Traveling Blog: Weekend Review: Booking.com Rethinks TV + Marriott Shuns Midscale

November 11, 2017

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Note From the Editor

Airline business reporter Brian Sumers flew to Singapore to see the country's flag carrier unveil its massive new first-class suites, which comes with a leather recliner and a single bed. As with Etihad's "apartments," there is more than meets the eye here. Singapore Airlines will be looking not just to sell these suites, which will be outfitted on only 19 of its Airbus A380s, but for a halo effect to shine up its wider brand image.

Speaking of brand images, you'll soon be seeing even more of Booking.com on TV around the world as the company — which is the travel industry's king of digital marketing — plans on tamping down growth in online advertising in favor of television spots to build direct relationships with customers. If you saw this coming, enjoy your weekend because you are a helluva lot smarter than I am.

— Dennis Schaal, Executive Editor

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We expect Singapore's new first-class suites will be considered among the world's best products. But the airline still faces intense competition from Gulf and Asian airlines. It's not clear how much this cabin update will help on that front.

Booking.com Rethinks Digital Advertising in Favor of TV

Did we just see an elephant fly? The Priceline Group, which is the largest spender on digital advertising in travel, just said TV commercials may be a better way to attract loyal customers. That's even more surprising than TV-happy Trivago's recent announcement that it would start devoting more resources to digital advertising. Don't you love this industry?

Myanmar Genocide Has the Travel Industry Searching for Strategies

Travel is the world's largest industry and should be taking a leadership position about Myanmar to publicly condemn ethnic cleansing, and show the country's military government that tourism dollars aren't unconditional if it supports crimes against humanity.

CEOs of Expedia and Priceline Group — What Have You Done for Me Lately?

The Priceline Group is in the catbird seat in online travel — for now — while Expedia is a much smaller company with so much ground to make up. Expedia's Okerstrom is laudably talking tough about his ambitions to propel his company forward. But 2017, so far, has been anything but easy for the two newbie CEOs.

Business Class Must-Haves That Airlines Neglect at Their Peril

As airlines double down on investment in business class, there are some experiential table stakes for customers paying the money to sit up front.

Digital

Trivago Looks to HomeAway Vacation Rentals to Regain Some Mojo

This move could be a modest win-win for Trivago and HomeAway, which both fall within the broader Expedia Inc. orbit. But Airbnb and Booking.com remain fierce competitors for rental search, with Google waiting in the wings.

TripAdvisor Hotel Bookings Continue to Slide as Non-Hotel Business Surges

Try as it might, TripAdvisor is still struggling to gain traction with its hotel booking product. Non-hotel growth has been picking up the slack, and one has to wonder whether an even stronger focus outside of hotels is on the horizon soon.

Czech Website Creates Itineraries From Low-Cost and Legacy Carriers

The conventional wisdom is that major online travel agencies make it impossible for their smaller counterparts to break through. Kiwi.com is challenging that thesis, though it is very much early days.

Flying

British Airways CEO Plots Return to a 'Golden Era'

Alex Cruz is walking a fine line. On the one hand he wants British Airways to become a more cost-effective operation, but on the other he still wants to retain its reputation as a premium carrier.

The Calculated Faux Marketing of Premium Air Travel

The lenses through which we view the travel ecosystem are often heavily distorted. The first step toward countering it is acknowledgement.

EasyJet Picks Surprise Successor to Outgoing CEO Carolyn McCall

EasyJet's choice for its new CEO is a bit of a surprise given that Johan Lundgren left his last job at TUI Group in May 2015 and wasn't one of the many names linked with the job. Still he's got plenty of travel experience, which will help him deal with the challenges in his new role.

Hospitality

Marriott CEO: Don't Expect Us to Play in the Midscale Space

Are 30 brands enough for one hotel company to have? They might be, for now, but we wouldn't rule out the possibility of wanting to add more in a year or two, especially in that red-hot midscale space.

AccorHotels Ends Its Quest to Be a Booking Engine for Independent Hotels

Signs that this experiment wasn't going well were already evident. But given that the online travel agencies aren't faring so well, either, at the moment, we wonder: Does this mean there might be something fundamentally wrong with this type of intermediary relationship? How do hotels and online travel agencies need to evolve to survive then?

Standard Hotels Has a New Major Investor From Thailand

Foreign investment in U.S.-based hotel companies is a trend that continues. Even more interesting here is that Sansiri is also choosing to invest in so many other diverse businesses. How they plan to bring all those investments together eventually should be interesting to watch.

Cruising

NCL Boss Predicts New Cuba Rules Are Good for Cruise Lines

Could cruise lines actually benefit from stricter regulations on American travel to Cuba? Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio thinks so — and with even more cruises scheduled to the island next year, he'll find out if he's right.

Royal Caribbean Bookings Bounced Back After Costliest Hurricane Season

After the costliest hurricane season in its history, Royal Caribbean Cruises still saw profits increase and exceeded its own expectations for the quarter. The business appeared to recover quickly, but we are curious to find out if travelers will be willing to book Caribbean cruises during the peak time for storms next year.

Virgin Voyages Sharpens Its Focus With Adult-Only Cruise Plan

One of the buzz phrases in the cruise industry for the past couple of years has been "multigenerational cruising." Virgin Voyages sees an opportunity in keeping one generation off its inaugural ship.

Tourism

Marriott-Starwood Is a Winner and European Hotels Are Losers Under New U.S. Cuba Travel Rules

Officials have let U.S. hotel companies off the hook when making changes to U.S. Cuba travel policy. European and Caribbean companies, however, will likely feel the effect of new restrictions.

Disney Is Hiking Its Spending on Park Projects by Nearly $1 Billion

Disney's $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise five years ago is the deal that keeps on giving — and costing, given all the additional investment in store. The entertainment giant clearly sees a future full of big returns on that investment.

Video: Tourism Leaders on Planning to Avoid Overtourism

Tourism executives from around the world all have unique challenges as they promote their destinations, but they also have a lot in common: They want to avoid the pitfalls of destructive tourism, get a good return on their marketing dollars, and attract high-spending visitors.

Business Travel

Air France-KLM Move to a Spend-Based Loyalty Program In 2018

Those who book expensive airfares have much to look forward to with Flying Blue. Budget travelers, not so much.

Will Travelers Buy Singapore Air's New Suites? — Airline Innovation Report

Singapore Airlines has created one of the world's most luxurious airline products. But is that enough to make the six-seat cabin profitable? Perhaps on a few routes. But we're skeptical about others.

A Hiring at World of Hyatt Portends Big Changes Ahead — Business of Loyalty

Hyatt's loyalty program may be in for some interesting changes next year as the hotel chain vacuums up talent from Starwood.

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