plans to Scale Back on Collecting All Travelers' Social Media
2+ day, 15+ hour ago (208+ words) The CBP's new social media rules weren't in effect yet, but the proposal made international travelers reconsider the U. S. as a welcoming destination. U. S. Customs and Border Protection is looking to soften its proposal for more stringent social media vetting, with more…...
B2 A? AI Agents Are Travel's New Audience " And They Don't Care About Brands
2+ day, 16+ hour ago (205+ words) Brand recognition, a cognitive shortcut for human buying decisions, means nothing to AI agents that can reason through every option every time. That's shifting travel's entire marketing apparatus. Expedia Group is building a dedicated marketing function aimed not at travelers…...
Skift Data + AI Summit: Five Tensions in the Room
2+ day, 13+ hour ago (671+ words) Everyone in this room has a strategy for AI. Whether it's working is another issue. The conversations happening at this summit go beyond adoption. They will address what happens when ambition meets reality, when speed collides with trust, and when…...
Airbnb Is Recruiting Creators to Build Out Its Experiences Business
2+ day, 18+ hour ago (111+ words) Content creators solve a problem Airbnb has been chasing for years " getting locals to book experiences in their own cities. The creator strategy addresses a structural challenge Airbnb has faced since launching its experiences category: bookings have come from tourists…...
Dubai's $400 M in Tourism Aid Buys Time. Operators See Empty Rooms.
2+ day, 16+ hour ago (142+ words) With occupancy at 10% and summer ahead, fee exemptions may matter less than empty rooms. The move follows an earlier Dh1 billion ($272 million) support package announced March 31, which deferred " rather than waived " government fees including hotel sales fees and the tourism dirham…...
Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin: The B2 B-B2 C 'Flywheel' and AI's Impact on How We Build
2+ day, 21+ hour ago (180+ words) Gorin thinks Expedia's consumer businesses are vital cogs in the machine. But can she jumpstart their growth? Expedia Group CEO Ariane Gorin pushed back on the idea that the company favors the B2 B side of its business over the consumer…...
Gulf Travelers Are Searching but Not Booking, and Brand USA Wants Canadians Back
2+ day, 19+ hour ago (196+ words) Skift Gulf travelers are flooding search engines but holding off on bookings as the Iran war reshapes travel demand, Brand USA launches a charm offensive to win back Canadian visitors, and Expedia reveals the next big piece of its AI…...
Airbnb Is Becoming a Real OTA
2+ day, 19+ hour ago (2048+ words) Sarah Kopit reports live from Airbnb's Summer Release event in San Francisco as Brian Chesky unveils Airbnb's expansion into hotels, car rentals, services, and experiences. Sarah and Seth Borko break down why Airbnb increasingly looks like a full-service OTA, what…...
Earning Its Stripes: Condor CEO on Life After Lufthansa
2+ day, 20+ hour ago (194+ words) Condor's stripey planes grab the attention, but CEO Peter Gerber's bigger challenge is turning a decades-long leisure specialist into a credible network competitor to Lufthansa. Condor is not a name that rolls off the tongue for most U. S. travelers. Yet the…...