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Skift Daily Briefing

Skift

Everything you need to know about the business of travel today. Each episode covers new travel stories from Skift's editorial team. Listen to the latest developments at hotels, airlines, destinations, online booking sites, and more.

Published Tuesday through Friday by 5am ET.

For ongoing coverage, please visit Skift.com/news.

29 episodes
Avg 4 min
English

Episodes 29

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Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

Yesterday · 4 min
British Airways Is Ripping Out 52 Seats to Make Room for Premium
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Bailey Schulz⁠, Skift's Global Tourism Reporter, breaks down what Airbnb's revived luxury program signals about where the platform is heading for high-end hosts, why British Airways is betting that fewer seats at Heathrow is actually the smarter play, and whether Mews' economics can catch up to its ambitions.
Tuesday · 4 min
Delta Is Building a Media Network and Your Flight Data Is the Product
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Bailey Schulz⁠, Skift's Global Tourism Reporter, breaks down why Caroline Beteta's return to Brand USA centers on one urgent mission, how Pavilion's founder-majority ownership model is a pointed contrast to the typical PE roll-up, and why Delta's media network ambitions could follow United's Kinnective playbook straight to hundreds of millions in new revenue.
October 1 · 6 min
Choice Hotels Just Bought an RV Club and Now Has to Prove It Matters
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Tasmin Lockwood⁠, Skift's Climate and Experiences Reporter, breaks down why Choice's RV acquisition needs to show real loyalty crossover to justify the price, why being late to AI search isn't Airbnb's problem but being merely equal would be, and why Radisson's net zero achievement in the Nordics is the easy part of a much harder global test.
September 30 · 5 min
Kayak's Founders Are Back and They Want to Reinvent the OTA
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Tasmin Lockwood⁠, Skift's Climate and Experiences Reporter, breaks down why Lola's subscription model could rewrite the economics of online travel if it works, why Alaska's premium bet is gutsy given that part of the plan rides on an uncertified plane, and what the EU's EmpCo law means for every travel brand still leaning on vague green claims.
September 29 · 5 min
Bangkok's Floods Hit Airports Right as Golden Week Begins
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Tasmin Lockwood⁠, Skift's Climate and Experiences Reporter, breaks down why Bangkok may keep Golden Week spending but lose its share of it, what Expedia's latest round of cuts signals about where the company is heading, and why Carnival's bet on affordable done well is a strategy worth taking seriously.
September 25 · 4 min
Airbnb's CEO Just Put a Date on His AI Agent
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Sarah Dandashy⁠ breaks down why Airbnb is building its own front door instead of joining ChatGPT, what Diller's MGM withdrawal says about the timing of big Strip consolidation bets, and why the smartest travel investors are chasing land, wellness, and high-speed trains in an AI-commoditized world.
September 23 · 3 min
Airbnb and Vrbo Are Betting Big on Sponsored Listings. AI Agents Don't Care.
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Bailey Schulz⁠, Skift's Global Tourism Reporter, breaks down why sponsored listings may be a billion-dollar bet with an AI-shaped hole in it, how IHG and Hyatt rewired their creator strategies around authenticity over control, and why click-based attribution is the wrong way to measure what creator content actually does.
September 22 · 3 min
Airbnb's Next Big Business Might Be Hotels
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Bailey Schulz⁠, Skift's Global Tourism Reporter, breaks down why Airbnb's hotel push is dividing early adopters from skeptical operators watching for cannibalization, how AIHG's AI operating system resets the economics of hotel management from the ground up, and why Brand USA's 2028 spending power depends heavily on Congress acting before the reserves run dry.
September 18 · 3 min
Your Credit Card Knows Your Travel Habits. Banks Are Betting on It Differently.
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Sarah Dandashy⁠ breaks down what your choice of travel card actually says about which kind of relationship your bank wants with you, whether Turo's host network can deliver on the promise of frictionless car rental at scale, and why Banyan Group's African acquisition is a smart bet on one of travel's fastest-growing regions.
September 17 · 5 min
Trip.com Just Took a $770 Million Hit and It's Changing the Rules for Hotels
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Tasmin Lockwood⁠, Skift's Climate and Experiences Reporter, breaks down why Trip.com's regulatory hit matters less than the new rules it's writing for hotel partners, how fuel costs rather than demand could slow American Airlines' faster-than-rivals growth, and whether Sam's Club can finally crack cruise booking's stubborn resistance to going digital.
September 16 · 4 min
Dubai Hoteliers Just Wrote Off the Rest of 2026
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Tasmin Lockwood⁠, Skift's Climate and Experiences Reporter, breaks down why Dubai's recovery story is really about rate not occupancy, what Lindblad's land-first acquisition strategy reveals about where expedition travel growth is actually coming from, and how GetYourGuide is solving a cold-start problem with distribution rather than discounts.
September 15 · 4 min
AirBaltic Just Filed for Bankruptcy and Passengers Won't Even Notice
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Tasmin Lockwood⁠, Skift's Climate and Experiences Reporter, breaks down why AirBaltic's restructuring is a test case for whether mid-sized European flag carriers can restructure their way back, who ends up footing the bill for the Starlink upgrade travelers are now demanding, and why Etihad's supply constraint is actually the best kind of problem to have.
September 11 · 3 min
Gulf Tourism Is Having a Lost Year
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Sarah Dandashy⁠ breaks down just how bad Gulf tourism's numbers have gotten and what it means for travelers eyeing a Dubai trip right now, what Skift's hands-on test of Meta's Muse agent reveals about how AI is starting to shop for travel on your behalf, and why Marriott is racing to feed AI systems as much content as possible before the distribution battle is decided.
September 10 · 3 min
The EU Just Gave Cities a Roadmap to Crack Down on Airbnb
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Bailey Schulz⁠, Skift's Global Tourism Reporter, breaks down why the EU's proposed short-term rental framework has Airbnb and Booking pushing back hard, how Navan's BoomPop acquisition fits a deliberate playbook of building a platform too integrated to leave, and why Klook is betting creators can close the gap between travel inspiration and actual bookings.
September 9 · 3 min
Google Is Stripping Travel Search in Europe to Avoid More Fines
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Bailey Schulz⁠, Skift's Global Tourism Reporter, breaks down why Google's European search changes are being cheered by some and criticized by others, what the expiration of the EU's border flexibility measure means for travelers heading into fall, and what Host Hotels' hurricane repair bills reveal about the growing cost of climate resilience in hospitality.
September 4 · 3 min
The Southwest You Grew Up With Is Gone
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Sarah Dandashy⁠ breaks down why Southwest's lounge announcement is the latest sign of an airline giving customers fewer and fewer reasons to fly someone else, what Uber's reorg means for its travel products that were never really the point, and why airlines racing to upgrade the middle of the plane is the most important yield story in aviation right now.
September 3 · 4 min
Travel's Biggest Names Just Walked Into the White House
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Tasmin Lockwood⁠, Skift's Climate and Experiences Reporter, breaks down why the industry wants the World Cup's welcome mat to become permanent policy, what Uber's reorg signals about where travel fits in its actual priorities, and why Southwest's lounge announcement is less about hospitality and more about the next phase of a much bigger reinvention.
September 2 · 4 min
Airbnb Just Poached Booking.com's Hotel Boss
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Tasmin Lockwood⁠, Skift's Climate and Experiences Reporter, breaks down why Airbnb's latest hire is a clear signal that its hotel ambitions just got serious, how AirDNA is betting simplicity can unlock dynamic pricing for the hosts that every other tool hasn't reached, and why JetBlue thinks premium cabins can do what cost-cutting alone hasn't.
September 1 · 3 min
That Stunning Hotel You Found on TikTok Might Not Be Real
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Bailey Schulz⁠, Skift's Global Tourism Reporter, breaks down why a new analyst estimate suggesting Booking Holdings leads Expedia in B2B room nights could reshape how the industry thinks about OTA competition, what Marriott's internal stretch goal reveals about the group booking market heading into 2027, and why TikTok Go's AI-generated hotel videos are a real problem for travelers and property owners alike.
August 28 · 3 min
Google Just Made Hotel Booking Part of the Chat
On today's Skift Daily Briefing, ⁠Sarah Dandashy⁠ breaks down why Google's new AI hotel booking tool could succeed where Book on Google failed a decade ago, how the State Department's online renewal proposal would save Americans time, money, and two trips to a government office, and why Dollywood's $500 million expansion without a single licensed character is one of the most remarkable stories in the theme park industry.

Showing 1–20 of 29 episodes