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
Good Sunday morning and Happy New Year!! We are again providing a roundup of a few of the stories that we feel made the biggest impact in the online travel industry over this past year (and continuing into this year). ...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
This week’s Update features updates on several recently featured stories, including Booking.com’s ongoing payment and fraud challenges and new legislative efforts to limit junk fees....more
We’ve found fall to be the busiest of all seasons in the online travel world as everyone returns to work from summer breaks and the dates of the major online travel conferences are fast approaching. As you can see from the...more
This past week (the unofficial end to summer for many of you) was a relatively busy one in the world of online travel. Highlights include: - EU (Unofficially) Kills Booking Holdings’ Planned Purchase of eTraveli. For...more
It was another relatively quiet week in the industry other than news late this past week that the Texas AG had filed suit against Booking Holdings over its platforms’ deceptive display of resort fees. Some highlights from the...more
After several slow weeks in the industry, this past week featured a number of important updates, including earnings releases and calls from Booking Holdings and Expedia Group. Transcripts from the two companies’ earnings...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
This week’s Update delves back into resort fees and includes a story detailing planned future regulation of the fees by the FTC. While resort fees may not technically be an “online issue,” potential federal regulation will...more
Russian Investigators Looking into Booking.com’s Practices - (“Russian competition watchdog opens investigation into Booking.com,” Reuters on Dec. 30, 2020) On Monday, December 30, Russia’s Federal Anti-Monopoly...more
Consumer protection concerns are a re-occurring theme in this week’s Update. Proposed Legislation Targets Resort Fees - ("House Bill Would Halt Undisclosed Resort Fees," Benzinga.com on Sep 27, 2019) This past...more
This week’s Update features a story on relative newcomer to third party distribution (Southwest Airlines) and includes, yet again, another update on the on-again/off-again saga of Booking.com commissions. Enjoy....more
This week’s travel-shortened OTA & Travel Distribution Update features two stories detailing two recently announced unique partnerships, one between Accor and Air-France-KLM and the other between Expedia and Lufthansa. We...more
This week’s Update features an important story on possible changes to keyword contracting practices (or at least a new argument as to why existing practices are no longer appropriate). Enjoy....more
Airbnb Begins Integration of Traditional Lodging Products - ("Airbnb Tests Hotel Integration by Adding Some HotelTonight Partners," Skift Travel News, May 29, 2019) As a critical first step in its integration of the newly...more
Booking.com Amends Its Commission Policies - ("Booking to Charge Commission on Resort Fees in Major Shakeup for Hotel Revenue," Skift Travel News, May 20, 2019) Although it was a relatively quiet week in the...more