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Skift Take Sessions

Skift

Skift Take Sessions is a weekly podcast built from the most important conversations shaping the global travel industry.

Each episode features candid, journalist-led interviews with CEOs and senior leaders across airlines, hotels, travel platforms, and experiences.

Recorded live at Skift events, these conversations go beyond headlines to explore how decisions are made, how companies compete, and how the industry is evolving.

Hosted by Wil Slickers, Skift Take Sessions adds the context that matters — why each conversation is relevant now and what we learned.

You’ll hear directly from leaders at companies like Hilton, Expedia Group, Booking Holdings, Airbnb, JetBlue, and more.

If you want a clearer view into where travel is headed next, Skift Take Sessions delivers insight from the people shaping it.

New episodes every week. Available wherever you get your podcasts and at Skift.com.

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  • 14 episodes
  • Avg 27 min
  • English

Episodes 14

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  • June 23 · 18 min

    When AI Books the Trip, Who Owns the Customer?

    At Skift’s Data + AI Summit, Wil Slickers sits down with Rob Drotar, Industry Principal at Thoughtworks, to unpack one of the next major shifts facing travel: the rise of AI agents as a new customer interface.

  • June 10 · 6 min

    Aven Hospitality CEO on Building AI First from Day One

    Recorded at Skift's third annual Data and AI Summit in New York City, David Peller sits down with Teresa Mackintosh, CEO of Aven Hospitality, to talk about what it actually looks like to build an AI first company from the ground up.

  • April 21 · 36 min

    Destination Marketing Is Now AI Marketing: Brand USA and Spain’s Playbook for 2026

    Destination marketing is changing fast, and this session makes it obvious why. In this Skift Take Sessions episode, ⁠Wil Slickers⁠ sits down with Skift tourism reporter ⁠Bailey Schulz⁠ to unpack the biggest takeaways from Skift Global Forum, where Skift CEO Rafat Ali speaks with Fred Dixon, CEO of Brand USA, and Miguel Sanz, President of the European Travel Commission and Director-General of Turespaña.

  • April 14 · 39 min

    Sierra AI CEO Bret Taylor on Agents, Loyalty, and Distribution

    In this Skift Take Sessions episode, ⁠Wil Slickers⁠ sits down with Skift Head of Research ⁠Seth Borko⁠ to break down what matters most from Rafat Ali’s Skift Global Forum conversation with Sierra AI CEO Bret Taylor, who also chairs the OpenAI board.

  • March 24 · 35 min

    Prism’s Motel 6 Bet: Ritesh Agarwal’s IPO Setup and the Budget Hotel Comeback

    OYO is now Prism, and the strategy is bigger than a name change. In this Skift Take Sessions episode, Wil Slickers sits down with Skift hospitality reporter Sean O’Neill to break down what Prism CEO Ritesh Agarwal is really building after years of pivots: a business that is now essentially split between India and the U.S., anchored by the Motel 6 acquisition and a push to modernize the budget experience with a tech rebuild. 

  • March 10 · 28 min

    Alaska Airlines Under Pressure: IT Outages, Hawaiian Integration, and the Seattle Global Push

    Alaska Airlines is in one of the most important transition moments in its modern history, and it is happening under real operational pressure. In this Skift Take Sessions episode, Wil Slickers opens with a quick setup conversation with Skift Airlines reporter Meghna Maharishi before rolling into the on-stage session with Alaska Airlines COO Jason Berry from the Skift Aviation Forum.

  • February 24 · 33 min

    Is ChatGPT the New Travel Gatekeeper? Glenn Fogel on Booking’s AI Strategy

    If AI becomes the front door to travel, who wins and who pays? Wil Slickers sits down with Dennis Schaal for a sharp, no-fluff breakdown of the biggest takeaways from Skift Global Forum, including the question everyone is asking: Is ChatGPT a paid marketing channel yet, or just the start of a new distribution shift?

  • February 10 · 42 min

    Airbnb: Services, Hotels, and Why Chesky Thinks AI Will Rewrite Travel Search

    In this Skift Take Sessions episode, ⁠Wil Slickers⁠ opens with a quick conversation with ⁠Dennis Schaal⁠ to break down what mattered most from ⁠Skift Global Forum⁠, before we roll the full on-stage session featuring Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky in conversation with Skift CEO Rafat Ali at Skift Global Forum.

  • February 3 · 29 min

    Southwest’s Big Reinvention: Assigned Seats, Bag Fees, and a 2026 Profit Surge

    Southwest Airlines is rewriting its identity, and the story is bigger than “assigned seating” and “bags fly free.” To kick off the first episode of Skift Take Sessions, Wil Slickers sits down with Skift airlines reporter Meghna Maharishi for a quick pre-session breakdown of why these changes are happening now, including activist pressure from Elliott Investment Management and the post-pandemic shift toward premium demand.

  • January 23 · 42 sec

    What is Skift Take Sessions?

    Skift Take Sessions is a new weekly podcast for anyone who wants to understand how the global travel industry really works.

Showing 1–14 of 14 episodes