Good Sunday evening from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, June 20, 2023, is below. Given summer’s official arrival this past Friday, it should be no surprise that the past week was a...more
Good Sunday evening from Seattle and for those of you celebrating, Happy Father’s Day. Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, June 13, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features an update on the DMA and...more
Good Sunday morning from Seatle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, April 4, is below. This week’s Update features a number of follow up stories on topics covered in recent Updates, including...more
4/8/2025
/ Airlines ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Booking.com ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Popular ,
Rental Property ,
Travelers
Happy Saturday from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 14, 2025, is below. What started as a relatively quiet week in the travel industry (other than the concerning reports from several...more
3/18/2025
/ Airlines ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Booking.com ,
Fees ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Phishing Scams ,
Price Discrimination ,
Travelers
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, February 28, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features a variety of stories from a variety of sources, including some new sources....more
3/4/2025
/ Airlines ,
Amazon ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Big Tech ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hidden Fees ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Travelers
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our first Online Travel Update for 2025 is below. The past two weeks produced a number of interesting stories, including the Department of Justice’s attempt to stop the planned Amex GBT...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, December 13, 2024, is below.
Google and its “efforts” to comply with the DMA again garnered most of the industry’s attention. As I...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 26, 2024, is below. It was a relatively quiet week this past week in the online travel industry, at least until Google’s...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle... Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 19, 2024, is below. This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including news on the latest fines to be levied on...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 12, 2024, is below. Marriott and its launch of a new small and medium sized business travel platform garnered most of the...more
7/16/2024
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
Amazon ,
Booking.com ,
Business Travel ,
Carnival Cruise Lines ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
MasterCard ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Travelers ,
Wells Fargo
Good Sunday morning from somewhere over Colorado . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, June 21, 2024, is below. It was another relatively quiet week in the online travel space, except, that is, if...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories – STRs, algorithm leaks and Hilton campgrounds (sort of):
- Las Vegas Price-Fixing Case Is Appealed. A few weeks ago we reported on a Nevada federal district court’s...more
American Airlines’ decision to soften its approach on distribution with travel agents and advisors garnered most of the industry’s attention this week. Otherwise, the holiday week for many was relatively quiet. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including interviews with two of the online travel industries major influencers, Ariane Goren of Expedia and Drew Pinto of Marriott. I hope you enjoy....more
Booking.com’s “gatekeeper” designation under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and artificial intelligence’s increasing influence on online travel garnered much of the attention this past week. Enjoy....more
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week is below. And for those mothers out there, we hope you had a great Mother’s Day! This week's highlights...more
5/15/2024
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Price-Fixing ,
Subscription Services ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor
This week’s Update features a variety of topics – sustainability (x2), airline loyalty programs, NDC and direct booking campaigns (among others). I hope you enjoy....more
4/24/2024
/ Airlines ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Delta Airlines ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Ryanair ,
Sustainability ,
Travelers ,
Wyndham
As you can see from our short list of stories below, it was a relatively quiet week in the online travel world. I hope you enjoy...more
This week’s Update features a variety of topics, including Italy’s newly announced investigation of Booking.com, American’s ongoing battle with ASTA and Qantas’ new TMC portal...more
This week’s Update offers two differing industry perspectives on Google’s DMA compliance efforts. We also update the status (demise) of TripAdvisor’s much criticized subscription program, TripAdvisor Plus. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update features a wide variety of topics – Hopper, Capital One vacation rentals, Expedia layoffs and Hilton campgrounds....more
3/6/2024
/ Airlines ,
Capital One ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Hilton ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers ,
Vacation Rentals
Booking Holdings’ recent earnings release garnered much of the industry’s attention this past week for a variety of reasons, including legal. It will be interesting to watch how important changes to the legal landscape affect...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including updates on airlines’ continuing efforts to move away from traditional distribution systems (GDS) and a review of 2023’s booking trends. For those of you interested,...more
With many in the industry getting their first look at Google’s proposed “DMA” changes to European Union search results, many of this past week’s industry headlines were focused on the proposed changes and the industry’s...more
It was another slow week in the online travel industry as much of the industry’s attention was focused on this past week’s annual HEDNA Conference (in New Orleans) and preparation for the lodging industry’s first major...more