Traveling Blog: Marriott's Starwood Heartburn + Expedia's Hiring Challenges + Luxe Travel Agent Perks

August 8, 2018

Editor's Note

Who says travel agents are obsolete in the modern travel industry? Sure, online travel sites, and more direct booking by travelers, require less of the services travel agents performed for their customers a generation ago. But as Skift contributor Laura Powell points out in her story below, travel agencies are in growing demand at the very top end.

Operators of luxury hotels and services are throwing major incentives at top-performing travel agents, from educational perks to extra marketing dollars. And what else would you expect from five-star proprietors but to create exclusive club memberships for its top-producing travel agents? Luxe is redefining an occupation that the Pricelines and Bookings of the world seemed at one time to have pointed toward extinction. Self-service never really replaced service, a concept that some companies, and travelers, still place a premium on.

— Tom Lowry, Managing Editor

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SkiftX Webinar: How Hotels Are Using Cloud-Based Tools to Attract Meetings

Many online travel agencies no longer specialize in one product, instead aiming to become one-stop-shops. The platform that a booking site can offer is a key part of its competitive moat, and the contours of supply at Booking Holding and Expedia vary widely from each other.

Marriott Still Working Through Starwood Integration Two Years After Deal

Can Marriott hold onto hotel owners and SPG elites? That was the underlying question on many analysts' minds during Marriott's second-quarter earnings call. After all, the bigger you are, the harder you have to fall, right? But the world's largest hotel company, not surprisingly, doesn't see things that way.

Disney's U.S. Parks Got a Boost From Consumers Spending More on Everything

Disney's parks and resorts segment got help from domestic parks, where customers spent more to get in, eat, shop, and sleep. With new expansions opening in the coming year, expect that revenue to keep on rising.

How Luxury Operators Dial Into Top-Producing Agents

It's an old business axiom that 20 percent of customers are responsible for 80 percent of one's business. Top travel companies are recognizing this is certainly the case in the world of luxury travel agents. That's why more and more of them are starting to create novel programs for their best sellers.

Video: Expedia Faces Hiring Challenges as Its Tech Needs Shift

Calling all data scientists and engineers with experience at using machine learning. Expedia is hiring.

IHG CEO: Amazon Is a Threat to Online Travel Agencies, Not Hotels

IHG CEO Keith Barr's take on how we'll be using technology now and in the future is both contrarian and perhaps more pragmatic than the views of some of his travel industry peers.

Klook Raises $200 Million to Expand Activity Bookings

Given its new lofty valuation of more than $1 billion, Klook has become too expensive for most online travel companies to justify as an acquisition. But would a possible IPO within a few years be successful?

Sabre Agrees to Pilot New Technologies With American Airlines and Other Travel Giants

After years of friction, Sabre and corporate travel giants American Express Global Business Travel, Carlson Wagonlit, and Flight Centre, have agreed to work together to test what new distribution methods might look like. Questions of who will pay what have been postponed.

Why Luxury Hotels Are Investing in Family-Friendly Programs

What appear to be simple marketing schemes are in fact thoughtful curations that have the double effect of attracting new customers and, if executed correctly, their return. Happy children mean happy parents and there's no better way to secure another booking.

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Restaurant Recruiters Work to Take the Headache Out of Hiring

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Papa John's Comeback Plan Depends on Getting Rid of John

Papa John's was already having sales troubles earlier this year, before the fallout with the company's founder. Now, however, the situation is exponentially worse: the company is expecting an unspecified number of store closures and potentially double-digit sales declines by the end of the year.

Zume Is Getting Nearly $750 Million From SoftBank for Robot Pizza

Robot pizza is not a bad idea, in some circumstances, which is why Domino's is already in the game. Can three quarters of a billion dollars help one company catch up?

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