Traveling Blog: Yelp Ups Anti-Google Offensive + Road Tripping's Driverless Future + Flyer Compensation Quagmire

May 24, 2018

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Editor's Note

Yelp has a new social media advertising strategy. It is targeting Google employees on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (not Google), urging them to rethink Google's business practices and "make design choices that protect the health of the open web and give answers to users." While this could stir the pot a bit on Google's campuses, it's doubtful that board members would be swayed. Google, after all, has billions of dollars at stake in maintaining its self-dealing status quo in search.

What Google's board might listen to instead are potential new U.S. antitrust regulatory efforts, which the Trump administration may be more sympathetic to, albeit for all the wrong reasons. The European Union has led the way in forcing Google to change its ways although it, too, hasn't tackled travel yet. That day may be coming much sooner than many people thought on both sides of the Atlantic.

— Dennis Schaal, Executive Editor

SkiftX Webinar: Delivering Personalization at Scale in Hospitality

Yelp's efforts to see tighter regulation of Google's business practices could have more success this time around than several years ago, when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission dropped the ball. European Union regulators have really cast the previous U.S. effort in a shameful light, and the Trump administration may be more sympathetic than the previous administration.

Self-Driving Cars, Electric Vehicles, and the Future of Hitting the Road

The sharing economy hardly puts a dent in the fact that most American road trips occur with owned cars. But look out for brands adapting to electric vehicles before driverless cars change things completely.

Why It Takes So Long for Some Airlines to Pay Compensation Required by European Law

We'd love to see major airlines be more proactive when they owe compensation to customers required by European law. When they make a mistake, they should fess up.

How Much Technology Is Too Much For Events?

Event planners know technology can enhance the attendee experience if deployed appropriately. How much technology is too much, though, remains an open question.

Minor International Pays $225 Million To Boost Stake in Spain's NH Hotels

With Oceanwood (mostly) checking out and HNA looking to sell, it's all change at NH Hotels. Maybe this will kick off the consolidation in the hotel market that so many have predicted.

Reimbursement for Flight Disruptions Slowly Gets Smarter

Flyers are sometimes owed money from airlines following disruptions and delays, usually small amounts. New advances make it easier to submit claims, but it can still take a long time for flyers to get the money they deserve. Smarter predictive technology will eventually make delays and disruptions less of a hassle, or at least lead to insurance products that are actually useful.

America's Smallest Discount Airline Wants to Emulate EasyJet with Cabin Retrofit Project

Sun Country wants it both ways. It wants to add fees and reduce legroom for some passengers. But it also wants to keep the brand equity it earned when it was a full-service airline. Can this strategy work?

Skift Table

Today our sister brand Skift Table looks at two polarizing issues in restaurants: CEO pay and the unfortunate name of the industry's largest trade group. Today is also a great chance for you to register for Skift Restaurants Forum at our early bird prices.

The 20 Most-Compensated U.S. Restaurant Executives of 2017

If you're an executive at McDonald's right now there's a chance that "I'm loving it" is the phrase that is resonating.

The NRA Is in Desperate Need of a Rebrand

It's not just the name… but we'll volunteer that changing that immediately would be a great start.

Amazon likely has a role to play in the future of travel distribution, marketing, or devices — if not all three. Travel leaders need to prepare today or risk being caught flat-footed tomorrow.

Kayak to Help Flyers Get Compensated for Delayed and Canceled Flights

Some airlines will not be happy that Kayak has lent its credibility and, in effect, its customer base, to startups that specialize in travel claims compensation. The claims cost airlines money. But Kayak still likes doing things a bit different from the other global online players.

Airlines Test Adding Metasearch to Their Websites

If they can't beat the online travel companies, airlines might as well try to copy those companies' slickest moves. A couple of carriers are testing the display of flights on rival airlines in an attempt to prevent consumers from clicking away to shop elsewhere.

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