Traveling Blog: Hotels Get Asia Rebuff + Trivago Faces Regulator Wrath + Philly's Diversity Push

December 4, 2018

Editor's Note

With the rapid rollup of brands and proliferation of new ones in hospitality, it's often assumed mistakenly, particularly by Western hotel executives, that brands can easily play in markets across the world. Pop up a hot brand, and they will come, right? Wrong. Asia Editor Raini Hamdi offers an excellent case study today on the difficulties of expanding into new regions, focusing on the struggles of U.S. and European hotel brands to make it in Asia. She looks, in particular, at some of the challenges that have faced New York-based Dream Hotel Group in Thailand. The key, sources tell Hamdi, is discipline — not to be rash or rushed. Without it, there is no chance for "pixie dust" in Asia, one investment executive told her.

— Tom Lowry, Managing Editor

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Q&A: Lyft's Omar Ghani on Creating Smarter Travel Policies for a Culture-First Company With TripActions

Boutique American and European hotel brands aim to expand in Asia but will soon realize it's more difficult than they imagined, and that it's only going to get harder. Here's why, and how they can make a go of it.

Trivago Faces Multimillion Dollar Fine for Misleading Advertising in Australia

Trivago has reportedly admitted to misleading consumers about its hotel comparisons and will have to appear in court later this month to defend its actions. This comes as Australians are being whipped up to boycott foreign-owned hotel aggregators that are accused of ripping off local hotel owners and operators.

Michelin Guide Owner Buys Tablet Hotels to Build a Travel Business

Tablet Hotels found itself a world-class strategic buyer to propel its growth. Tablet as part of Michelin will face huge marketing hurdles, and the challenge of trying to reshape Michelin's legacy guide offerings.

Philly Tourism Board Builds on Its Success Attracting Black Tourists

Even in 2018, many travel companies still hesitate to engage people of color through marketing. Those companies, which are leaving money on the table, could take a cue from Visit Philadelphia's long-running video series featuring a member of The Roots.

Data Breach Adds to Marriott's Ongoing Loyalty Merger Challenges

In the midst of ironing out the kinks in its newly merged loyalty program, Marriott was hit with news of a massive data breach last week. Revealed on Friday, the breach affects over 500 million former Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty members.

Skift Table Interview: Waitr CEO on Failure, Persistence and Delivery

It's been a wild ride for Christopher Meaux, the founder of Waitr, a three-year-old delivery service that started trading publicly in November. Waitr focused on launching outside of major urban centers, and the service does two things differently in this space: fully-employed drivers and low restaurant fees.

Combatting host fatigue is a very real thing, but it'll probably take a lot more than this from Airbnb to make sure those Superhosts remain loyal.

What Marriott's Data Breach Means for the Hotel Giant and Guests

Starwood Preferred Guest elite members thought that not getting full stay credits would be the absolute worst of this mega-merger.

Why European Biz Travelers Go Outside Their Companies to Use Online Travel Agencies

Business travelers want choice, and it seems they feel that online booking tools provided by their companies are too restrictive. More are turning to online travel agencies instead.

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