This week’s Update features a wide variety of stories, including two on the growing influence of fintech products and their suppliers...more
6/21/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Airlines ,
Booking.com ,
Expedia ,
FinTech ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Popular ,
TikTok ,
Travelers
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including an update on the major online booking platforms’ latest quarterly marketing efforts. Highlights include...more
6/13/2023
/ AirBnB ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Booking.com ,
Capital One ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Priceline ,
Travelers
For the first time, our weekly Update delves into the world of artificial intelligence (AI). We’ve tried for several months now to avoid joining the chorus of voices proselytizing about the likely effects of AI, but as the...more
6/6/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Expedia ,
Fees ,
FinTech ,
Hilton ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Hyatt ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Priceline ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers
For those of you in the United States, I hope you enjoyed your long holiday weekend – the unofficial kickoff to summer. Our weekly Online Travel Update is below. It’s been a few weeks since we featured a story on banks’...more
As evidenced by our list of stories, it was a relatively quiet week in online travel. The Texas Attorney General’s Office and its pursuit of hotel companies over their resort fee practices garnered most of the industry’s...more
Welcome to our weekly Online Travel Update. Expedia’s many announcements at its Explore 23: Connect conference this past week garnered most of the industry headlines, while Uber moved closer to becoming a full online travel...more
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 5, 2023, is below. We hope you enjoy...more
5/9/2023
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
American Airlines ,
EU ,
Fees ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending April 28, 2023, is below. It was another relatively quiet week in the online travel industry, with Hyatt garnering much of the attention with its end of week announcement...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including updates on Ryanair’s attempts to stop platforms’ scraping of fares and other content from its website. We will continue to keep monitor Ryanair’s claims against...more
As evidenced by the stories in this week’s Update, this past week was a relatively quiet week in online travel. Not surprisingly, many of this past week’s headlines featured the recent report by Phocuswright suggesting that...more
This week’s Update features the obligatory Expedia / ChatGBT story as Expedia garnered most of this past week’s industry headlines with its announced integration of ChatGBT into its iOS application. For those of you following...more
This week’s Update features an important update from my partner Eryn Hoerster on recently proposed federal legislation designed to reign in alleged drip pricing abuses. Readers of our Update know that we’ve featured several...more
This week’s Update features two anti-trust / competition law updates from the EU (the Netherlands) and South America (Chile). Enjoy....more
3/28/2023
/ Airlines ,
Booking.com ,
Competition Authorities ,
EU ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Rate Parity Agreement ,
Social Media ,
South America ,
TikTok ,
Travelers
This week’s Update features a heavy dose of online group booking platforms and an interesting report on the growing importance of social media and in particular, travel influencers. Enjoy....more
This week’s Update features another heavy dose of earnings-related stories, including details from last week’s Booking Holdings release. If you are interested, we’ve linked below a copy of the transcript from Booking.com’s...more
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending February 17, 2023, is below. This week’s Update features a number of stories coming out of last week’s quarterly earnings releases by several of the largest online travel...more
2/23/2023
/ Airlines ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Fees ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
Mobile Apps ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending February 10, 2023, is below. This past week saw the beginning of quarterly earnings releases by the major platforms, with Expedia and its meta search platform, Trivago,...more
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending February 3, 2023, is below. This week’s Update features of number of stories detailing the Biden Administration’s growing efforts to address “unfair” fees, including hotel...more
2/7/2023
/ Advertising ,
Airlines ,
Biden Administration ,
Credit Cards ,
Fees ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Travelers
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Sunday, January 27, is below. This week’s Update provides updates on both DOT’s and FTC’s recent rulemaking efforts around “hidden” industry fees. Enjoy....more
1/31/2023
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Airlines ,
Antitrust Conspiracies ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Hidden Fees ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Rental Property ,
Travelers ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending January 20, 2023, is below. A new online cruise booking platform garnered most of the attention this past week, together with announcements regarding the continuing...more
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending January 13, 2023, is below. This week’s Update features an interesting update on OTAs’ current loyalty programs and future ambitions and the recent (somewhat concerning)...more
Happy New Year! We are once again providing a roundup of some of the major developments and trends in the online travel industry that caught our attention this past year. Wishing everyone a successful 2023....more
1/3/2023
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Biden Administration ,
Booking.com ,
Capital One ,
Climate Change ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fees ,
Hotels ,
Influencers ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Travelers ,
Uber
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending December 2, 2022, is below. This week’s Update features an important update on distributors’ use of so-called narrow parity provisions in Australia and takes a closer look...more
Our holiday-shortened weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, November 25 is below. This week’s Update features (again) multiple stories on booking platforms planned roll out of new payment tools. We’ve also...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) regarding its intent to promulgate rules on so-called “drip pricing” and “junk fees.” The anticipated rulemaking may not be...more